A Lemon or ????

[ballistic]

So, i have just joined and already in need of some help.

I got a elcheapo telescope, nothing like you guys have, from a friend that upgraded. Was quite chuffed to have recieved it, but having a real problem seeing anything. I never recieved the manual with it and I have been scouring Uncle Google for setup info but to no avail. I don't even know what make it is, all it says on it is 70060. Uncle Google brings up a few pics and can u believe it, 1 vid on putting it together. There is also a few extra smaller little scopes and eye pieces, with the following names and no's on it.

Barlow lens 3x - no idea where this goes

Erecting Eyepiece 1.5x - same here

SR4MM - bottom of it says MOON

H12.5mm - nothing at the bottom of this one

Anyway, can anybody maybe just point me in the right direction here please as my friend seems to be a bit busy as of late :-(

Even a link would be appreciated.

I must say, having to struggle like this with ur first telescope leaves a really bad taste in one's mouth :-(

Thank you

Cedric

[Bizibilder]

70060 breaks down into 700 and 60.  The 60 is the diameter of the lens of your scope and 700 is the focal length (in effect the length of the telescope).  The H12.5mm is an eyepiece with a focal length of 12.5mm.  If you put this eyepiece into the scope you will get a magnification of 700/12.5 = 56 often written as 56x.  The Barlow lens can be used with the eyepiece (put the Barlow in the scope first and the eyepiece into the Barlow) and this combination will give you 3x 56 = 168x Magnification.

The SR4mm Moon is a Moon filter - the moon is very bright and you may need to use this to help when viewing the Moon - it is likely to screw into the bottom of the eyepiece.

The Erecting eyepiece is so you casn use the scope for "normal" observing on land, birds, distant views etc.  Astronomical telescopes (all telescopes actually) produce an "upside down" image and this lens is used to get it the right way up again!  Astronomers don't bother to use these as they just add another piece of glass which, for astronomy, is unnecessary.

Is it a lemon?  Well - it is a "cheap and cheerful" scope but it should provide good views if used within its limits.  If you find that you become truly interested in astronomy you will probably want to upgrade - and enter the slippery path to buying more and more "better" kit!! 

Hope this helps.

[Purplehayze104]

Hi There

your telescope seems ok from the pic, any chance you know where he got it from ?, if department store type scope could pretty useless if you really wanting to get into this hobby for real, ive heard many a story of where someone bought a dept store scope an go put off this hobby because of the views, but good training scope i spose so stick at it.

well a barlow effectivly doubles/triples etc the length of scope so as to get more magnification, it pops in the peice at the back (where eyepeice sits) then the eyepeice goes into that.

erecting eyepeice i think looks like the barlow but its used to make the image the right way up so to speak, as when viewing without the image can either be mirrored or flipped or both, this corrects that so everything looks normal.

think the SR4MM (4mm) could be a high powered eyepeice probably not much cop, but maybe effective on the moon for getting in close

the other is a 12.5mm eyepiece less magnification & more feild of veiw so get to see more within eyepeice.

hope this is of some help

regards

john

[LukeSkywatcher]

How much did you pay?. 

[ballistic]

@ Bizibilder Thank you for replying

OMG!!

What is wrong with me! I'm already looking at prices of telescopes :-}

The Celestron Astromaster 70 is in my budget as I just forked out 12k for my 7D body. And if the Mrs says okay (which I doubt) the Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ looks good.

But to get back to the issue at hand. So, the Barlow lens goes into the telescope first, then the 90 degree piece then the eyepiece!

And lastly, is it advisable to upgrade these parts or is it just better to buy a new one?

 

[brantuk]

You have to consider this scope a brief introduction to the hobby. It would only be a lemon if he overcharged you for it. It would be a good idea to join a local astro soc and get along to a few meetings with it. You'll find most astronomers quite welcoming and you'll be able to do a good comparison with other scopes to find out how good yours is. Hope that helps a little.

[Alien 13]

I had a look through a scope similar to this and the views of the moon and planets where suprisingly good no doubt helped by its relative long focal length so its no a lemon but maybe a bit limited with fainter objects.

Alan

[ballistic]

Oooo!

So many replies in the time I was typing my post.

@ Purplehasy104, not sure where he got it

@ Lukeskywatcher, I got it for free, well not totally free, it cost me a bottle of Vodka, which I had the pleasure of sharing with him :-)

[ballistic]

aaah man, more replies while I was replying to the first lot :-)

[Schorhr]

Hi there,

welxome to the forum :-)

I have one of those too in the basement, it is a typical starter scope that due to the poor eyepieces and weak/shaky mount ends a lot of children's enthusiasm after one or two nights of observing :-)

Even with a manual, most of these lack of good instructions or info on where to find objects to observe.

The best thing to do is to buy a book such as "turn left at orion" and take a look at the free http://stellarium.org.

If you are willing to put up with it you can make a lot of observations with such a telescope.

Do not extend the tripod legs fully or fill them with sand for stability.

If you have a rigid camera tripod you could adapt the telescope to the camera mount.

