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Hello from wales (north) now what??

daniel-lloydw

By daniel-lloydw
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daniel-lloydw

daniel-lloydw

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Yay my first post

So ever since I was a yound lad I always loved space. from star trek to sitting on my wall looking up and thinking what on earth is that... (well not on earth would be better i guess)

Over the last few months I have been out looking at showers and trying to catch the aurora that was visible in most parts of the UK. Now my wife knows I love the stars and every penny I earn I have always spent on my family. So with out me knowing for my 30th she went out and got me a telescope (her friend was selling one)

Now I have no idea what to do or what half the numbers mean and to top it off it has no stand LOL :rolleyes:

so this is what I know about it (no box or manual)

its a sky watcher ( I believe bk127 mak but not sure) < are they any good?

on the side it has D127 - F1500

it has no stand and i hear that a mount and stand is completely different

it comes with a x2 Barlow lens (done some reading on these)

so while my wife was trying to do something really nice she has left me with a piece of kit that I have no idea where I can get a stand or mount. Turns out my camera stand cant hold it. so need to find a cheap one. and not to sure where to go from here.

seen and read though a lot of the starter threads on here but they use words i cant even spell let alone tell you what they mean... Any help I would be grateful :grin:

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faulksy

faulksy

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http://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-mounts/celestron-omni-cg-4-mount.htmlhi and welcome to sgl, what a great location. were abouts you from ? the mount you need is a gem mount or german equatorial mount you can get simpiler but this one should be fine, this is from sgl main sponsor top of the page first light optics
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daniel-lloydw

daniel-lloydw

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aww thanks, Well Im very lucky that im from prestatyn and just a few hundred yards from the beach and right behind me again just a few 100 yards have a huge mountain that provides some of the best 360 views provided a link below... Im in a dream location with very little false light

Now I cant wait to going... once I have my mount lol

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northeastwales/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8074000/8074032.stm

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi and welcome to the forum. The 'D127' refers to the diameter (in cm's) of the tube which is also the size of the mirror which sits at the back. Is your scope the same as this one? The number F1500 means that focal length (that's the 'F' bit) is 1500mm long which means that in real terms this the true length of the scopes tube where light entering at the front is brought to focus at a single point. Clearly your scope is not this long in its appearance because of its clever design which has enabled all of the light to be folded inside as shown in this diagram (near the bottom of the page). You will certainly need a proper mount for it as a camera tripod would not would be steady enough for it and any image you see would be bouncing all round the place. As mentioned above, you could choose to get a equatorial type of mount or you may prefer the intuitive Alt-azimuth mount which is similar to a pan and tilt camera tripod but is more robust. YOu of course will need to use an eyepiece to register any sort of image and you will also need a diagonal like these to allow for a more comfortable viewing position. Keep asking your questions because that's how we like to help you. :smiley:

Clear skies for now and enjoy the forum

James

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mister brot

mister brot

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hello daniel and welcome to the forum.I an also new here and I would like to help you get started.I too have a love for anything having to do with space and anything related to it (star trek :grin:)

  • Like you i got my first telescope and new nothing on how to use it correctly..just pointed it in the general direction and tried to keep the object in viewing lens which was very fustrating...this was around 1988or 89 not really sure exactly,,,and in the last 20 odd years have gotten it out maybe 20-25 times, the last five years has been in basement collecting dust.(Anyway if you've notice I have bad habit of carrying on...to make a now to long story as short as possible...)
  • I see how things for you where somewhat like myself and so that maybe you don't get to fustrated or bored to quickly I will kinda just point you in the gerneral direction......you will probably , definitely get lots more suggestions and help from more qualified here in forum.....
  • It was just last month that I came across a You tube video that has re-lit my desire for astronomy.....He is from what I have seen someone like you and me who explains everything in a very easy and understanding way with sometimes a little humor. He has his own web sight and makes weekly reports on what is good to look at and what to look for. He also has several series for beginners and it is these series are what got my passion for astronomy re-lit..Any way I could of just posted these links and said go here and make this as short as possible.......but that's me :grin: sooooooo........here are those links that I hope will show you and hopefully have you understand astronomy better......the rest is up to you to stick with it and not give up so easally like I did. :grin: Robert

