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Hey guys, looking for some help if you are interested?

EGN TIMELORD

By EGN TIMELORD
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EGN TIMELORD

EGN TIMELORD

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okay so i have set up my telescope during the day (finder scope etc) to best of my abilities, can see things farish away (about a kilometer, easily enough), then @ night i can see street lights well enough but cannot seem to be able to see stars at all, just blackness.

I am completely new to telescopes and live in scotland...... loads of stars very bright in sky.

Info about telescope (dont know what is needed for people to help out so will put on what i think and if you need more info let me know, thanks)

Reflector telescope

Precision Reflecting mirror diameter - 76mm

Focal length - 700mm

31.7mm Diameter Eyepiece - 20mm,12.5mm,4mm

Erecting eyepiece - 1.5X

Max Magnification - 262X

Finderscope - (6X) 25mm

as i said, having great difficulty seeing ANY stars through this and the moon has not been visible recently so cant even check on that.

I would appreciate some help if possible,

thanks for your time

Duncan:)

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hayju01

hayju01

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Hi Duncan and welcome to SGL. I'm quite new to this too but I would say that the reason you're not seeing any stars is that they are totally out of focus (been there done that) what i did until i got used to my scope was start with the focus fully wound in and then gradually wound it out at a medium pace and you find the stars soon enough.

Hope this helps, if not there are plenty of other here that can advise.

Justin

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EGN TIMELORD

EGN TIMELORD

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thanks, i just keep thinking that my scopes are not aligned and thats the problem... possibly not though, need to make sure im facing the star fully first lol. Is your telescope not very secure?? like you have it on something and the tinyest little movement and its gone..... really really sensitive (as in, just looking through the eyepiece could throw it out??

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EGN TIMELORD

EGN TIMELORD

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Im actually getting quite excited after having found this forum as i might actually get to blumming see something lol. Its really hard when you do not know ANYONE who is interested and can help and not much help on net either. I aint stupid, its just that when you dont know something and info is limited its just difficult.

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EGN TIMELORD

EGN TIMELORD

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the art of collimation,

aligning the secondary with the primary to your peepers.

its not very difficult, i use a laser collimator.

first time can be a bit daunting though

edit - this is a new thread http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/140319-collimation-nightmare.html ,it has some good links in it

yip, have just been looking through my telescope and checked the thread you have linked, i do think that it might be off slightly. I do not want to rush it as it has stated not to do so. I will try and sort this out and will get back to you if i have problems once it is done.

Thanks for your help. I can see this will be a fun task lol

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EGN TIMELORD

EGN TIMELORD

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i enjoy it, dunt let it phase you, its easy enough

anyway, its past this "ole ferts" bedtime, im off

hi there, thanks for the help, my finderscope is defo not alligned. I just realised that with a streetlight.

Anyway, even with that being so (finderscope was off to the right) i thought id look @ the brightest star i could see and still managed to find it with scope by moving it around a bit, changed my eyepiece to highest magnification and SAW IT. It was just a blob of light (with a kind of blackish dot on it???).

Onyhoos would the fact theat it needs (canny mind the word, starts with a C) done be making the finderscope a little off??

Another question i would like to ask if its okay is how do i lock my telescope in position as it doesnt seem to want to stay where i put it so everytime i change the sight i have to search for the start again(not too much, granted) but it just moves about so much, seems kina rickety lol. It will be annoying if i want to show someone something as they will need to try and find it again once they look through.

I seem to have to hold the telescope in position an if my hand shakes even the slightest bit it moves like hell so I can never really get a proper look @ the star or whatever. And yes... i am tightening the screws lol but it just doesnt wanna stay where i sit it.

and thanks very much for the help so far by the way

Duncan

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acme

acme

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Hi Duncan,

What make or what model of scope have you got?

Sure we can help...it does sound like a focus issue or your using a very high mag eyepiece when you should be using the lowest possible first to see the object...Stars don't hang about in the field of view for to long at high mag.

Acme

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EGN TIMELORD

EGN TIMELORD

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Hi Duncan,

What make or what model of scope have you got?

Sure we can help...it does sound like a focus issue or your using a very high mag eyepiece when you should be using the lowest possible first to see the object...Stars don't hang about in the field of view for to long at high mag.

Acme

Ok, so it jumps about even @ very low mag, my telescope seems a bit wobbly @ best of times. its from argos i think (boutgh it second hand, costs £140 new), I realise its not the best but im a complete beginner. National Geographic Newtonian or summat like that. Its defo wobble as hell though. Hope this info helps

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acme

acme

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Duncan,

The best thing to do is try and reduce the wobble, try hang some sort of weight of the center of the tripod. vertical like a plumb bob effect. Could you locate Polaris? it stays more or less in the same place so you can take your time and try focus on that first..If you can focus on anything in the distance in the daytime then I doubt it's a collimation issue it may be just the fact that by the time you try focus on a star it will have moved out of your field of view.

Other members will pick this up and give you more advice. You are not alone!!

Acme

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Duncan and welcome to the forum.

My feeling is you are using an eyepiece that is giving you to much magnification and the light blob with the dark hole is the end of the focuser. What size eyepieces are you using? Let us have details of what is written on the side of them.

Clear skies

James

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kniclander

kniclander

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note that this is a very very small reflector (76mm) and it might not even be collimatable. check the secondary mirror (the little one near the top) to see if there are three screws holding it in place. I bought a different 76mm reflector for my son and the secondary was just glued in place so short of hacking it off you couldnt adjust it. Also, check the closed end of the tube to see if the primary is collimatable - usually there are 6 screws -three to loosen/ tighten and three to adjust.

if it aint collimatable, you can stop worrying about collimation :) and just worry about focussing it right.

tbh, if you are interested in astro, I don't want to knock your scope but you might look for something a bit bigger -I think you can get a little skywatcher heritage dob (130mm = nearly 4x the light gathering and a proper scope not a toy) for about £130ish.

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jamespels

jamespels

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Hi Duncan,

First thing I would do is put the lowest power eyepiece (the one with the largest number on it, a 25mm will have half the power of a 12.5mm eyepiece, etc.) in and look at something pretty big - the moon at night time or something on the horizon. This way, you can get the scope pointed in roughly the right direction just by sighting along its length. Wind the focus all the way in, the slowly wind it back out. Doing this in daytime, SOMETHING will become visible at some point if it is pointed below the horizon.

Regards the wobble, Nat Geo scopes aren't known for being the best but you can certainly help the mount by wieighting it down with something. Find the heaviest thing you can that won't risk damaging the tripod - a bag of damp sand may be ideal.

Can you post up EXACTLY what it says on each of the eyepieces please? As with most things, there are the good, the bad and the plain ugly so identifying the type and size will really help.

J.

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