MimasDeathStar

6 hours ago, johninderby said:

I’ve had both the 80mm and 90mm Opticstar achros and both have had very good sharp optics and stars were pinpoint. It does sound like you are way out of focus and seeing an airy disk.As you move the focuser from one end of focus travel the large airy disk should shrink until you get a pin point star then as you continue to move the focuser another airy disk should start to appear and get bigger.

 

Yes it is very confusing I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong (knowing me it'll be something extra extra daft) 

The problem is that I am getting a pin point star - it's just sitting in a massive big splodgy halo! 

I went out last night and had another go at the moon - I was getting a sharp focus on the moon but the whole view through the eyepiece was like the moon was sitting on a slightly off-white table cloth, it was difficult to make out where the moon stopped and the sky began. But the features were super sharp. 

Im sure I've done something silly and obvious, I'll have a cup of tea and then investigate! 

Many thanks for the replies sorry for such obvious beginner questions. 

Hi I'm really sorry to bore you all with the inevitable but I'm having a spot of bother using my new scope and was hoping someone could advise! 

I received a new opticstar ar80s gold f7. 5 yesterday and have been out with it this evening. But I can't seem to get it to focus on anything. 

It's OK on fainter stars but on brighter stars (altair and vega I think!) i'm getting what looks like a massive mess white halo that's taking up half the field of view! It's perfectly circular and reasonably well defined at the edges. Obviously I'm no expert but that doesn't seem right to me! 

The circle is biggest when the star in the middle is at its most tightly focused but as I move away from focus the star itself drifts out of focus and the circle begins to shrink?

I know a little about photography so I'm fairly sure I can tell when the star is in focus. I read online about star tests too - I'm getting a little cross pattern as it drifts out of focus and when I go further I'm getting rings "diffraction rings?" that are OK but slightly elliptical. 

I don't get any of these rings when I go backwards from focus as everything just fades into the massive orb like circle. 

I've done some common sense checks: there's no wrappers or films or anything on any surfaces. I left it outside to cool for an hour before I used it too. I ordered a diagonal from opticstar and a 30 and 10mm Plossl lens but it does the same thing with both. I also have an older plasticky diagonal and a Super Wide field MA 20mm eyepiece that I tried and they all did the same thing. 

There wasn't any dew on the lens - I shone a torch down it and couldn't see anything broken so I can only assume I've made a massive beginners error somewhere. Can anybody help me? 

Many thanks apologies for the daft question! 

Hello there. I've got my telescope and the next step is to start looking for stuff.

Sky & Telescope website sayd its a good idea to keep an observing log so I guess I'll start doing that. They all seem to have circles to draw in so I've been researching that but I have a couple of questions, if anyone could spare a couple of mins to help me out I'd really appreciate it!

1. Nearly all the resources I've seen refer to pencil and paper - with one or two people using chalk on black paper. But I never see any of them on here in anything other than black with white stars - so does everybody do chalk on black paper or do you have to scan it and invert it if you do it on paper?
2. I saw a couple of sketches where people have done "x,y,z" on photoshop to things after they've drawn them - does that still count as sketching or is that something else?
3. Does anyone ever use drawing programmes on computers or tablets to do their sketching or does that not work, or is that not sketching? I've just been thinking that if you draw it on paper and then scan it into a computer would it not be easier to just do it straight onto a tablet or something?

Maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit with the last one! I'm sure cleverer people than me have thought of that and tried it at some point!

Many thanks again all.

19 hours ago, Alan64 said:

Perhaps your concerns will be allayed here...

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/327029-opticstar-80mm-f75-achromat-refractor-review/

That seems to be a telescope you'll always keep, and to enjoy.

Thanks for sharing that - thats a massive relief reading reviews from experienced people!

12 hours ago, johninderby said:

Have you read this?

http://www.astro-baby.com/articles/beginners guide to buying a telescope/so you want to buy a telescope.htm

Yes that was super useful thankyou!

48 minutes ago, Philip R said:

but have or had you considered this?

Thanks Philip - yes I had considered that one - it even made it as far as the short list! I don't know I think I'd talked myself into getting a refractor at that point and when people started talking about the 200p then I think I'd talked myself into it being "200p or nothing!" if you know what I mean!

33 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

no experience of it but it does look a nice scope (the opticron), I take it that comes with diagonal and eyepieces, finder etc?

Hi Dave - no it doesn't come with any of those things but I have a diagonal and eyepieces already that I inherited from a friend a couple of years ago when I was thinking about taking the plunge then. Thanks for your point about the telescope weight. Is 3kg heavy for a telescope? I thought it was quite light but maybe thats just because I was comparing it to the big dobsonians. I'll see how I go with the tripod - you probably know way more than me about these things. I can always buy a suitable one in a couple of months if this one doesn't work out I guess (and from what you say I might need to!)

Wow thanks everyone for the replies and the advice its much appreciated.

