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First Telescope!

fatboy1271

By fatboy1271
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fatboy1271

fatboy1271

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Thanks for the forum and a place for me to learn... and hopefully contribute some day :)

My amazing wife got me a Celestron NexStar 90SLT. I set it up last night, but failed on the SkyAlign. When looking into the Finder I see one point of light; however, when I look into the Eyepiece I see many. I just wasn't sure which to align to in the Eyepiece.

I live in Los Angeles County. Last night was a little cloudy and of course there was light polution. Where I live the light polution isn't devastating; however, I do have a couple of street lights visible from my back yard.

It looks as though they are calling for clear skies after 9PM tonight, so I will try again! Any tips on how to tell what I am looking at when I move from the finder to the eyepiece?

Thanks,

fat

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rwilkey

rwilkey

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Hi Fatboy, welcome to the forum.  Best to align the finder during the day, use the main scope to focus on an object such as distant spire or aerial, and once in the eyepiece (use your lowest power, the one with the highest number in mm), hold the telescope still and then move to the finder and then align that to the same object.  Then use a higher power eyepiece (with a lowest number in mm), follow the same procedure again.  Best of luck and clear skies!

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swag72

swag72

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Hi Fat and welcome to SGL - I don't tend to look through the scope, so can't help you, but I'm sure someone will be along soon who can. You may like to look at downloading a copy of the programme Stellarium, a good planetarium programme that will really help you find you way around.

Look forward to seeing you around :smiley:

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Mr Q

Mr Q

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   Hello Fat and welcome to the forums.

   Starting out can be an overwhelming experience but taking it step by step will make it much easier.

   First thing to do is align the finder scope. Using a low power (high "mm" number) eyepiece, during the day, locate a distant object several hundred yards away, such as the top of a utility pole, then locking the scope on the object, try center the cross hairs or red dot in the finder onto the object using the adjustment screws on the finder. Once this is done, using the finder to aim the scope at what you want to look at will be fairly easy.

   Once the finder scope is aligned properly, try it on a bright star using a low power eyepiece and do some final adjustments to get the finder aligned with the star.

   Next, try to locate some objects with the scope such as the Moon or the brighter planets like Jupiter, Venus or Saturn. Where are they in the sky? Use the link below to print out a monthly sky chart showing the locations of the easier objects to try.  Click on the "northern sky" view, then print it out to take outside. Each map comes with instructions on how to use it. Any questions/problems, let us know in this forum.

http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

   Good luck and take it slow to avoid frustrations in the learning process.

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fatboy1271

fatboy1271

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Thanks for the Welcomes and info! I really appreciate the advice!!!

I get to take a long lunch today, came in a couple hours early, so I will try the tips given for daylight. A friend may be going out with his club this Saturday and if he does and I can join him I will definitely be taking my new baby :)

Thanks again!

fat

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fatboy1271

fatboy1271

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Welcome to SGL :)

Sorry cant help you with your scope but im sure someone can and i hope you get it sorted soon.

Send some clear skies our way please i havnt seen the stars for over 2 weeks!

Sorry to brag, or maybe not, but it has been in the 80s here lately. Was actually cold last night setting up the telescope... maybe high 60s! I do feel bad because my Mother lives in PA where it is 5 but feels like -6. And that is why I left there as soon as I graduated HS.

Keep us the Rock of Ages!!!

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fatboy1271

fatboy1271

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I've been hitting the Like button for all of the hellos and Welcomes because I want to show I do appreciate people's comments. If I cease to Like every hello from here on out please know that I do enjoy being welcomed!!!

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fatboy1271

fatboy1271

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Welcome to SGL, Fat!

Dodgers or Angels?

Dana

Hey Dana,

Penguins, Steelers, and Pirates!!! :evil:  I'm a transplant from PA, but I have been here since 1990. In fact the Pens are here tomorrow night to play the Kings and I'll be two rows from the glass on the Kings goal line... Likelihood of being on TV is quite high with these seats.

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fatboy1271

fatboy1271

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Thanks everyone for the Hellos and tips!!!

Update: Last night I was able to see Jupiter and two bands around her center, plus four Moons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What an awesome site!

It was too cloudy when it was light out to be able to calibrate the Finder to the Eyepiece; however, once the skies started to clear and I was able to find bright points of light that enabled me to calibrate them close enough.

This is not meant to be any offense to anyone who developed, worked on, or appreciates the SkyAlign... but I Hate it! Out of the four times that I know I was following the instructions correctly it "succeeded" once. I was happy. Then I looked up, saw Orion's belt, used the controller to go to the Orion Constellation or Nebula, I forget which, and the telescope started to move. To my dismay it was about 180 degrees off and even being a noobie it was pretty easy to tell since the Belt was very obvious in the night sky.

Next I grabbed my wife's tablet and downloaded a sky app. I used the Two Star Align, found the location of two of the stars on the app, and successfully aligned to those two stars. From there I could tell it where to point and it would go! When I plugged in Jupiter it was in the area but off target. Then I would go back to Sirius and Rigel, the two stars I used, and those would be very accurate. This doesn't bother too much since I am getting the hang of how to maneuver the telescope and what to look for in the Eyepiece.

I had a great time and I can't wait to get out of the city with this!!! Again, I truly appreciate everyone's time and comments and hopefully will get to meet some of you LAer's out there :icon_salut:

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