I have purchased my 1st!!!

[andybee]

Hi guys, found an advert in the local paper and have purchased my first telescope. Its a Tasco Galaxsee 525x-any opinions? I paid £25 for it and i was hoping it will be good enough for me to at least start looking at the moon. I will be buying either a Skywatcher 130 Reflector or the 130 Dobsonian if im still as intereted in a few months. Also does anyone know of where the local astronomy club is in the portsmouth area?

Cheers

Andy

[rowan46]

It will do for the moon, not much else though. drop the magnification a little on it you will get a better view and it will be easier to track

[John]

For £25 you can't really go wrong but as rowan46 says keep the magnification in the 30x - 80x range to avoid frustration. Use it to get the hang of using a scope and mount then you can really hit the ground running when you upgrade.

[ItIsOnlyMe]

Congratulations on your first scope. Any scope that gets you out and looking at the night sky is a great start.

You may find the listed max magnification is on the exagerated side.

This is a 60mm scope according to google, supplied with 12.5mm and 4mm eyepieces. With these you will get 56x and 175x magnification. To get the listed 575 magnification you will be needing two things 1)a 1.21mm eyepiece 2) a miracle of great proportions.

This kind of magnification simply isn't possible in anything other than theory with our seeing conditions, and even with perfect conditions you will not be achieving it with a small scope, sorry.

The other scopes you have mentioned are much more likely to give you a satisfactory start. Buy you will not be getting 575x magnification, nor for many objects would you want that kind of magnification.

Your Tasco will likely give you some great views of the moon and bright planets and wet your appetite but you will soon be sick with the fever...aperture fever. I started with a 70mm Celestron scope but soon had the fever and the nurse prescribed a 12" dobsonian.

[malc-c]

Well at least you've only wasted £25

Sorry, but as others have said, the Tasco will show the craters on the Moon, and Possibly Jupiter as a small disk, but that's about it.

The 130P is OK, but a 150 dob would be a better bet

[andybee]

Thanks guys..set it up tonight and have been observing Jupiter and I have defiantly seen 5 pin pricks of light orbiting it, I'm

Really pleased that my £25 scope has paid off!! When I switched to the 4mm eyepiece I couldn't get focus but I sort of expected that! One question..,how is the finderscope assembled? It is just a

Blur at the moment and I took it apart and it seems to be 2 lenses a spacer,a cross hair and the actual tube...it's rubbish,unless I'm doing something wrong?

[John]

The finder is rubbish with those scopes (I have one from many years back !). It's probably more effective to take the lenses out and use it just as a sort of sighting tube.

Well done on seeing Jupiter and it's 4 moons. The 5th was a background star as only 4 moons are visible through amateur scopes.

[Rigel-7]

Last year I downloaded an app for the phone and decided to look at Jupiter for the first time with a good pair of binoculas balanced on a Wendy house. I was absolutely blown away that I could see a couple of moons. I always find it amazing that you can spend such a small amount to really open up the night sky.