Ritzycat

Will the items in the previous post be fine? I don't want to buy anything and have it be incompatible and would like to ensure whether or not they are of acceptable quality.

Will these products work?: T thread http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-10TMMicro43-Adapter-T-Mount-Olympus/dp/B003EAVUO8 nose piece http://agenaastro.com/baader-1-25-nosepiece-t-2-adapter-t2-14-2458105.html

I bought a pretty nice camera a few weeks ago. It's unique in that it is a digital camera but also has detachable lenses. The exact model is an Olympus E-PL1. Due to financial and atmospheric restraints, deep-space photography is out of the question for me. I have a Celestron NexStar 6SE with an azimuth mount. My question is--What else do I need to start doing basic lunar and planetary photography? I have heard that you do not really need that much stuff to start doing that kind of thing. I was hoping that my camera would do the trick, but I don't know what product to buy to attach it to my telescope lens.

Took a look at Neptune for the first time the other night. Couldn't make out much of a disc but the blue color was definitely apparent. I haven't seen Uranus yet though!

Well, I guess that would be the ideal time to look at DSOs.

Hello! It's been recommended to me that, to notice more defined features on DSOs and other objects, I should sketch what I see in the lens. But, how do I do that if it's dark and I don't want to turn on a light??? Are there special "night lights" that are red-hued? What do you guys do? Also, how do you read? I have a few books ie. Turn left at Orion, atlas of constellations, and the program Stellarium (but that has a night vision feature).

What would you guys say is the biggest "bottleneck" for those looking at DSOs? Aperture, light pollution, other viewing conditions, lens quality etc. As in, which of these factors is most important? Also another thing - would it be happier viewing conditions under the sky in the Sahara with 4" in scope, or in a relatively suburban area with a 8" scope?

Hello! When I was looking at telescopes a few years ago, I never really had this question answered. I guess my scope was sort of an impulsive buy, but luckily it was pretty good impulsive buy for a first timer. I know the length of aperture is the width of the scope, at least I think, but Is Aperture more a measure of magnification or "light collection? Do higher aperture scopes simply have more useful magnification or do they collect more light, as in, do faint objects appear brighter? Any help is greatly appreciated - just a little curiosity!

Thank you for all of your help. I'm sort of burdened down by school for the next while but perhaps in the next few months I can arrange to go pretty far away. I'm actually going to be visiting Rolla this winter, so perhaps I can make a quick detour if the weather is permitting and we can find a good spot.

Hello! I live in a light polluted area but I really want to get away and see the sky without severe light pollution. How do you guys find your dark sky sites?

Oops. Didn't mean to make my first sentence a question - wanted to correct that so I don't look like a smarty pants

Thank you for that calculator? What of units should I use for aperture and focal length?

Sounds about right... I had first said to myself "oo, if I put this barlow lens on the 4mm lens I will REALLY see Jupiter!" suppose it's not that simple. On Celestron's website Nexstar 6SE has a highest useful magnification of 354x... exactly how much magnification do I get from using 25mm lens, or a 12.5mm lens? Hi Ritzycat..........check this out http://www.project-n..._telescopes.pdf this one too........http://agenaastro.co...ary-filter.html this giving a chart to make selection slightly easier. Excellent, very helpful resource! I think when I'm out tonight, I'll try a few on and see for myself what each one of them does.

These are beautiful pictures. I especially like dph1nm's image of the Pleiades. Do you guys live in light-polluted areas?

When I purchased my NexStar 6SE a few years ago, it came with a free case of Zhumell lens & filters. In here I have 6mm, 4mm, 12.5m and 32.5m lenses in adition to the 25mm I already have. There is also a set of 7 filters in here and a Barlow lens. I think I understand that I use different lenses for different magnifications, but what do I use these filters for??? I have: Polarizing Filter #3, Filter No. 82A, Filter No. 12 Filter No. 23A Filter No. 56 Filter No. 21 Crystalview Moon Filter. http://www.zhumell.com/eyepiecesfilters/ That first case When I read their website, it says it came with a manual to explain when each filter should be used. I have since lost that manual. I assume the Crystalview Moon Filter is to be used when viewing the moon. I also have a 2x barlow lens. Not sure what that is used for either? Does it double the magnification? When I tried using it to view Jupiter, it made the planet pretty blurry. Is that an inherent effect of using the lens, or do I just need to clean it up? Thanks!