"Stargazing basics" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.eyesonthesky.com/Videos/StargazingBasics.asp

"Telescope basics" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.eyesonthesky.com/Videos/TelescopeBasics.aspx

"How to Align an Equatorial Mount">>>>>

"How to use an Equatorial Mount">>>>>>

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daniel-lloydw

daniel-lloydw

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Hi and welcome to the forum. The 'D127' refers to the diameter (in cm's) of the tube which is also the size of the mirror which sits at the back. Is your scope the same as this one? The number F1500 means that focal length (that's the 'F' bit) is 1500mm long which means that in real terms this the true length of the scopes tube where light entering at the front is brought to focus at a single point. Clearly your scope is not this long in its appearance because of its clever design which has enabled all of the light to be folded inside as shown in this diagram (near the bottom of the page). You will certainly need a proper mount for it as a camera tripod would not would be steady enough for it and any image you see would be bouncing all round the place. As mentioned above, you could choose to get a equatorial type of mount or you may prefer the intuitive Alt-azimuth mount which is similar to a pan and tilt camera tripod but is more robust. YOu of course will need to use an eyepiece to register any sort of image and you will also need a diagonal like these to allow for a more comfortable viewing position. Keep asking your questions because that's how we like to help you. :smiley:

Clear skies for now and enjoy the forum

James

That looks very much like mine but mine is blue (o well at least its not pink) So next on my agenda is a stand, those angled lenses look very interesting. looks like the credit card may have to come out. but if im honest i am not sure how I feel about parting with £229 for a stand and mount. While I am sure I would get the best from my scope with this. I have 2 young children that I would prefer to spend that kind of money on. (new clothes, toys) So maybe something in the £0 - £100 range would be better suited for me. I know that sounds cheap but I until my kids are a little older they will come first.

and while I think about it.......why is every thing upside down and back to front a pull up the image goes down, I go left the image goes right...... thats going to take some getting use too

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JamesM

JamesM

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Daniel it's all sent to test you!! :grin: :grin: From what you have said, I think this is your scope? Well it's a pretty useful bit of kit and will really show you some details of the moon and the planets. I mention these objects in particular because the type of cassegrain scope you have () catadioptric if you want to be fancy) which is a Maksutov variant that has a lens at the front of the scope in order to help straighten out the light and so prepare it to be reflected into the secondary mirror inside before being sent to your eyepiece. Now I mentioned in my earlier post that the focal length of your scope (1500mm) is really long and has one big advantage, magnification! Now that is great for bright objects like the planets etc because the more magnification you apply to a given target the dimmer it will appear to get, but because they are so bright to start with, there is some light left over to show you some detail. Now if we turn out attention to deep sky objects (DSO's) such as galaxies and nebulae which are much further away and as a consequence a lot fainter, they will be harder to see with these objects, light gathering is the key and where there is light, there is resolution or detail. 127mm or 5" of diameter will show you some of these objects but perhaps not as much structure as say what an 8" scope will show you. Also the long focal length will provide a narrower field of the view which might mean that some of the open clusters etc cannot be contained within an eyepiece and so you will need to move the scope about a bit to get the whole view in - which isn't a problem.

To help you further in learning the sky and know where to find these objects, why not download a free piece of planetarium software called "Stellarium" which you can view here. It's great to use and will show you what's up in the sky at any given time - great for showing the kids the planets when you know they will be up before bedtime! There are plenty of features such as an advance date/time calendar which will help you plan ahead and the whole system can be configured from exactly where you observe from which can really help you if part of your sky is blocked from view. Give it a go and I'm sure you will find it useful. lastly, if you want to look out for used kit (e.g a mount for your scope) keep you r eye on this site called UK Astro Buy & Sell which I find a bit more reliable than Ebay. If you spot something and want some advice on it please come on the forum and pop a question over on the beginners section.

Clear skies

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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I have a 127 Mak and it's a lovely telescope. I've used it a fair bit for visual observing, as well as imaging the planets and recently imaging the Sun and Moon too. It's also small enough that I've taken it with us when we've been on holiday. It is quite heavy so it does need a reasonable mount, but once you're sorted you should have a lot of fun with it.

James

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