onesmallstep

Though my soul may set in darkness,

it will rise in perfect light.

I have loved the stars too fondly

to be fearful of the night

The Old Astronomer To His Pupil

Sarah Williams

Patrick Moore RIP. He will be sadly missed.

I'd like to say a big thanks to Zoltan and everyone at 365astronomy.

I ordered a 38mm 2in Panaview eyepiece at the end of March. Despite supply problems Zoltan kept me informed if my order via regular emails. He also helped when I changed my order to the 32mm model at the last minute.

The eyepiece arrived today and although a two-month wait isn't usually somthing to praise given the circumstances I would recommend this supplier to anyone.

Hi and welcome to SGL

Hopefully you should have at least two eyepieces that came with the scope, usually 10mm/25mm or 6mm/20mm but could be any size.

A way to find objects without the finderscope is to use the larger eyepiece (that gives the lower magnification) and align the scope visually in the area of the sky you want to look at. The eyepiece field of view should be large enough for you to see the chosen object within the fov. Centre the chosen object and then swap the eyepiece over to the smaller EP (higher mag), refocus and you should have a larger image of the same object.

HTH!

Hi and welcome to SGL

Both Celestron and Skywatcher come under the Chinese optics company Synta which is why both offer identical spec scopes. A lot of the decision making comes down to personal preference, I've used both makes and can't really tell the difference although I'm a visual observer so don't have the AP factor to consider. Skywatcher seem to offer 'better' quality scopes for the price although Celestron is also a good make.

Sorry if I'm being vague but trying to compare these scopes is like comparing lemons and oranges, i.e. no real difference!

BTW, you may have problems finding Dobsonian scopes at the moment as there is a shortage in the UK until new stock arrives.

HTH (although I've probably just muddied the waters, sorry)!

Buy a roll of brake light repair tape from a car accessories shop, approx price less than a fiver. Two or three strips over the lens does the job nicely and you have enough left over for several dozen torches.

HTH!

The learning curve in action!

Hi

How did the observing go?

Hi

Just found this for you.

ScopeTeknix ScopeTeknix 0.965" to 1.25" eyepiece adaptor

If successfull you can use standard 1.25 eyepieces and filters.

Hi

As for actual observing, the rule of thumb is that you can magnify 2x per mm of aperture or 50x per inch or aperture so the maximum magnification your scope can achieve is 100x.

sorry to disagree , but i have found the rule of thumb is more like 1x the mm of the scope , so if you have 100mm scope the max usable mag would be x 100 . but trial and error works even better lol:icon_salut:

Hi HemiHaggis

That's OK, rules of thumb don't take in all the factors so 1x per mm works just as well for looking at clouds.

Hi

Having checked on Celestron's website the star diagonal that comes with the scope is 0.96" so you are using older non-standard eyepieces and will need to source a 0.96" moon filter. Either that or wear sunglasses when viewing the moon (I'm being serious). You could approach Tasco as they used to make scopes with 0.96" eyepieces so they may have accessories in that size as well.

As for actual observing, the rule of thumb is that you can magnify 2x per mm of aperture or 50x per inch or aperture so the maximum magnification your scope can achieve is 100x. This means that you put the 4mm ep back in the box and forget it's there (the 4mm gives 150x mag up to 450x with the 3x barlow - way too high for the abilities of your scope which is why you can't see anything). Use the 12mm ep as your high power ep (50x) and use the 20mm as your low power ep (30x). Only use the 3x barlow with the 20mm ep to give a maximum magnification of 90x - the highest mag you can use with the scope.

Finally, make sure that your tripod is as stable and solid as you can make it: tighten all screws and bolts, place it on a flat level surface (preferably a lawn or balcony), place a small weight of some kind on the accessory tray to make the setup more rigid, and use your scope away from sources of heat such as pavements, near buildings, etc).

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.