Feeling overwhelmed .... Help

[missleaaa]

Hi all,

Merry Xmas!!!

I'm not very technical but I've spent a few hours setting up my boyfriends telescope I bought him for Xmas (and I think it is all done now!) but I wanted to have this all set up and ready to use for him coming in a few days time.

I can see through the scope (trees etc) very clearly, so I've focused it correctly using a 20mm eyepiece.

It's the celestron 114 reflector telescope and it looks great so far.

Now, if I take this outside tonight to look at stars/moon, I will probably need to refocus the lense, is this correct? It will vary depending on the object?

Secondly, do I need to learn all of this RA and Dec stuff, as it's going right over my head. Or will we just be able to focus this on the moon and a few stars through the red dot finder? Or am I being very naive?

What would you say I need to read about in order to get to grips with this for when he arrives. I want to be able to take this outside and him be able to use it right away and also for me to be able to give some direction as I've set it all up.

I've attached some images, it's probably difficult for you to say yes or no, but does this look to be setup correctly to you? Nothing is back to front I hope!

I got a bit confused when it came to putting the slow motion cables on but they do turn the telescope when you turn the knobs so I'm assuming these are correct.

One thing I've noticed is that the telescope feels a bit .. Loose. Like when you don't have grip of it, it tends to weigh itself down a little. Any ideas?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance all!!

Lea

[nightfisher]

Hi there, looks fairly well set up, though you might need to set the altitude to about 51 degrees, so the front of the scope is pointing up a little more, there is a scale on the side to get it about right, dont worry about rest of scales for now. Hopefully the moon will be out and if its clear have a look at Jupiter and if you can find it, the nebula in Orion

[missleaaa]

Thanks so much! I will set the altitude to 51. Would that tend to stay the same then? I hope that isn't a silly question haha

[ollypenrice]

Thanks so much! I will set the altitude to 51. Would that tend to stay the same then? I hope that isn't a silly question haha

The 51 won't change as long as you're in the same part of the world. Next thing is to have the shaft set at 51 degrees pointing north. That is vital. 

You probablyhave a mobile or something which will tell you. Or a compass. 

Olly

[Dave_D]

if you don't move about from location to location (and i'm talking tens of miles) it won't change noticably, especially for purely visual observing.

have a watch of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkB5NCnFps

it's a reasonably clear video on setting up a german equatorial mount

[brantuk]

The altitude will stay the same at around 51degs constantly - so won't need changing mid session. Also get a compass and point the front leg of the mount north (usually labelled "N"). That stays constant too so the mount is roughly pointing up to the pole star.

Locate and tighten the Dec and RA axes. Then the slo mo cables will turn the scope slowly in both planes. To move to an object slacken the Dec and RA and move the scope round. Find your object first using the fnder cross hairs - get it dead center then tighten the RA and Dec again. Then you can track the object using the slo mo cables.

Make sure you line up the finder with the main tube first in daylight - it's a pain doing it in the dark for the first time. Use a distant object like a church spire tip or a pylon tip over a mile away. Get it in the main scope eyepiece first using the 25mm eyepiece then adjust the finder so it's central in that too. Then repeat and refine the accuracy using the 10mm. This will enable you to find most beginner objects.

Stand the scope outside for half an hour before use - this will cool it down giving better views. Mark where you position the feet so you can set up quickly on subsequent sessions (eg with tent pegs). And check out Stellarium for a list of objects before going out to use it - this will save time standing in the cold wondering what to look at next.

I'd suggest Jupiter, M42 Orion Nebula, M45 Plieades, M44 Beehive cluster, M31 Andromeda galaxy. It's only 5 objects but will be a nice little session to get you going with different objects. Good luck and hope he's absolutely thrilled with his present.

[P_Monty]

Nothing useful to add, but if that's his christmas present, he's a very lucky boyfriend...

[Tinker1947]

Download Stellarium is free and put in your location this will show you what's in any area of sky you can view.....

[bomberbaz]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=plx6XXDgf2E

dont get to hung up on the polar alignment, something reasonably near will do. Watch this video above as it fully explains how your scope should be setup including polar alignment. I found it excellent when I started out. (only 10 minutes long)

You must align the finder scope to you main scope first otherwise you will struggle badly but alignjng it is easy.

Also as mentioned google and download stellarium. It is a virtual msp of the skies. There are many similar that can also be downloaded to smartphones so you can use them when outside to help find objects. I would start with the Moon and othef objects as already mentioned.

Dont get downhearted if you dont find things straifgt away, it takes time and practice.

Steve

[LukeSkywatcher]

Cant add anything else.All good info here. 

What did he buy you?.

Merry Christmas to you both.

[mdstuart]

To start with I would loosen the locking mechanisms on both axis so the telescope can move and then point it manually to say the moon and then lock the axis and use the slow mo controls.

Make sure the scope is "balanced" so when you unlock the axis it does not move one way or the other unless you push it...this helps a lot.

Use the low power 20mm eyepiece at all times to start with. Once you have focused it on the moon then it should not need changing if you stay with the 20mm eyepiece.

