Why can't I still see much

[darc]

Thanks for all the encouragement I have been looking at getting a mount for my canon to go onto my scope also I have here cctv camera all fitted into a steel box with it own power supply and monitor I just need to be able to take the camera apart take the led lights out of it and fit into a tube of some sort to make it fit onto my scope, this way I will be able look at the sky on the colour screen that is fitted into the case. (not sure if it would work or not but if it does it will give my eyes a break.

Geoff

[spaceboy]

The 130P is a great little scope. I tried one for a bit as a grab and go scope and was more than happy with the scope itself. If it had not been for the AZGT mount I would still have it now.

I have noticed there are several things beginners including myself have overlooked with use of their first scope.

Please note this is a general observation and not relating to you personally.

1) Keeping the scope in a warm/cold home and taking it outside in the cold/warm environment and star observing straight away with out letting the scope adjust to an ambient temperature. * A mirror/lens will store heat in a warm home and as you have to look through this heat your views will suffer unless the mirror/lens is at an equal temperature to that of the environment you observe from. This also means if you were to store the scope at a cooler than outdoor temperature the mirror/lens will steam up.*

2) Not being aware that a scope requires collimation or deciding not to collimate through fear of messing the scope up. *Like anything practice makes perfect. It's a fact of life some scopes require regular collimation and as long as you follow the guides you will do nothing but benefit from keeping your scope collimated*

3) Think magnification means a better view so use as much as they can not understanding the scope (cooled or un-cooled) and current seeing conditions play a large part. *if the views are good with lower magnification then go with what works. Less is often more in this case*

4) Can get disorientated to what part of the sky they are looking in not realising this changes across the duration of the night and is dependant on what season we are in. *3 nights I tried finding andromeda galaxy only to find it was plough I was looking at not the square of pegasus.

5) Have over expectations and think they will see similar images to that of glossy magazines or images captured by CCD in much smaller scopes. *we are restricted to what the human eye can see so no matter how big the scope is you will never see images like in the magazines*

6) Bought a Seben scope and expected to see anything. *sorry but should have done your research*

7) Expect to see night sky objects in colour. *Mono chrome only with the occasional hints of colour on good nights*.

8) Expect to see a huge planet in the eyepiece. *Never much more than the size of a pea.*

9) Do not allow long enough for their eyes to adjust to the dark or use a torch or other bright light to see what they are doing. * Allow at least 1/2hr for your eyes to become dark adapted. Limit looking at any source of light and if need be use a red light torch only to see what you are doing*

10) Do not spend enough time at the eye piece trying to tease out detail. * We live in a world of "we want this and we want it now". Unfortunately this cannot apply to everything and astronomy has to be worked at. I know we get a limited amount of time under the stars so we often cut corners but if there is a night of good seeing it is worth sitting for an hour just looking at one planet seeing what little details reveal themselves. You really would be surprised what can be seen even in the smallest of scopes.*

Most of us have experience one or more of the above when we first started out but as long as you can identify an easy beginners mistake you can atleast rectify it before you give up on the hobby as a lost cause as I'm sure so many have done who purchased scopes promising x525 magnification.

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

aye spaceboy.

totaly ignore the max magnification specs, mostly a big lie, unless the scope is a few hundred miles above the planet in lovely clear skys, and then your still lucky to ever get to the max mag specified.

if companys placed pictures of eyepiece views atleast newcomers like myself and Darc would have a good idea what we should see.

i never used to let the scope cool down, but now i make sure i have around a good 30-45 mins where scope sits outside in the cold night air. i also keep my eyepieces in my pocket with caps on them. keeping these warm means slower misting up.

Galaxys are my pain i have been unable to see any with my Sw 114mm or the Sw 76mm. so i have given up on those knowing my scope may ot have the power to see that far and collect enough light for my aging eyes.

i will admit both my scopes are also used for wildlife photography and high altitude jet contrails

[Tribal-Wolf]

ROFL love the Seben comment spaceboy