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ewey

By ewey
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ewey

ewey

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hello all, just been given a tasco luminova reflector for my birthday :hello2:. Its my first ever telescope and would love some advice on how best to use and what i will be able to see given right conditions. I look forward to geeking it up big style

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ewey

ewey

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Also there are lots of numbers on the side of my telescope and i have no idea what thye mean. will this information help so i can be best advised? D=76mm F=700mm if this help at all? I also have several lenses, two of which are Barlow lenses, 1 is a 3mm one is a 1.5mm. does this help? Like i said i am a complete rookie and would be greteful of any advice at all, thanks in advance guys :hello2:

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Shibby

Shibby

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Welcome to SGL ewey!

D=76mm means that the aperture of your telescope is 76mm in diameter. The diameter of the aperture determines how much light your telescope gathers and therefore the amount of detail or "power".

F=700mm means the focal length of your telescope is 700mm. The focal length affects the size of the Field of View. The longer the focal length, the narrower the FOV (higher magnification). Telescopes with a shorter focal length (assuming the same aperture) offer a larger FOV with a brighter image.

The eyepieces change the "effective" focal length. You can think of this as a zoom level. The 1.5mm will zoom in the most, the 3mm a bit less. However, I have to say that both these eyepieces are not really suitable for you telescope. The magnification is too high, more than the scope can handle, the image will be very dim and the narrow FOV will make it difficult to find anything. See if you can pick up a 25mm eyepiece from somewhere if you didn't get one with the telescope?

As for what you'll be able to see, I'd say your 'scope is best suited to lunar and planetary viewing, because the ratio of focal length to aperture is quite high. (This is known as F/number and yours equates to around F/9.)

I hope at least some of my rambling makes sense. There are lots of forums full of helpful people here so don't be afraid to ask anything. Good luck with your new hobby!

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Mr Q

Mr Q

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Ewey - a belated happy birthday wish and welcome to the SGL.

Those numbers are used to determine what power of magnification any one lens you use on the scope will develop. The D = is the diameter of the front lens in mm (or the large mirror in a reflector) and the F is the length of the light path inside the scope from when it enters it to when it reaches the eyepiece. The barlow is a magnifying lens that can double or triple the power of any lens used with it.

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Ewey and welcome to the forum. You might want to consider downloading a free piece of planetarium software called "Stellarium" here. It is easy to use and can be configured from where you observe and will certainly help show you where everything is. Lots of other "toys" on it to keep you busy when the clouds come in and it will certainly help you learn the sky. Of course not all objects can be observed and what you can see will depend on how the dark your sky is and the aperture of your scope which determines the amount of light your scope can gather. Remember that light equals detail or resolution as we often term it. Hope that helps.

Clear skies for now

James

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