A 30mm Plössl could help finding objects easier and is ideal for some wide field objects such as the Andromeda galaxy or Plejads (Plössl eyepieces start at around 12€/10£)

Open star clusters

-Plejads

-M44

-Coathanger (Collinder list)

-h χ persei

Star clusters

M13, M3...

Galaxies (faint fuzzies in that telescope but visible... still nice to see them with your own eyes)

-Andromeda Galaxy

-M81/M82

M33

Nebulae

(depending on the time of year) -Orion nebula

-Ring nebula

-Dumbbell nebula

ngc7000

Look them up in stellarium, perhaps buy a planisphere and try to orientate yourself in the night sky. It is best to observe from a truly dark location away from air currents (windows, roof tops) and light pollution (even cellphone screens and distant street lights).

The darker the sky (rule of thumb: the more stars of ursa minor are visible and the better you can see the milky way), the better deep sky objects are visible.

Planets work from within a city too.

A good magnification for your scope would be 100x, with a 6mm eyepiece, planets will be small but show details with careful observation (saturn's rings, cloud bands of jupiter, mars will be very tiny but perhaps some structure visible).

Plössl eyepieces cost only 10£ or so but under 10mm they have short eye relief. They can be used with a barlow, but the cheap barlows lower contrast.

There are better eyepieces starting at 18 to 27£ but only worth it if you plan on a larger telescope in the future

Magnification equals telescope focal length divided by eyepiece focal length, eg 700 : 7 = 100x

Have fun with your telescope!

[ballistic]

thank you all for the advise

[Schorhr]

I am way too slow replying, my laptop broke and I typed on my tablet :-)

Do not upgrade right away, try viewing a few things with your current telescope :-)

Also most beginner kits sold are rubbish, you may want to consider a dobsonian type telescope or spending a bit more (the eqatorial/eq mounts sold in kits are usually not very sturdy).

If you later post budget, info on how dark your night sky is and what do you want to observe, people on here usualy can give you good advice and suggestions on what telescope to buy and what to be aware of so you won't fall for some exaggerated advertising :-)

[ronin]

OK you have a 60mm dia, 700mm focal length achromatic refractor.

Much ridiculed around the world but for some reason they have a following in the US that you would not believe. No idea why but the more of a lemon they seem to be the more they put effort into getting them to work.

The other aspect is that many people have started off with exactly something like this.

In simplest form you have scope, focuser, diagonal then eyepiece.

I would say forget the barlow and the SR4.

Means that you are stuck with the 12.5 and that is likely not a great eyepiece but the best you have.

My advice is to set it up as described (scope, focuser, diagonal and eyepiece) and then go out and get it focused on something (moon).

I suspect that Orion had appeared down your way so point it at the Orion Nebula, try the belt stars also, and for the hell of it Betelguese and possibly Rigel.

If you can borrow a couple of extra eyepieces from whoever donated you the scope, something around 25mm or 30mm.

Other things to consider looking for/at are the Ring nebula and the double double in Lyra, Albereio in Cygnus.

The scope isn't great but it is a scope adn with some thought you can see quite a bit.

Reason for ignoiring the barlow and SR4 is that I suspect the barlow will be bad and the SR4 is I think a 4mm eyepiece of the Ramsden design and 4mm in that scope is not worth trying.

Does the 12.5 have H or HR on it, the 12mm's are usually a Huygens design, again not great but at present the best you have.

Just realised: Is the eyepiece (both) a 0.96" eyepiece?

[LukeSkywatcher]

@ Lukeskywatcher, I got it for free, well not totally free, it cost me a bottle of Vodka, which I had the pleasure of sharing with him :-)

How much is a bottle of vodka in Capetown?

The scope certainly isnt a lemon, but you will be limited as to what you can see due to its 60mm aperture. 

[ballistic]

A bottle of vodka cost me R90 :-) A friend of mine has a shebeen,  so got a small discount. Hehehehe.

The eyepiece has a H on it, so it's H12.5mm.

As for the 0.96", my venier gives me a reading of just a smitten over 24mm. So i guess it's 0.96". I think. Is that good or bad?

[ballistic]

Did u mean Huygeniuns design :-)

and whats the differance between that and Ramsden?

[LukeSkywatcher]

So basically you got the scope (according to recent exchange rates), for less the 10 euros. 

Nothing wrong with that................and you enjoyed the vodka.

Good deal.

[ballistic]

and you enjoyed the vodka.

Can't remember :-)

[Schorhr]

1.25" are more common these days, a wider selection and inexpensive eyepieces available.

You can get an adapter but it will get some vignetting with eyepieces over 20mm or so.

You can build an adapter out of a film can, and the bottom element of one of the included eyepiece.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Can't remember :-)

Who can.

[ballistic]

:grin:

[ballistic]

Guys, I think I'm gonna call it a night, it's 11:30pm here and I got work tomorrow.

Once again, I wanna thank you all for the replies and the chat.

I'll bug you guys tomorrow, again :-)

Good night peeps

[Schorhr]

Good night :-)