Is Size Really Important?

[Brighton Belle]

Hello All,

Astronomy has fascinated me for years and this year my lovely daughter bought me a telescope for my birthday. It's a Celestron 114eq. I've read dozens of posts on here and everyone seems to have a much bigger/more powerful scope than mine. Realistically, what can I expect to see? I've bought a Barlow to improve the 2 ep's it came with (10mm and 25mm). You can see I've picked up the jargon and acronyms but in reality I haven't a clue!

If anyone else has the same scope I would love to hear from you, what are the best things to look at? Which ep's should I use? etc etc.

Another question - why does it need polar alignment? Why do I need to have it pointed North? I particularly want to look at Orion in a couple of months, this is always right above me or to the west, if the tripod is pointing north that will mean the scope is turned in the opposite direction to the tripod. I know there will be a simple answer to this but it's beyond me at the moment!

Thanks for listening to my dumb newbie questions, any advice/tips will be much appeciated

[JamesF]

Many people may have larger scopes than yours now, but I and a large number of others will have started out with scopes even smaller than yours (an ST80, in my case), so don't worry about it. The aperture affects the level of detail you can resolve and how faint an object you can see, but under a suitably dark sky you can see an awful lot with a scope the size of yours even if some of it is just faint and fuzzy.

For visual use there's really no need for polar alignment. It can help if you point the mount roughly north because it means the controls will make it easier to track objects as they appear to move across the sky, but it's really no big deal. If the scope appears to be pointing the wrong way then you can just flip it around to point in the opposite direction -- an EQ mount is designed to allow that to happen. You may need to rotate the tube in the tube rings just to get the eyepiece back to a comfortable position for viewing afterwards.

James

[Welrod50]

Hello Belle,

OK, so far as size goes, bigger aperture with Newtonians means more light gathering, means brighter views of deep space objects and the capacity to pick up fainter objects. With your 25mm eyepiece on your scope, you should be able to see the Orion nebula quite well, albeit it will appear black and white due to the limitations of your scope (and most terrestrial scopes really and of course the human eye in such dark conditions). I have Skywatcher 130 Explorer newtonian reflector which is the next size up from yours I think, so our experience will be very similar. I have had good views of the brighter deep space objects (say magnitude 6.0 or brighter) but a good dark sky site, such as a field or common land with less light pollution will make a huge difference than the back garden.

Use the 25mm for general viewing and the 10mm for planets. Don't expect miracles with the Barlow as generally these degrade image quality. Also, don't forget that nebulas and galaxies are very far away indeed, so there will be virtually no difference in size between the 25mm and 10mm EP.

Finally for now - polar alignment. This is crucial when using your EQ mount in order to accurately track your objects to match the rotation of the earth. If you look at the moon through your 10mm EP you will see how quickly it moves out of your field of view! To be honest, others here will advise you better on setting up the EQ, as I generally just tend to point my scope at an object and ttack it with general adjustments (I have EQ mount).

Hope I haven't repeated what others have said too much, as it has taken me a while to type and post this

It is a vast learning curve, as I found out myself. However, there are some very clever folk on here who will be happy to advise you.

Oh and one more thing, check out Stellarium (free download) and ngc891.com (for printable star charts). These will be invaluable.

Good luck!!

Scott

[Ags]

Light gathering increases as the square of aperture, but the weight increases as the cube of aperture... You'll see plenty of threads on this forum where astronomers complain about back problems!

[JamesF]

You'll see plenty of threads on this forum where astronomers complain about back problems!

Mostly that the clouds are back

James

[Capricorn]

Forget it.

Wish I could locate it but elsewhere I recall it being said:

Someone will have bigger and better equipment then you have, equally someone somewhere will have smaller and not so good equipment as you have,

Don't worry about it.

Use your equipment and enjoy yourself.

[Stevie816]

Hi Brighton (can I call you Brighton ?)

I think you should make it part of life's journey to try some bigger scopes. I have one large one and one very small one. Both are great fun and have their place.