First objects..try Jupiter which is the very bright "star" in the east about half way up and if you can Venus which is very low in the west just after sunset.

Then as other have said go for the Orion nebula under the row of three stars in Orion which is in the SE by 10pm.

Those RA EQ mounts are a bit odd until you get the hang of them and I would say do not worry about getting it set up perfectly to start with.

Remember you may need to rotate the tube in the rings when you change from one part of the sky to another.

So hard to describe in words. It would be easier if you could get a local astronomer to show you.

Good luck

Mark

How can your boyfriend not fail to be impressed with such a thoughtful present.

[Astro Imp]

Go by Mark's advice above and you won't be far wrong.

Do download Stellarium a great free program:- http://www.stellarium.org/

Hope you have a great evening but if any problems crop up you know where to come.

Good luck.

[astronymonkey]

Hi, to be honest the scope will still work fine even if you dont set the angle to 51 degrees or even set it to point north. The wwy you have it at the moment would allow simple alt az adjustments which basically means you can turn it left and right and up and down which is good enough to start wih.

setting the angle and pointing the mount northwords is critical if you want to track stars as the earth rotates but this isnt essential as the scope can be moved manually as the stars drift out of view due to the earths rotation.

so have a go at setting the angle but ifmthis all gets too confusing then just move it back to how you have it..... one of the biggest problems beginners have is trying to set up an equatorial mount to be polar aligned and this causes confusion as the up direction suddenly changes to a diagonally upward movement which is difficultmto comprehend.

For a starter have a look at jupiter, right now , as I type, it is due east about a third of the way above the horizon and is the brightest star in the sky right now and is dead easy to see.

cheers

[mullac2001]

my advice for whats its worth (which isnt much tbh)

dont worry about polar aligning , dont worry  about setting your scope to 51dg just make sure your finder scope is aligned and point the scope at what you want to look at after using the mark 1 eyeball.  you will  need to cool it down outside for a while before use. the scope not your eye

next step is ask loads of questions on here ,doesn"t matter how daft you think they are (god knows im full of stupid questions! and ive got plenty yet let me tell you) and you"ll find the good people on this site will help you out .

with that knowledge you"ll quickly progress

[missleaaa]

Hi everyone, I appreciate all of this advice! It's great and helped me loads. I took the scope in my back graden tonight, wow, amazing!! I just need to take everything you've said on board and get it working for the night he comes and hope the weather is good thank you all so much!

[missleaaa]

Ps need to take all of your advice and put it into practice as I took the scope out after a few buds tonight, still enjoyed it though

[astronymonkey]

Did you manage to see Jupiter ???????

[itmo]

My wife also felt overwhelmed.. when she saw how big the 12" dob was and when she heard that I want to store it inside. 

[missleaaa]

I couldn't find it there was so many stars, I had my compass and half way between South east there was a really bright star that I was looking at but it was quite fuzzy on the telescope. I'm not sure what to expect when I look through the scope to look at stars.. Should it be quite fuzzy?

[Pete Presland]

stars will points of lights through the scope, if you have focussed correctly.

Jupiter is the bright object in the east early in the evening, if you are focussed correctly, Jupiter should be a disc with up to 4 points of light in line close by, these are the 4 main moons of jupiter. you may also be able to see a couple darkish bands on Jupiters disc these are the north and south equatorial belts.

Venus is the bright star in south/west very early in the evening (just after sunset) and looks like a thin crecent moon at the moment but it is very low and affected by turbulance a lot.

[bomberbaz]

I couldn't find it there was so many stars, I had my compass and half way between South east there was a really bright star that I was looking at but it was quite fuzzy on the telescope. I'm not sure what to expect when I look through the scope to look at stars.. Should it be quite fuzzy?

Sounds like you have a slight focussing issue, as above it should be a clear pinpoint for a star or discerabe shape for a planet.

How many buds had you had, lol

[itmo]

Then there might be the issue of collimation. newtons need to be collimated. Solid tube newtons dont need recollimation that often but it would be good to check. It is also possible that you bumped into nebulosity or something was frozen/fogged up. The most common "nebulosity" I see is fogging in the secondary mirror or eyepiece  

[brantuk]

The first thing to focus on would be the moon when it's high in the sky. It should be very easy to locate and focus on and from that you'll learn roughly where the focus point is and what to expect to see. The scope may be absolutely fine but all sorts of other stuff affects the view and you need to discover how to cope with each one.

Views are affected by: the atmosphere "seeing" and "transparency", light pollution, height of your object, level of magnification,  moisture content in the air, collimation, type of object v's type of scope, aperture, moonlight, eyepiece/scope quality, etc and several other items - the list can seem endless.

So long as you have a clear and dry night though, most scopes will focus on the moon easily. And if you focus on a bright star you can check collimation by taking it slightly out of focus momentarily and you'll see faint rings of light. These should be perfectly circular and concentric. Defocus in both directions and it should be the same each way for a well collimated scope.

Hope that helps.

[tekkydave]

Hi, when I started out as a beginner last year I was stumped by all the acronyms & abbreviations. Fortunately there is a glossary on SGL at http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/98716-abbreviations-acronyms-and-glossary-of-terms/

Dave