cyg Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Hi great start.Don't worry about which scope you started with or where it came from, my first one was a Prince 60mm refractor from Dixon's.The main thing is you enjoyed the experience and the views! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjody Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Hi great start.Don't worry about which scope you started with or where it came from, my first one was a Prince 60mm refractor from Dixon's.The main thing is you enjoyed the experience and the views!very well said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heathenwoods Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 http://stargazerslounge.com/sale/162404-celestron-114eq.htmljust seen this for sale in the sale section,should be good but you would soon want to upgrade to something bigger, its good seeing the planets with detail but even better seeing them in bigger detail.An 8" newtonion seems to be a good allrounder(sounds good but to be fair, none of people on this thread who'd be interested have been members long enough to see the ad, me included :-)The Argos scopes look okay compared to celestron firstscope (76/300 f=4!) i'm borrowing from my eldest lad but as has been said, seeing planets and their moons, nebulae and other starward things is a special feeling, especially if you're upgrading from basic eyesight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonp Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Thats a similar scope to what i started out with. As its a 1.25 inch focusser if you know anyone who is willing to let you borrow an eyepiece then you could see its potential. Im talking a cheap skywatcher eyepiece ( i used one in a very old scope i got from argos years ago and it made a stunning difference.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divinityitself Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 (sounds good but to be fair, none of people on this thread who'd be interested have been members long enough to see the ad, me included :-)The Argos scopes look okay compared to celestron firstscope (76/300 f=4!) i'm borrowing from my eldest lad but as has been said, seeing planets and their moons, nebulae and other starward things is a special feeling, especially if you're upgrading from basic eyesight Just ordered an eyepiece from first light! just back in from getting some great views of the moon but seemed to get a bit of condensation? fogginess? probably the cold, its freezing out! maybe the cheap eyepieces.Unfortunately as heathenwoods said i cant see the ad, need to post more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonp Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 What eyepiece did you get ? Unfortunately the fogging is normal, its like when you go down to your car in the morning. You can make a dew shield out of an old camping mat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staryeyes Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Is the fogging on the eyepiece? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divinityitself Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 how much can you afford??my first scope was a skywatcher 130, bought it for £100 secondhand but virtually brand new and sold it on about 6 months later for about the same. i then went on to buy a skywatcher 250 for a bargain price of £400 on ebay with an eq6 tripod.Id say get the biggest and best you can afford, although the skywatcher 130 was superb, i couldnt resist the big upgrade.. look out for second hand bargains and keep a look out on the for sale section on here, even ask in the wanted section as some people have a collection of scope and might sell one.There are plenty of brilliant people on here who will give you brilliant advice.I'd say about £150 would be all i could stretch to jody, as i was looking at jupiter again tonight i could just make out the two bands but i found myself getting annoyed i couldnt see a bit more! already getting greedy for more! Im hoping the new eyepiece will make even a slight difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divinityitself Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 What eyepiece did you get ? Unfortunately the fogging is normal, its like when you go down to your car in the morning. You can make a dew shield out of an old camping mat.A 20mm plessl jason, it was only 20 quid which i thought was pretty decent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divinityitself Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 Is the fogging on the eyepiece?I think so, the moon lost all focus and became very blurry, so i brought it in for 15 minutes to the kitchen, went back out and all was well again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onesmallstep Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 One of the joys of UK astronomy - dew on lenses / EPs. This can be corrected with dew shields and/or dew heater strips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyjamjoejoe Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Mirrors fog up too, especially on the "flextube" style scopes due to breath etc. It was damp tonight, but i spent a few hours out and didn't dew up so it's most likely the eyepiece. Could be heat from your face doing it, or eyelash marks... Keep the eyepieces in your pocket to keep them warm between views To stop the mirrors fogging up (or rather slow the process), you can make a home made dew shield out of a range of materials, though most people use a foam exercise mat. You can find guides all over the internet about how to do it.There are a few small things you can do to squeeze the best out of your scope - Allow it to cool down. Place it outside with all caps on etc for 20-30mins before you go out to view, this will remove tube currents and a layer of heated air which acts as a distorting lense above your primary. Heat waves are the enemy, whether in your tube or in your line of sight, they'l kill views hard. Avoid looking over tarmac, or over houses if possible, since they absorb heat all day and chuck it out at night.Let your eyes get properly dark adapted (this is harder than it sounds unless you go out to the middle of nowhere), consider keeping an eyepatch over your viewing eye to prevent kitchen lights etc from ruining it's dark adaptation. Spend some time on the focuser. The difference between a perfectly detailed image and a stripy disk can be within a millimeter when pushing higher magnifications, tinker for a few minutes to ensure you're as focused as you can be.Spend time at the eyepiece. Sounds obvious right? But the longer you stare, the more detail you'l be able to pick out, it's a very slow and gradual process, and at first, no matter what the scope, you'l probably always see the stripy disk. When people talk about having awesome sessions with great seeing and bundles of detail, they're over-selling it, it takes a VERY trained eye to pick out the finer details, it will come in time, and it will be as amazing as they make out, but don't expect a pingpong balled sized planet with intricate whirling storms. At my first astro meet, some guys were looking through a 100mm APO at