Help with 1st scope?

[Ranger]

Hi all happy new year.

My wonderful wife bought me a nexstar 6se for Xmas.

I've mentioned on a number of occasions how much I'd like to be able to see the stars and that it would be educational for how kids!

Any ways, I've had two goes with the scope and the first night was quite successful and found the sky finder and 2 star setup not to painful.

The 2nd night had problems getting the sky finder or two star setup to work and ended up simply hitting the align button and manually aligning the scope, fortunately Beatlgause was very clear and bright.

Besides the auto align my biggest concern is what I saw threw the scope?

It came with a 25mm Plossl which to be honest gave me a view that wasn't to dissimilar than looking at the sky with my own eyes? Apart from being more vivid.

After some reading on here and previous knowledge of camera lenses I know I need a range of lenses so my lovely mum bought me a Celstron Iluminos 7mm for Xmas, ( which I can't seem to see anything threw)?

I know that most of my problems will be down to simple operator error and novice lack of experiance!

However until I manage to work out the setup process I am alarmed at the view I got and wonder what I'm doing wrong?

I really did expect to see some magnification with what I have, I would say that the scope only gave some clarity but no magnification at all.

I have many years experiance using high end digital SLR camera equipment and have spent a number of years shooting wildlife with upto 1260mm of magnification so I know what to expect with a few hundred Millimeters of magnification and even managed a shot of over 1km away with a doubler !

So I a little disappointed with what I've seen so far?

I'd be grateful for your advice, ( and so would my kids, as they were far from impressed).

Thanks .

[Peter Drew]

This is unusual, at the 1500mm focal length of the 6se the 25mm eyepiece should give you a magnification of 60x and the 7mm eyepiece around 215x, this should be a very noticeable increase. Be aware though, stars are too far away to be able to magnify them, they will always remain as points albeit a lot brighter. I would suggest that you try your eyepieces in daylight on distant terrestrial objects, this will prove that you are focusing properly and also demonstrate the magnification. Welcome to SGL, we will sort things out for you. 

[kendg]

The jump from 25 to 7 is pretty big and the main reason for not being able to see anything is probably focus. You may want to consider some intermediate eye pieces. My favorite was/is a 32mm eyepiece.

The Nexstar also eats batteries like crazy, so it is best to have external power for it and batteries only for when you knock out the power cord. 

As for setup, make sure it's pretty level to start. I did 3 star alignments with mine (before I switched mounts) to get the go-to fairly accurate. 

Some things you may want to look at are M31 (Andromeda galaxy) and M42 (Great Nebula in Orion). 

I know I was blown away the first time I saw M42.

Just remember you are not going to get views like you see posted here with imaging systems. They take a lot of time and work (and a few extra dollars/pounds)

[Ranger]

Hi Peter, thanks for you comments, you confirm my concerns, I didn't think I was wrong in expecting a lot more! Especially when I read people saying they are seeing jupiters moons ect?

Almost makes me wonder if I was looking threw the wrong end?

[wheresthetorch?]

Stars will look the same at any magnification due to the distances involved - still points of light. You'll just see more of them and maybe some colour in some.

The magnification of the telescope will help you to see things you can't see with your naked eye - galaxies, nebulae, detail on the planets, craters on the moon. The Nexstar aspect of your scope will help you find these things once you manage to align it. Alternatively you can download a programme like Stellarium to help you find objects manually.

I think your scope is probably working fine, but it was only pointing at random stars rather than objects that benefit from magnification.

[ronin]

Stars are always points, when you aim a scope at them they are generally brighter but just points.

What you need is to align it, check by asking it to go to another nice bright star, then ask it to go to a few objects like clusters and nebula.

Try M42 or M45, depending on your sky you could try M33.

For objects in general look up Messier List and Caldwell Catalogue. These are in the handset so selecting them is straight forward, just need to work out which are above the horizon.

You will likely need more eyepieces, the supplied ones are there to just get you going.

Plossl's should be fine on your scope, and I would say nothing less then 10mm, get a 32mm plossl simply for the wider field. Helps to find things and in the alignment therefore.

There are others but that will require you first deciding on the budget per eyepiece and how many.

Eyepieces can go from £25 to £400 so asking for eyepiece suggestions means every option possible is presented to you.

[Alan64]

The 7mm(214x) is for observing an object close up.  First, you find an object that looks interesting with the 25mm(60x), center it in that eyepiece's field-of-view, then pop in the 7mm for a much closer look.  In this instance, the object is M42, the Orion nebula, and prominent in the night sky during the winter.  Here it is seen through my 6" f/5 Newtonian, and a simulation of what might be seen with a 25mm on the left, and a 7mm on the right, although not exact to be sure...

The 7mm is not for looking for objects, but rather to observe them in their highly-magnified state.  With the wider field of the 7mm(82°), a bit more "real estate" will surround the object, and for perspective.

[Alan64]

In addition...

With a 6" f/10 SCT, and with a focal-length of 1500mm, one does not need to invest in expensive eyepieces to get pleasing views, nor does one have to stick with eyepieces of the same brand as that of the telescope.

The lowest-power eyepiece, and with the widest field-of-view, a quality 30-32mm would make for an excellent "finder"; a "spotter", and in conjunction with, or to even the exclusion of in some cases, the telescope's finderscope.  The 25mm that came with the kit may also serve to find objects of interest, but a 30-32mm would make for the best in that regard; for example...

A 30mm... http://www.firstlightoptics.com/vixen-eyepieces/vixen-npl-eyepieces.html

A 32mm... http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-sp-plossl-eyepieces.html

I have the Vixen 50° 30mm, and at 25x with the 6" f/5, I was able to see the four stars of Orion's Trapezium, albeit with scant separation between the closely-spaced pair.  It's a keeper.

The 6" f/10 SCT is not a particularly slow telescope, therefore, in future, you might want a 2x barlow, which will double the magnification of any given eyepiece; for example...

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/antares-x2-twist-lock-barlow-lens-125.html

For instance, barlowing a 10mm(150x), would simulate a 5mm(300x), for those rare moments when the seeing might permit such a high magnification, and when observing one of Jupiter's moons transiting across the face of the planet; and of the moon's shadow, too...

http://www.candgnews.com/sites/default/files/images/global/stories/cache/Transit_2-full-800x600.jpg

[happy-kat]

This is a good read about what you can expect to see.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/

Stellarium is great software (free to install) to show what is up there for your location.

http://www.stellarium.org/en_GB/

[brantuk]

I think it would help you to know what to expect you'll see, and what sort of magnification to use to see it. A really good book that helps you find and identify your first 100 objects is "Turn Left At Orion". It gives you a diagram of what you'll see (drawing), finding instructions, and suggested equipment to observe with, along with loads of other info.

It's not unusual when making the shift from using light, to working in the dark, to be surprised at the differences. You'll need to know about atmospheric conditions (or the "seeing"), transparency, working from as dark a site as possible, getting your eyes dark adapted, waiting for objects to rise away from the horizon, using averted vision, working out magnification and choosing the right eyepiece (wide or narrow), as well as lining up the scope and finder properly (1mm either way can mean losing the object).

A good tip is to always align the finder and scope with your smallest eyepiece. So use the 7mm to do that - and then every time you swap to the 25mm the object will be in view. It doesn't work the other way round.