Reflector eyepieces

[davebird2003]

My wife gave me a telescope for Christmas this year , I do not know much about telescopes but I have tried it to no avail !

The kit consisted of a telescope and a reflector eyepiece with two lenses of 6mm and 12mm but I  have tried both lenses and all that I have been able to see mostly is my own eye reflected on the mirror piece ,can anyone here offer me any advice to rectify my situation?? 

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL. Can you give the community a little more info about the telescope ? Make, focal length  etc.

[Sirius Starwatcher]

Hello Dave and welcome to SGL As stated any other info will help us to answer your question If you feel brave try posting a photo of your kit so we can see the problem.

[faulksy]

have you by any chance left the cap on the end of the scope, quite common, we all make mistakes. cant be on the lens (ep) because you can see your eye reflecting. hope this helps

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. There are many helpful videos on you tube which show you how to set up a telescope for the first time

[Qualia]

Hiya Dave. Next time you're about, just as Peter suggests, let us know what telescope you have and if possible give some details like its aperture and focal length. Let us also know what targets you were trying to view etc. I'm also intrigued by the statement, I saw "my eye reflected on the mirror piece". If possible try to clarify that a little or as Garry suggests, take a snap shot of what is going on.

Other than that, welcome to SGL   

[davebird2003]

Thanks for the replies guys but you might as well be talking in a alien language when you ask about apertures & focal lengths ,but I do know that the top lens is 6cm diameter!

I received the telescope as a Christmas present and all that was in the box besides the scope & a 6mm & 12mm lenses was the assembly instructions,

I did manage to figure out about taking the cap off the top end while I was trying it out , good eh?

I have tried using the scope about 4 times but I can't seem to get any results except for what I said in my post about seeing my own eye reflected.

I also have a problem with the focus knobs as when I do manage to find a object I lose it when trying to focus ,maybe I'm expecting too much as I read on here that people are disheartened by the fact that what they see is nothing like the images of planets/stars that you see on line from the Hubble etc..

I hope you guys can offer me help with my problem as I am beginning to think that maybe astronomy is not a very good choice for my new hobby.

[faulksy]

telescope 001.JPG

Thanks for the replies guys but you might as well be talking in a alien language when you ask about apertures & focal lengths ,but I do know that the top lens is 6cm diameter!

I received the telescope as a Christmas present and all that was in the box besides the scope & a 6mm & 12mm lenses was the assembly instructions,

I did manage to figure out about taking the cap off the top end while I was trying it out , good eh?

I have tried using the scope about 4 times but I can't seem to get any results except for what I said in my post about seeing my own eye reflected.

I also have a problem with the focus knobs as when I do manage to find a object I lose it when trying to focus ,maybe I'm expecting too much as I read on here that people are disheartened by the fact that what they see is nothing like the images of planets/stars that you see on line from the Hubble etc..

I hope you guys can offer me help with my problem as I am beginning to think that maybe astronomy is not a very good choice for my new hobby.

dont no what scope it is ? so diameter of the objective lens is 60mm, were the small scope is (the finder) there is usualy a label with the specs on.

also were you put the lens to look through it goes into a 90 degree box this called the diagonal, on the opposite end to were you look that might have a cap which will block the light so you would see your eye. does this make sense

[glowjet]

Hi Dave and welcome to SGL. After a little investigation, according to UK Hobby stores this is their entry level (Astronomy) telescope, material plastic, comprising 50mm clear plastic objective, 600mm focal length tube, the whole mounted atop a simple basic tripod, which seems to have rotation and declination movements, complete with finder scope and two eyepieces 6mm and 12mm, (presumed plastic), to give 50x and 100x magnification,

You say that you see your eye reflected back, if this is against a black background, then the light path may be blocked, but I suspect this may be a problem of reflection from the plastic used for the optical parts. you also go on to say that you have a problem when focusing, as when you do find an object, you loose it in the process, no doubt because the scope is not held steady enough on its tripod, you may also have been using the 6mm eyepiece which means at 100x any pinpoint of light in the sky will move quite rapidly across the field of view.

I would recommend that you use the scope during the day, fix the scope so it is not able to move if you can, then using the 12mm, focus on a target a good distance away, such as a TV aerial and see if you can obtain a clear image. At this time you could also focus and adjust your finder scope, to focus on the same object, as this will have to be done to enable you to use it in conjunction with your main scope.

If you try this out and report back, we could be nearer to solving your problem. Good luck and enjoy the forum

Amended in view of incorrect tube length originally quoted.