jupiter, getting all excited about the detail, all the swirls around the GRS, the festoons etc, they were loving it. I was somewhat underwhelmed tbh, it was an almost black and white image, about the size of a pea at arms length, with a couple of stripes. Later on that night though, after everyone had moved on to other scopes etc, i spent some time infront of that, and after 5minutes or so a whole new world opened up to me. It was amazing, and well worth the effort. I looked away for a few minutes and took a look through an 8inch dob to find the bland stripy disk again, i guess the longer you stare at something, your mind builds a more detailed image, regardless of what you're actually seeing at that very moment.Having a decent chair will help, it's hard to put in more than a minute or so at a time when you're bending over to get to the eyepiece.And after alllllllll that, there's only so much you can do. The atmosphere is different every night. Different seeing, different transparency etc will vastly effect your views. Don't panic if you can't do all of the above, i've had great fun on nights where i have done everything wrong, it's just a guideline for squeezing the last 10% out of your scope... Hope that leads to some better viewing for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superjody Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 I'd say about £150 would be all i could stretch to jody, as i was looking at jupiter again tonight i could just make out the two bands but i found myself getting annoyed i couldnt see a bit more! already getting greedy for more! Im hoping the new eyepiece will make even a slight difference. should get a good scope for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heathenwoods Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Good news about the EP, divinityitself; i was wondering about the wisdom of getting a decent eyepiece for a budget 'scope and it sounds like it's a good idea.And although JimmyJJJ's reply was aimed at DI, I've got to say that it's a massive help to me too and, I'm sure, lots of beginners at the early stages. Brilliant post, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonF Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 I'd certainly go along with the idea of upgrading the eyepiece. My Skywatcher came with pretty basic 10mm, 25mm and a useless barlow. Spending just a few quid on a Celestron plossl made a vast difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syntarsus Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Wow. Seems to go against all the advice about being wary of cheap scopes. For £28 I'm guessing that must be the cheapest way to see stripes on Jupiter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuxzek Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 scratch that last question, just noticed you only bought them today. apologies.They have arrived but because we were out on Saturday I need to collect them from the Post Office, too big to fit through our letterbox. Haha. Looking at the sky forecast it looks very cloudy this week but once I try them out I will let you know. Will have them this afternoon in any case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuxzek Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Just ordered an eyepiece from first light! just back in from getting some great views of the moon but seemed to get a bit of condensation? fogginess? probably the cold, its freezing out! maybe the cheap eyepieces.Unfortunately as heathenwoods said i cant see the ad, need to post more!Did you let the telescope settle down (so it cools to the outside temp) for an hour before using it? Just a tip someone gave me at the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortland Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Seeing the moons of Jupiter dancing around was what forced my hand into buying a telescope. But personally, the Orion Nebula on a cold night is still the most breathtaking thing I've seen and it will look really good through yours, keep an eye out for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuxzek Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 A 20mm plessl jason, it was only 20 quid which i thought was pretty decent.Was that the Skywatcher SP Plossl?I picked mine up yesterday from the Post Office and when I got back home I was impressed with the weight of the 20mm. I can now conclude that the supplied eyepieces must be made of full on plastic. I also have the 7.5mm as my max power EP, worked out using the sticky thread re EPs and focal length. Now I am just waiting for the cloud to clear so I can use them in anger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heathenwoods Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 EP fever must be spreading amongst us bargain astronomers! I've just got a 10mm plossl from ebay for 13 quid inc p&p. Now just have to wait for it to arrive from Israel.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuxzek Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 EP fever must be spreading amongst us bargain astronomers! I've just got a 10mm plossl from ebay for 13 quid inc p&p. Now just have to wait for it to arrive from Israel....£13 NICE My two from FLO were £20 each for the Skywatchers. Who makes the one you bought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heathenwoods Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Aha, that's the thing: I don't know yet! Fully coated, made in Taiwan but that's as much as I know. I figured that it will be a bit better than the H20 and SR4 that the Firstscope came with. I was tempted to buy 'known' and part of me thinks I should have got the same as you and be assured of quality. Still, high risk bargains are too tempting to me I ended up haggling over it: it was 'Buy it Now or Best Offer'. I put in an offer of about half, the seller made a counter offer within half an hour, I made a counter-counter offer and we ended up happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divinityitself Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Was that the Skywatcher SP Plossl?I picked mine up yesterday from the Post Office and when I got back home I was impressed with the weight of the 20mm. I can now conclude that the supplied eyepieces must be made of full on plastic. I also have the 7.5mm as my max power EP, worked out using the sticky thread re EPs and focal length. Now I am just waiting for the cloud to clear so I can use them in anger. aye, thats the one, arrived in the post yesterday morning, i agree, it had a nice weight compared to the argos ep's. It certainly looks the business, but it was cloudy last night and i was consumed by modern warfare 3 fever so astrnomy was sadly pushed to the side in favour of violent online action! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divinityitself Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Did you let the telescope settle down (so it cools to the outside temp) for an hour before using it? Just a tip someone gave me at the weekend.i read that somewhere on this site, so i'll be doin that next time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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