new to this with a celestron NextStar 8se....

[danccat]

Good evening, as the title suggests, I'm new to this and have decided to take up star gazing as a hobby. I purchased my first telescope today which is the Nextstar 8 from a member of this forum who said for me to join up and introduce myself, so, hello!

...Whilst here, I was also hoping you may answer a question of mine, I was able to align the scope to the sky on first use but when looking through the lens, there's no real improvement to how I see through my own eyes. Am I missing something? I have not done a system reset yet and will do so later (it's raining now) or do I need more powerful lens'? Currently using celestron 25 lens which is all I got.

Any advice would be great!

[Peter Drew]

Hello Danccat, welcome to this forum. I have a 8se, it's a great telescope and gives me excellent views so I'm not quite sure from where your problem comes. Do you mean that pointed at the sky it looks blank, if so maybe the telescope is not yet focused, there is a considerable focus range and it is quite easy to overdo it. Try a focusing run during daylight on something in the distance. Whatever the problem it will most likely be something trivial which can soon be sorted out.     

[LukeSkywatcher]

A 25mm eyepiece is a rather large (low magnification) size to use. To me it sounds like you have just not focused the scope properly when the 25mm is in place. The SE range of scopes have a pretty wide range of focus travel to use. It goes about 10 full turns to both the left and right.

[davedownsouth]

Sounds like a focus issue.  At this time of the month (Moon not up until early hours, what there is of it), try pointing it at Jupiter and focus until you can see it's moons as pin point dots.  When this is achieved. you should easily be able to make out bands on Jupiter with a 25mm lens.  If you can not, try refocusing.

[wheresthetorch?]

Bear on mind that stars don't look any bigger through a scope - they remain as points of light. However, you'll see more of them, and other phenomena that you can't see with the naked eye like nebulae and galaxies - the GOTO will help you find these.

[ronin]

If you have the scope aligned then you must have had it focused - you have to centre the stars that it specifies.

So first question is were the alignment stars in focus = sharp pinpoints?

In general Maks and SCT's are a bit of a pain to get into sharp focus, the screw adjusters take several turns and the adjuster tends to be in an awkward place.

Suppose the next question is what were you looking at?

If a star then they are always pinpoints, you might (should) see more of them but still a pinpoint.

Assuming it was aligned and focused try an object like M42 (Orion Nebula).

If you want a star then Betelguese, it's red looks impressive even if still a point.

Then try M45, Pleaides cluster.

Could try M1, Crab Nebula but you will need other eyepieces. It might appear as a small dot with the scope and eyepiece you have but I do mean a small dot.

Maybe M33, Triangulum Galaxy, but again I suspect another eyepiece is wanted.

Assuming all starts to work/make sense (It may take a while for both ) then for extra eyepieces try something like a 10mm and 15mm. Ignore the pull of magnification try the 15mm first. Both lengths are sort of appriximate as in a 12mm and 15mm may be good. Will be useful to consider a 32mm or 30mm plossl as well, the wider the view the better of alignment and finding things.

Does the person you purchased the scope from live near/far ?

Did they or you alter the location that the scope has?

If they set it to your location then no need to do a reset, and doing one could mean that you create problems for yourself. Just getting the data in and correct always seems to be a problem, and there is little reason to do a full reset as just about everything stays the same.

I am not sure if changing the location is easy on the 8SE. I think they display the location at start up, and if at that display it is easy to enter new Long+Lat.

[danccat]

Thanks for all your replies, sorted now.  The guy I bought it from actually phoned me up and helped out... I believe it was part focus issue and me being a novice in general!

Just need to research now and find the best lens for this scope to view these places in the best way possible

[valleyman]

Hi Dan.

Glad to help last night, don't rush into buying lenses just yet, get used to using the scope in daylight and at night.

You will get lots of advice on here about what is the best route to go.

Glad you had your first WOW moment last night with Jupitor,

regards

Pat