First Scope Purchased

[Radders]

Yesterday I, well my dad, brought a Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ MD as our 1st scope. He wants to see how we get on with this before maybe purchasing a larger scope at some point in the future. Haven't set it up yet but looks a good bit of kit.

If anybody got any tips on setting up the eq mount or accessories we may need? Or what we can expect to see?

Thanks.

[jonathan]

That looks like a fine starter telescope set up.

My advice would be to follow the instructions for setting up the tripod and mount, and then attach the telescope to the mount carefully, achieve a good telescope balance with the counterweight and telescope position with the dovetail in the mount, but don't worry too much about precise polar alignment (if that's possible with this mount) - I tend to just plonk my tripod and mount down and point it North, so that I could draw an imaginary line through the mount to Polaris (which is near enough magnetic North on a compass for visual purposes). Once the mount is set up, don't move it until it's time to pack up for the night - instead use the RA / DEC controls to point the telescope at what you want to see.

By all means make use of the motor drive, it will keep things in the eyepiece so that you can get a good long look without having to turn knobs or push direction buttons too much. The motor drive should only need to move in one axis in order to keep things in view, assuming the mount is set up and balanced properly.

You may also want to get a moon filter, or if funds allow then the Revelations eyepiece set should see you right for some good views:

First Light Optics - Revelation Photo-Visual Eyepiece kit

I almost purchased this set myself but instead decided to spend more on individual eyepieces which are (in theory) of higher quality than those in this set, it just comes down to how much you are able or willing to spend, but you should seek advice on what's appropriate for this telescope. A moon filter is going to help a lot when viewing those lovely moon craters or a bright planet such as Jupiter.

What you can expect to see - you should be able to see the rings of Saturn (when it's up), the storm bands on Jupiter and four of it's brightest moons as white dots, craters on the lunar surface, Andromeda galaxy, The Orion Nebula and stars at it's centre, some lovely double stars and open clusters (look just to the left of Orion, there are three or four good clusters there). Finding and observing dimmer objects such as nebulae or globular (tightly packed) clusters will be more difficult, that's when the 'bigger telescope' bug starts to bite! Upgrading the finder scope might help - a 6x30 should do you fine, they come in at about £30. Use the telescope as it is before thinking about buying extras though, you may find it's perfectly fine for your expectations.

One word of warning - I notice this telescope is marketed as both a landscape and sky telescope. On no account should you EVER point the telescope at the sun, it can damage the telescope and cause permanent sight damage or blindness. Just be very careful if using it during the day time.

Clear skies and happy observing!

[Radders]

Thanks for advice Jonathan, we're gonna have a go tomorrow at setting it up properly. My dad brought a Meade 12.4mm Plossl aswell and we've got x2 Meade barlow on order. Think we'll probably just collect individual eyepieces like yourself. I like the tip about the moon filter, think we'll definitely invest in one of those.

I must say I did have my reservations about an eq mount and was trying to steer him in the direction of a SW Dob but he wasn't keen. I see a few people on here actually prefer the eq over a dob.

Just gonna take our time and make sure we set it up properly.

Thanks.

[jonathan]

You can practice setting it up indoors, knowing what goes where is a great help when you're trying to fumble about in the dark! Indeed, it's advisable to practice in daylight on the spot where you intend to use it (if that's possible).

Also, forgot to mention a red LED torch to keep your night vision when you're out at night, I have the Skywatcher one and it's pretty handy, it has variable brightness and a red / white light switch.

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Dual LED

Some people prefer a head lamp, just down to personal preference I think.

You may also like to invest in a flight case filled with pluck-foam for your eyepieces and other bits, Maplins often have one on offer for about £30. Chuck some of those small sachets of silica gel (a desiccant) in there to keep the moisture under control, it's very likely that all of your kit will get covered in dew while you're out at night. The silica gel won't stop dew forming, but should help to absorb the moisture once the case is closed until you can get it indoors and open again to allow the moisture to evaporate.

[scogyrd]

By all means make use of the motor drive, it will keep things in the eyepiece so that you can get a good long look without having to turn knobs or push direction buttons too much. The motor drive should only need to move in one axis in order to keep things in view, assuming the mount is set up and balanced properly.

