First post from a Newbie - All help greatly appreciated!

[sjpp]

Good Afternoon,

Where to start! So many questions.

So this Christmas my partner got me my first ever telescope. Astronomy has always fascinated me so to open this up was absolutely amazing.

Its a Celestron scope with a 5 Inch reflector (1000mm focal length) and a 5x24 finder scope mounted on an Equatorial mount. The kit came with three lenses, a 20mm, 12mm, 4mm and a green colored moon filter. Oh and a 3 x barlow lens.

So I followed the instructions and have it counter balanced in both RA and DEC but haven't had chance to polar align it due to the cloudy nights/mornings we seem to be having plenty of where i live!

Could somebody point me in the best direction for aligning the scope with Polaris? Do I first need my Latitude or am I confusing that with something else?

So far I have managed to get out and see both the Moon and Jupiter (Including the Galilean moons) during breaks in the cloud using the 20mm which has been rather satisfying but I would like some help/recommendation on which lenses to use to observe the  view-able planets under best magnification? 

Hopefully once I can get the scope aligned (which I believe helps with tracking?) I would like to attempt to view some deep sky objects.. would that be possible with this scope and current lenses?

If so could anybody offer some advice as to what to be looking for for a newbie and how best to find it?

Finally photography is my other interest - now I was looking at adapters for a Canon DSLR etc but i've seen some amazing results with modded webcams instead which definitely interests me, I keep reading about a phillips one that uses a CCD sensor as opposed to CMOS im assuming that's the most important part of using that specific camera? Does anybody know where I could possibly pick one up as they seem to be rare as rocking horse! If not are there many alternatives that produce the same results?

So apologies for the long post I'm just hoping to pry the best information from you guys with the experience to help me along the way! If there's any hints/tips/advice for a newbie with my setup that i haven't asked for i'd still greatly appreciate it!

Regards!

[brantuk]

Hi and welcome to SGL

Congrats on your new scope. The only way to point an EQ mount for polar alignment is north. To get it going you only need magnetic north right now - for imaging later on it will need to be more accurate. It's important to note you should align the mount with the pole star (not the telescope).

Google ways of finding the pole star using the Plough and Cassiopeia constellations - when you dial your lattitude into the altitude axis on the mount, it will point at the correct angle to acquire the pole star using the azimuth axis.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=finding+polaris&biw=1120&bih=600&tbm=isch&imgil=0uIP2LfoS90gDM%253A%253BYpgvxHMxu1yEMM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fpics-about-space.com%25252Ffinding-the-polaris-star%25253Fp%2525253D1&source=iu&pf=m&fir=0uIP2LfoS90gDM%253A%252CYpgvxHMxu1yEMM%252C_&usg=__MsGsh9JgPiYqC5TuKWpmaUNjpMg%3D&ved=0ahUKEwi_ivm405DKAhWBWhQKHf6JCnYQyjcIMw&ei=0KeKVr_iAoG1Uf6TqrAH#imgrc=0uIP2LfoS90gDM%3A&usg=__MsGsh9JgPiYqC5TuKWpmaUNjpMg%3D

Once you have the mount aligned you leave it set in place and don't touch the alt/az controls for the rest of the session. The scope can be pointed at different objects using the RA and Dec axes - and when tracking you will only need to move RA (with odd small tweaks in Dec). Hope that helps a bit - you should get more comments soon.

(Oh could you please state the scope model - and do you have a polar scope? It'll help others to advise)

[ronin]

Will add in that you are aligning the mount to polaris, that is not the scope.

Could you dig out, from the scope and the mount, what model both are as it would help in people suggesting things. The manufacturer will have plastered it over the scope and on the mount somewhere. It is a form of advertising afterall.

You need your Latitude, which will be about 51.5N, there is or should be a dial on the mount to get an initial angle, when you align it you fine tune this. If the dial is as coarse as I would suspect I would say try the 51 degree angle initially.

P.S. Where in Devon? Just FLO are in Devon, Exeter way.

