new to stargazing

[craigdsmith]

Hi all new to me.  I have just purchased a astromaster 114eq and had a go tonight for several hours.  So far dissapointed and not that impresssed on what i saw, and what the telescope does.  Struggled with the star pointer and generally everything else.  Tried to view jupiter but turned out looked better with the naked eye.  Could do with some help.  thanks Craig, Blackburn Lancs.

[crimpshrine]

Hi Craig.. when you were viewing Jupiter were you getting focus? What eyepiece were you using?

[YouCannotBeSirius]

My best views of Jupiter so far have been with a 10mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow lens (both of which came with the telescope), if that helps. But Jupiter does move out of the field of view relatively fast so tracking is needed. I've also struggled with an optical finder (waiting for a RDF to arrive), so you are not alone in that sense.

I think it's like with anything, practice and patience helps a lot.

The Pleiades (M45) are a good starting point as they are visible to the naked eye and easily recognisable. It's the same with the 3-star Orion belt with the nebula below it. I've spent quite a bit of time looking at the constellations, star charts and through binoculars which helps with getting used to where things are and finding them. If you haven't already, I'd recommend downloading Stellarium, it's free and enables you to view the night sky from your exact location.

I'm new to using my telescope too and these are all things that are helping me get to grips with it. Don't give up, it'll be worth it in the end. Good luck!

[paul mc c]

Set up in daytime and get used to the scope,focus on something a good distance away,maybe a distant tree or landmark,and then adjust the finder until the object is centered.This should make it easier finding your targets at night.

[timetraveler3]

I started a few months ago, frustrated a bit too at first. I could not figure out my eq mount, it does get easier. My red dot finder took practice but now I find things pretty easily most of the time. I realized you have to keep both eyes open and align the red dot on the star.  My scope is also 114mm.  You can see a lot with it but do not expect any Hubble type images!  Images are grey and white, only a camera picks up color for objects so far away.. Start with the moon it is amazing in a 114mm scope.  Jupiter is about the size of a pea, but fun to watch and see the four moons, they are in a different position every time.  With your scope you should able to see the two dark bands in the middle.   A lot of the fun is learning the sky and realize what you are looking at.  

The more you learn the more fun it gets.  Once you get used to it, try and find the Double Cluster, the first time I found  I got really excited, it is an amazing site. Don't give up. 

[craigdsmith]

After speaking to a few people ive been advised to get a barlow lens. Can anyone advise me on he correct one and where to purchase many thanks

[swag72]

Welcome to SGL Craig - You've already been given some good advice about aligning the finder during the day. I suppose the main thing is to be realistic about what you will see. Us imagers probably give you some real false hopes. Hop along to the sketching section and what you see there is pretty much what you will see through the scope.

Download Stellarium as well - A free planetarium programme that will help you navigate the sky a little. Don't give up, it will be worth it in the end.

Look forward to seeing you around

[inedible_hulk]

Hi Craig, another member, Qualia, put together an excellent guide on what you can expect to see http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/#entry2060941

[floppygoose]

Hi Craig,

A 2xBarlow lens will give you double the magnification and can be obtained from most astro shops or online. I tend to use first-light optics where you can pick one up at reasonable cost. When you say that your views of Jupiter are better with the naked eye, this throws into question whether your scope has been set-up / collimated correctly. You should be able to get reasonable views and pick up 4 moons without too much trouble. Scope setup and alignment guidance is available on SGL on various threads, although if you have a local astro group you may find it useful to make contact with them, many have viewing sessions where you should be able to get help with your own scope.  

Don't give up, and your scope should give you many hours of enjoyment

Phil  

[craigdsmith]

Hi Craig, another member, Qualia, put together an excellent guide on what you can expect to see http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/#entry2060941

[craigdsmith]

Thanks for that as for the barlow lens where is yhe best place to buy it says omni barlow lens??? What will this do to the viewing thanks

[craigdsmith]

Buzzing just managed to see jupiter with four moons took about five minutes to find looked good through 10 and 25 mm.

[ardbeg74]

Well done!! Thats a big change from disappointment to buzzing! The rewards in this hobby dont always come easily, but they are worth the effort!!

About the barlow, well from a through the eyepiece perspective a barlow increases the magnification ( technically its a divergent lens, bending the light path to mimic what would be achieved with a longer focal length instrument.) They are rated in terms of how much they would increase the magnification so 2x would double the magnification. 3x triple the magnification and so on.

So a 2x barlow and your 25mm EP would be like looking through a 12.5mm EP. Using the barlow with the 10mm EP would be like a 5mm EP.

In terms of calculating the magnification, its simply a matter of dividing the focal length of the telescope (in mm) by the focal length of the eyepiece (also in mm).

For your scope the focal length is 1000mm so with the 25mm ep this would give 40x and with the 10mm 100x.

Now when we add a 2x barlow into the mix, well the 25mm EP and barlow will give 80x ( 1000 x 2 / 25 ) and the 10mm 200x.

Now here is the rub, as we increase magnification the view will be more susceptible to atmospheric conditions (seeing) and you will find a loss of detail and an image which shimmers in and out of focus. The image will be bigger sure, but you wont necessarily see more detail. Your milage will vary from night to night obviously.  Ive found that jupiter is is usually sharpest around 120 - 150x based on my setup, on occasion i can push it. 

The other thing that will happen as we power on the mag is that the image will become dimmer. While this can be useful ( or at least a non issue) for bright targets like jupiter, it will make feint targets harder to see as there will be less contrast.

Finally your field of view will decrease with magnification too, so start off with the 25mm, centre your target and work your way down until you find a balance between detail and seeing.

So the barlow can be a useful addition to the toolkit, I use mine regularly and i tolerate a loss of sharpness for a larger image, but its always a personal preference. Some like em, some dont. A barlow can have the effect of increasing the range of magnifications available based on your existing EP's at the expense of adding additional glass to your optical train. But the same can be achieved by buying additional EP's.

Anyway's thats a bit about barlows, hopefully that should give you something to think about.

All the best and happy new year

Mark

[bomberbaz]

Craig, there is a group local to you based in leyland and I am a part of this. Wr meet up, share ideas etc. Very much the same as on here but f2f. Pm me if you wanrt more details, we have a meet planned for next week .