IIRC the motor drive isn't designed too well and the scope actually hits it when you try to look at one side of the sky, which basically means you can't look at that side of the sky with the md attached, so I took it off and never regretted it. Plus the md is very noisy, for its size, when you're trying to be quiet in the back garden at 2am. IMO the md is more of a marketing ploy than a useful astronomical tool, on the supplied mount at least.

Also, the focuser's draw-tube is quite a loose fit so it's not a bad idea to take it out and wrap a strip of duct tape round it. Just to stop the view moving when you change eyepiece, or to give you a fighting chance when trying to collimate it. I would post some pics but I sold mine a while ago now and didnt save any. It's not hard to do though, it takes about 2 minutes and is well worth it.

All in all it's not a bad scope though. I enjoyed mine, you can get some nice wide angle views from it imo.

[scogyrd]

I must say I did have my reservations about an eq mount and was trying to steer him in the direction of a SW Dob but he wasn't keen. I see a few people on here actually prefer the eq over a dob.

Once you get used to it I wouldn't say this scope and mount is any harder to set up than my 200p dob: for visual observing at least.

I used to keep my mount set up, with my scope next to it, so I'd just take the mount out, point it in a northerly direction, roughly level it (although I stopped doing this after a while because you don't need to be very precise for visual) and attach the scope.

The main difference with the dob is that I don't have to point it north.

[Radders]

Once again superb advice thanks.

@Jonathan, I've seen people mention them flightcases on here and its something I might go and look at tomorrow. There's a Maplins near my dad's.

@scogyrd I take it the motor is mainly used for astrophotography work? Regarding collimation, the guy in the shop said it should be ok provided we don't knock it about. Is it easy to rectify if it is?

[Astro Imp]

Amongst all the good advice you've already had I notice that it hasn't been mentioned to align your finder before you try to find anything.

Good luck.

[rory]

Amongst all the good advice you've already had I notice that it hasn't been mentioned to align your finder before you try to find anything.

Good luck.

now thats a good point.

you asked what you might need for that scope. well as talked about often with the astromaster, its a proper finderscope. you will need to replace the one you have if its a red dot plastic cylinder with 2 small circles printed on perspex. if its not one of those your ok, if it is ,well its unusable.

sorry to be bringer of bad news.

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/168741-problems-red-dot-finder.html

the link shows a thread from a few days back,on the same finder.

[blinky1983]

The finder is blumming is awful mate.. i just couldn't get it to line up properly. But the optics are great and clusters and doubles are great with the supplied eps.. the motor drive will end up hitting the ota after a while which is a pain but not the end of the world.. The moon is lovely aswel.. Don;t expect much on the planets and dso's with the supplied eps.. you will need to buy some better ones, but that goes with any scope...

Enjoy though... I did...

[scogyrd]

@scogyrd I take it the motor is mainly used for astrophotography work?

Yes, the motor is mainly used for astrophotography but the mount isn't good enough so it's more of a gimmick than anything.

Regarding collimation, the guy in the shop said it should be ok provided we don't knock it about. Is it easy to rectify if it is?

It's nothing to worry about. I don't think it's any harder to do with this scope than any other. It's just that it helps if whatever you're using to collimate it isn't wobbling about in the focuser.

having said all that you might find that these problems have been rectified since I got rid of mine 18 months ago and you don't need to do anything to it. Either way you've got a decent first scope.

[brantuk]

"the motor is mainly used for astrophotography but the mount isn't good enough so it's more of a gimmick than anything"

The motor is very useful for tracking so you don't have to keep moving the scope around using the control knobs manually. But to get it to work right you need to have the mount polar aligned.

For rough polar alignment (good enough for casual observing), point the mount due north and set the altitude scale to your latitude on Earth. Then use only the RA and Dec controls to move the scope around the sky to find objects. Mark where the tripod legs go on the ground so set up is easier/quicker next session.

Now when you find an object, just engage the motor and the object will stay in the eyepiece constantly with just odd tweaks on the Dec control.

[scogyrd]

"the motor is mainly used for astrophotography but the mount isn't good enough so it's more of a gimmick than anything"

The motor is very useful for tracking so you don't have to keep moving the scope around using the control knobs manually. But to get it to work right you need to have the mount polar aligned.

For rough polar alignment (good enough for casual observing), point the mount due north and set the altitude scale to your latitude on Earth. Then use only the RA and Dec controls to move the scope around the sky to find objects. Mark where the tripod legs go on the ground so set up is easier/quicker next session.