The large on takes some planning and effort but gives great detailed views.

The small one is so easy to use offers good views and has taught me to navigate the skys.

Others will i'm sure add more but don't dismiss smaller scopes

Stevie

[Bizibilder]

Hello Brighton Belle and welcome to SGL!!

As said above there is much that you can do with a small scope and hundreds of objects to see. As for the mount - set everything up as in this picture:

and then place the whole thing outside with the scope pointing North (use a compass if you are not sure). By the way the picture shows the scope pointing "up" at about 10° - far to low). You then need to adjust the angle at which the scope is pointing "upwards". There is an adjustment bolt (witha sliding handle) that has a scale attached near it - from 0° to 90° - undo the bolt aand adjust it to your latitude (about 52-55° - depends where you live). Tighten the bolt. You are now set up.

There are two thumbscrews on the mount - one for each axis - hold on to the scope(!) and undo them. The scope is now free to move about both axis. Have a play with it, moving it to point to various parts of the sky. Sometimes it will seem impossible as the mount will get in the way - don't move it! - just keep on moving the scope and you will soon get the hang of things. Tighten the thumbscrews!

You are now ready to start observing - try to find the Moon or a very bright star as it is much easier - sight along the tube and lock it with the thumbscrews, hopefully it will be visible in the scope (use the 25mm eyepiece as it gives the largest "field of view"). Once you have found your target gat some practice tracking it by twiddling the slow motion knobs. In 10 minutes you will be an expert!!

When you are finished lock all the screws and take the scope tube out of the rings - this makes things easier to carry - next time just plonk the tripod in the same spot and put the scope tube back and away you go!

To get an idea of how to follow stars try this: Set the scope up as mentioned above - (like the picture) - this is called the "Home" position. Undo the thumbscrew that is immediately under the scope tube - this is the declination axis lock - turn the scope through 90° so it lies "crossways" lock the thumbscrew. Undo the other thumbscrew - the Polar axis lock - and slowly rotate the scope about this axis - it will follow an arc from East (or west - depends which way you pointed it!) through South and all the way to the opposite side West (or East, of course!) - This is the axis movement by which you track an object across the sky. You may have to "flip" the scope to get all the way round - 'tis easy - just undo the declination screw and rotate the scope 180° on the declination axis only.

Hope this helps.

[Stevie816]

Hi Brighton

Just been thinking about the polar alignment business.

Just align the tripod roughly north and level . Then the the scope will naturally follow the path of the stars across the sky. The more accurately you align, the better it will follow.

I just point it roughly towards polaris and then once I have pointed it at any sta I want to look at r the mechanism of the mount makes it easy to follow the star as it moves.

(hope this makes sense)

[Astro_Baby]

This may help you with polar alignment

http://www.astro-baby.com/simplepolar/simple_polar_alignment.htm

Does size matter ? Only to men seriously modern scopes are pretty hefty in size because prices have come down so much over the past 10 years or so.

Nothing weong with your scope and it should give good views of the moon, planets and some of the brighter deep sky objects. A good dark sky site is a good thing and will improve the views. A small scope under a dark sky will see more than a big scope in light pollution.

Hope thats all some help.

[Moonshane]

lots of good advice above. your scope is a great starter scope and will provide some excellent views of many objects. you'll see the moon in superb detail, Saturn's rings (from the spring time), Jupiter's main cloud belts and moons and depending on how dark your skies are lots of other things too. one thing's for sure, it's a lot larger than naked eye aperture of maybe 5mm and often that's surprisingly good so you are in for a treat.

[Tinker1947]

Welcome to SGL.

[paul schofield]

Hello and welcome to the forums. Nothing to add that has not been said really. The scope you have is more than capable of giving you a great start in astronomy with many objects available to you to view. The best scopes are those that get used the most. This is a great place for all your questions. Hope you get lots of clear dark skies.

