What can I hope to see with the eyepieces I have?

[sheenoco]

I have an Skywatcher Skyliner 200P and the standard 25mm and 10mm eyepieces that came with it. What can I hope to see with these? Are galaxies and planets out of reach with those eyepieces?

I'm really still trying to get to grips with stargazing but finding it quite difficult. I just wanted to say thanks to those who have made the time to answer my questions. Your help has been invaluable.

[brantuk]

That's a very nice first scope and you'll be able to see a lot of stuff with the 200P. You'll find the 25mm eyepiece nice for objects like galaxies and nebulae, but you'll use the 10mm more for viewing planets and moon. You will see moon craters, Jupiters banding, Saturns rings with the 10mm. With the 25mm you will be able to view the Andromeda galaxy, Orion Nebula, and a multitude of stars and clusters, very easily. The supplied eyepieces aren't always the best - but they're adequate enough to get the scope working out of the box.

If you'd like a bit of personal help to get you going with the scope - feel free to pm me and we can arrange something.

[Moonshane]

I agree with Kim. even with the cheapest eyepiece you could buy, you will see exactly the same things as with the most expensive eyepiece you can buy. the differences come into play when you are seeking to extract the last bit of detail from the bands of Jupiter or objects truly on the cusp of visibility which even in the best eyepieces are tenuously seen at best.

Enjoy what you have already and buy to cover shortfalls you eventually discover based on your observing preferences.

[sheenoco]

Thank you. Worried I wouldn't be able to see much with them but I'll work on using those first.

[sheenoco]

Well it seems I'm not doing something right. Been out to look at Venus, centred it in the finder scope but can't see a thing with either eyepiece,

[bingevader]

Make sure the finder scope is aligned with the 'scope.

Best done in the day on a far away object, church spire or television aerial.

Start with the 25mm eyepiece and get the object in the middle of the eyepiece, then check through the finderscope. Repeat with the 10mm for greater accuracy.

Then repeat at night on a nice bright star.

Cheers

[ronin]

Will warn you before you try it that if you go looking at M31, Andromeda Galaxy, that you will see very little of it.

Everyone goes looking at M31 :grin: .

This simply because with the 25mm your field of view will be about 1 degree, M31 is 3 degrees across.

What most get is therefore the central core (it's brighter).

So you actually end up seeing the central blobby bit, and lose the other 2/3 of it.

This is just in case you start thinking that nothing is working right.

Could try M81, M51 or M33 instead, smaller, dimmer but you should get all of each one in view, depending on conditions.

[sheenoco]

Problem solved. My husband neglected to tell me that there was a collision between him and the telescope. He came off worse but the telescope got misaligned and he just left it like that. And for some reason I'm the one feeling embarrassed!

[brantuk]

It's always a good idea to check the alignment at the beginning of every session. It can be done in the daytime using a distant church spire, a pylon tip, or even a distant TV arial - preferably choose something over a mile away. Hth

[sheenoco]

Good point thank you.

[Spikey]

Qualia wrote an excellent guide here http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/