Now when you find an object, just engage the motor and the object will stay in the eyepiece constantly with just odd tweaks on the Dec control.

I'm not saying that motors aren't useful in general.

It's just that because I couldn't see the whole of the sky with it attached I think that it was added to the scope as an afterthought (the designer should be sacked if not) and it is more of a ploy to get people to pay a bit extra for it than anything else.

I certainly paid the extra money for it, but if I was given the choice between being able to see every bit of sky and having to twiddle a knob or paying more to not be able to see every bit of sky and only having to twiddle the knob a bit less I know which one I'll choose every time.

[Siriusmeg]

Really interested to read these comments as I just got one of these for Christmas too. And yes so far I have found the red dot finder nigh on impossible to use so I am so relieved to read that it isn't just me being dim! so far we've had some fantastic views of the Moon and Jupiter - looking forward to far more as I get used to it.

[rory]

yeah, they are poor finders. i use a low power e/p for locating. but a telrad/rigel is on the cards as soon as the misses permits .

[Radders]

@ Siriusmeg Interested in what you saw of Jupiter. Did you see much detail. Had the scope assembled but struggled with balancing which we're gonna have a go at again tomorrow.

[Siriusmeg]

I have just spent the afternoon balancing the eq mount as detailed on a tutorial on this site - and suddenly it all seems much easier to use so that was time well spent. We've just been out looking at Jupiter again & could see 3 moons and some banding across the surface of Jupiter - well, I was impressed! i think I might be getting the hang of the red dot finder too, though it will still probably be replaced at some stage.

[ezroller]

Hi all, just signed up so thought id make my first post after buying the same scope earlier today,

im quite pleased to read some of these comments as i thought it was exactly one of the 'department store' scopes every beginners guide says to avoid but it seems it should suits my needs perfectly as an upgrade to a scope i was given.

got a quick go before it clouded up earlier and yeah the red dot spotter is pretty much useless even after being aligned perfectly in the daytime. its also built on which is pretty annoying, how would a new spotting scope be mounted?

also ive taken the motor drive off at the minute as it felt far to stiff when adusting the ra axis, as if your not meant to adjust it whilst the motors mounted? or is it ok to just force the adjustment knob?

a great site btw, first time ive seen it and seems like a great resource and helpfull people so ideal for a noob like me!

[ezroller]

I have just spent the afternoon balancing the eq mount as detailed on a tutorial on this site - and suddenly it all seems much easier to use so that was time well spent. We've just been out looking at Jupiter again & could see 3 moons and some banding across the surface of Jupiter - well, I was impressed! i think I might be getting the hang of the red dot finder too, though it will still probably be replaced at some stage.

im oxfordshire as well, seems like i was a bit late for clear skies, it was so clear all day as well!

[Siriusmeg]

I know, I was determined to try it out at twilight so I still had a visual on what I was doing with the finder. Jupiter was going in and out of eyesight view, but the scope could still see it. But - now it's completely cloudy - typical

[ezroller]

im looking to join an astronomy club in the area, a quick google search found a couple dotted around, was just wondering if you know of an active one?

[Siriusmeg]

Chipping Norton CNAAG seem very good - I have been to their events quite a few times over the last year and they have been very helpful with advice etc. They are doing an event at Rollright Stones next weekend - fantastic spot for viewing. It's a Stargazing live event so the details should be on the website or google CNAAG.

[Radders]

Bit of an update:

Had a go and balancing the scope and with a bit of help via the web, the Astronomy Shed guy on You Tube is really good, it all became clear! Took the motor off and also the finder. Think I'll probably be better off just putting on a blindfold and having a wild guess lol.

I've put 3 slabs down in the back garden, put the tripod on and levelled the mount and marked around where the tripod sits. Now its just a case of waiting for some clear skies!!

Just a question, should the setting circles be properly aligned to a specific degree? as i think I moved mine about messing about with it.

Oh and I think I'm gonna order a Rigel Quikfinder.

[ezroller]

Chipping Norton CNAAG seem very good - I have been to their events quite a few times over the last year and they have been very helpful with advice etc. They are doing an event at Rollright Stones next weekend - fantastic spot for viewing. It's a Stargazing live event so the details should be on the website or google CNAAG.

funnily enough my scope came from morris photo in chipping norton, thanks for the heads up, am going to try alesbury club as well,