[JamesM]

Now come along Mel (Astrobaby) size is important for women too! :grin: :grin:

Brighton Belle, you might find it interesting to have a quick look at this equatorial guide which outlines the basics of your mount. You scope is very capable of providing some great views of the night sky and of course will depend on the targets chosen. Now I know Celestron will have included some planetarium software (CD disc) with your scope but many of us on tis forum use another iece of planetarium software called "Stellarium" which is FREE to download and you can view the details here. Very easy to use and will help you find the location of the objects in the following suggested lists below, which although intended for those using binoculars, will offer you (who has a more powerful optical instrument) some great targets to find.

- TUBA: Touring the Universe through Binoculars Atlas which you can view the details here.

- Astronomical League's 'Binocular Messier Program' which contains more information here.

Happy hunting and look forward to reading about your observations and how getting along with your scope.

We were all beginners once and we are all here to help. Clear skies and enjoy the forum

James

[bullettooth]

i have a 114 scope and found it pretty good from my light polluted back yard. aslong as your expectations of what you can see arent too high then you will find this scope very good as a starter scope. as i have mine.

the 25mm ep supplied is ok but the 10 isnt that great. i only use the 10 now and again on the moon or on planets.

as soon as you've got used to your scope and found a few things in the night sky to look at, i would suggest getting some new ep's. i just got a new one a few weeks ago and the difference is amazing.

good luck and clear skies

Martin

[bullettooth]

expectations, as in what you can see through any scope not just yours. you wont see things like they look in pictures.

[paul mc c]

This brings me back to my first telescope,32 years ago!it was a 60mm refractor on an az mount.I used this for 10 years and some of the things i seen with this little scope will always stay with me,the changing positions of Jupiters moons over a period of a night,the rings of Saturn,even markings on Mars as well as countless double stars,all which i had logged in a note book,as i say this scope kept me going for 10 years so your scope will give you a lot of fun until you want to upgrade at a later date,if you even really wanted to.

Just enjoy the countless views that the scope will give you.

Paul

[glowjet]

Hello Brighton Belle and welcome to SGL, you already have a wealth of advise from our contributors, Astro-Baby`s and Themcdonalds tutorials are well worth a visit, as a lot can be learned on setting up and Polar aligning. One further important point which I would like to highlight, not all Barlows are equal, a poor quality optic could, no doubt, cause you problems, but well manufactured Barlows from outlets such as Tal, Celestron and TeleVue, will not degrade your image, if it did, many thousands of Astronomers would not use them for both imaging and visual work

John.

[acey]

Congratulations on your new scope.

It's true that many people use a bigger scope than yours, but in days gone by your scope would have counted as the typical size for an amateur scope. Just about all the Messier objects (e.g. Crab nebula, Ring nebula, Whirlpool galaxy etc) were discovered with scopes of no larger aperture than yours. So in theory you should certainly see all those deep-sky objects with your scope. What you do actually see will depend on light pollution. If you're able to take your scope to a dark site (where you can see the Milky Way clearly with the naked eye) then you will see more than you could manage with a 12" scope in a city.

Even if you do have light pollution, and can't travel to a dark site, you will still get great views of the Moon and planets, and might like to try hunting out attractive double stars (e.g. Albireo) or bright clusters (e.g. Pleiades or the "E.T." cluster).

In any case have a great time with it.

[todd8137]

Hi and welcome from me,

pat

[Capricorn]

Statistically I have 3244 posts, this will be 3245, I have been on SGL since May 2008, I have owned scopes since 2000, I was looking at the stars when 10-12 years old in Wiltshire.

I still do not own a scope as big a 114mm, and never have done.

[michigander]

Welcome to SGL, Brighton Belle!

Dana

[Astro_Baby]

Forgot to mention, Worthing Astro Society are only just ip the road feom you and have an obs. Worthing are a nice bunch of people and Graham their observatory officer is a nice old school gent. It might be worth giving them a bell. They have a nice little observatory site as well that has quite good dark skies.

Mel

[telesto]

Hi and welcome to sgl

Clive

[sologuitarist61]

Hello and welcome to SGL