[glowjet]

Hi SJPP and welcome to SGL, probably a most useful piece of advice, which many will refer too, is to obtain a copy of "Turn Left at Orion" most of what you have asked is well covered and much more besides, without doubt those just starting out to the well experienced, have acquired the book to assist them thorough the early stages. As Brantuk and Ronin have remarked, some more information on the model of Celestron scope you have obtained would be advantageous, as it will enable others to be a little more specific with their answers.

You have also extended your initial inquiry as far as imaging, it may be best if you address this direct to the appropriate imaging sections where I am sure you will find the help you want, enjoy the forum

[sjpp]

To all of the above, Thank you for all the information!

That makes complete sense -  I was getting confused with aligning the scope with Polaris as I was trying to figure out in my head how on earth to then search for objects if the scope was aligned but of course its the EQ mount you align! Rookie error ha!

I'm around 14 miles from Exeter, not far at all.

I will look in to picking up a copy of that book too, as with everything research and learning is key!

Thanks again.

Steve.

[MarsG76]

Hello and welcome to SGL,

The Webcam imaging is only useful for imaging Planets, the moon or the sun (Through a solar filter), where you capture thousands of frames and stack the best ones for a final high quality image.

When it comes to deep sky imaging, you need to do longer exposure subs. few minutes to for narrowband 15+ minutes.

[ronin]

That makes complete sense -  I was getting confused with aligning the scope with Polaris as I was trying to figure out in my head how on earth to then search for objects if the scope was aligned but of course its the EQ mount you align! Rookie error ha!

At least you had the idea that it didn't quite all add up. What usually happens is someone polar aligns the mount that stops as polaris is not in the scope.

OK next odd bit of information concerning polar alignment:

If it is for visual only then you can stick polaris in the middle of the polar scope, it will be accurate enough, things will drift out a little but not too much.

If trying to image you have to put polaris offset around the circle that is on the polar scope. Polaris is near to the axis but is still about 1 degree off, so you build that offset in to the alignment.

Forget exactly where FLO are, look at the top I suppose, last I looked they were a bit West of Exeter.

Think they are establishing a bit of a showroom, but not 100% sure. As I equally think they keep using the "showroom" space for additional storage.

Which is I equally suspect a fair idea.

[laudropb]

Have you aligned your finder scope?

[northcanadian]

Hi and welcome to SGL.  Stellarium is an excellent free download...lets you know what's up there and when

Cheers

Roger

[cjdawson]

Welcome to SGL.

Looks like your initial question has been answered well.  Which is why I love this forum, there's loads of people here with lots of answers and suggestions.    On that note, please remember this when posting.... there's only one stupid question, the one that hasn't yet been asked.

Rather than answer the question all over again.  I'll drop some pointers for you...

1. Turn left and Orion is a great book, there are others available as well which you might find useful.

2. Get a program like Stellerium (pc or mac, I think).  I personally use SkySafari on my iPad.

3. The initial description of your equipment looks like a fantastic starting point.

Take your time to get to know the scope, practice setting it up in daylight so that when you come to do it at night, you don't have to fumble around on the cold and dark struggling to do it.  You'll very quickly learn a routine that helps you get this done quickly.

You'll want to check over the collimation of your scope - whilst it's brand new, and you'd think it would be done for you, the reality is that it's not.  Taking a few hours to collimate the scope will greatly improve the performance over a scope that is not collimated correctly.  If you don't feel confident to do it right away (it does feel like a daunting take first time out) that's fine, just be aware that it's a job to do when you are more comfortable with the scope.   Reality is if you are using the scope mainly on the moon (which I think is a fantastic first target) it's collimation isn't critical to enjoyment. Once you progress onto planets, it may be worth the effort, but if you progress to DSO (Deep Sky Objects) it will be vital.

Remember there are loads of us here. So please do ask loads of questions, and of course share your experiences too.

I hope you get as much enjoyment from your scope as I have from mine.