I've had the time to do much more research though and I'm really sorry but I don't think the 200p is the right scope for me. Its not that I don't believe anyone its just that there are one or two hurdles that I don't think I could overcome with a 200p (but thanks for all the advice I really wish I could say it was the perfect scope for me) I totally understand if you think "why ask advice if you're just going to ignore it?". But the issues in my head are:

• Having looked at some pictures I think it may take up quite a large place in the house and I'm not sure I have anywhere unobtrusive to store it.
• I could probably fit the DOB itself somewhere in my van, but I don't think the base is a great shape for storage. We go away alot and space is already at a premium in the van I'm not sure it would go down to well if I tried to add something the size of another child into the mix.
• I'm worried it would get muddy or damaged as we go away alot, also I worry it would get bashed about a fair bit trying to squeeze it in around a van with four other people and all their camping supplies in it.
• Because of all this I really think I need something smaller, that I can store in a box or case or something, and that sits off the ground a bit more.

I think when I consider all these things then they add up to a fairly insurmountable mountain of obstacles. Having said that, I think if I get to grips with astronomy this will certainly be a scope to think about in the future so your advice has not been wasted.

So I've probably committed a massive sin and actually gone and ordered a scope today and am going to ask you all what you think; safe in the knowledge that if you all tell me its a total lemon then there's nothing I can do about it! But I don't think its a lemon, it seems quite nice and looks like it is small enough to put in the van but good enough to see some cool stuff. I've already got a heavy duty tripod with fluid head to start with but I'll think about my next move (better tripod) if I have fun with the scope. I've already got a diagonal and a couple of eyepieces that I bought in anticipation of getting a scope a few years ago but they're only cheap ones.

Its this scope here:

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Telescopes-Opticstar.asp?p=0_10_1_1_54

4 hours ago, kev100 said:

So, what about something like the SKywatcher Startravel?

You see - that is exactly the sort of thing I have in my head when I think "telescope". Maybe I'm being naive!

Thanks all thats really interesting advice. I hadn't considered a dobsonian at all because of their size and heft but it looks like they are so good that I'd better start considering one. Are they tough enough to be ferried around in a van?

What is looking through one like - I mean ergonomically? Do you have to stand or crouch or bend much? Or can you still use it sitting down?

Edit: will it work for solar? Do they make solar filters that big?

Thanks Rob thats good news for my wallet if nothing else.

Thanks everyone, apologies for derailling the other thread, I was just getting carried away!

Hello everyone

I'm really sorry about this - I'm sure you've read posts like these a million times before!

I was just about to buy a small skymax 90 maksutov on an EQ1 mount then a couple of people mentioned some things about EQ1 mounts being a bit wobbly and a bit tricky to use; and Maksutov's being quite difficult to drive around because of their narrow field of view and I might be happier with an Alt Az. So I decided not to get it.

I'm really looking for something super compact and relatively idiot proof. I don't have a terrible budget - about £250 to £300, and I really like the look of all of these 60-80mm refractors that look like they'd be really easy to use. But alot of them seem as if they're for astrophotography? I'm nowhere near technically minded enough to ever get into astrophotography so I'm never really going to use these features. So am I looking at the wrong sort of thing? And the price variations are quite amazing when you compare something like a Skywatcher ST80 with a Skywatcher ED80! I don't really understand the difference I think.

I don't think I want a reflector as I'm not confident I have the patience to collimate (is that right) the scope and it seems that it really seems to fox some people. Similarly I don't think I'd be very good with Goto. Also I go camping and caravanning alot so I'd love to have something to take with me but it has to be relatively bomb proof and quick to set up.

I'm not sure what I want to look at - a bit of everything I suppose. I'm a terrible one's for lists and box ticking and people have mentioned the messier list and the caldwell list and the Herschel 400 and the lunar 100 -  and at the moment, the idea of zooming around ticking boxes seems right up my street (really sorry if that offends anyone!).

I like the planets but I've seen Jupiter and Saturn through quite big telescopes before. Would I want to go back night after night. I'm not sure... I'm led to believe that probably isn't a massive issue for the next year or so because of where they are anyway so I can always come back to that. I do think I'll buy a solar filter though the sun looks like alot of fun, so does the moon.

Sorry for the ramble, if anyone knows what I'm trying to ask feel free to tell me!

On 09/09/2019 at 00:00, Rob Sellent said:

In astro-terms, white light viewing is quite cheap. You can purchase a dedicated solar filter that fits over the scope's front end, you can buy just the film and make your own filter and if you own a refractor, you can up grade to a Herschel Wedge.

Thanks Rob thats really useful. I just spent 20 minutes googling what half of those things were; it was very interesting I had no idea there was so much going on!

Would you say a Herschel Wedge is a significant step up from a solar filter? They seem much more expensive are they like 5 times better or doesn't astronomy work like that? Although I think I'll just get a solar filter to start with anyway so it probably doesn't matter.

Bad news about the activity - although I read about why which was fun to learn. Although as an absolute beginner it probably wouldn't do me any harm to start off slowly! At least I know if I'm starting off at solar minimum (just learnt that woo) then things can only get better!

Thanks again.

Thats really nice - does that 254 mean its a 254mm mirror? I guess that means I probably wont see it in my 90mm telescpe. Is that just in pencil? How did you make the smudge shape for M31?

I heard the sun wasn't very active at the moment. Is it still active when you look through H-Alpha? (I don't really understand the difference!)

Wow they're really good. I love the colours

Thats really good well done.

Hello everyone,

I've just bought a Skywatcher Skymax 90 on an EQ1 and am really looking forward to learning how to use it. Although I read somewhere the planets aren't very good at this time of year. I live in an area of heavy light pollution so hopefully I will still have something to look at! Maybe the moon?

Looking forward to getting started.