I'm a rookie :) started today with no idea

[Jayc]

I have just brought the 76700 telescope reflector, is this any good and also can you see planets and Galaxy's?

[alacant]

Guess:

http://www.astroshop.eu/ts-optics-telescope-n-76-700-az-1/p,4966

?

[happy-kat]

Welcome

The Moon well be good, you'll see Jupiter and it's for main moons and at a dark location you might see the two main bands, you'll be able to make out m42, m44, m45 to name a few interesting items.

You could download stellarium to help you find things. Patience at the eyepiece can reveal more as you relax and look.

I think you might want to read this post.

What can I expect to see

[Putaendo Patrick]

Looks like you have an economic basic telescope, but nevertheless it can be a great tool to get you up and started in amateur astronomy. I guess it has an aperture of 76mm (the approx diameter of the tube) which will be good for quite a range of brighter objects, but will not have the light gathering ability to pick out fainter objects.

Your telescope may have two weaknesses:

1. Poor eyepieces. Your telescope usually comes with two eyepieces, perhaps 20mm and 5mm, and maybe a x2 Barlow. The 20mm lower magnification EP will probably be adequate, higher magnifications especially when using the Barlow "magnifier" may well be rather poor quality. Try out all your different combinations on the Moon on a clear night. If you find you can't get crisp views at higher magnifications, you may want to get something like an 8mm Plossl EP (approx 20-30 pounds new or half that second-hand).

Remember too, your telescope may promise very high theoretical magnifications. In real terms the limit for your scope will be about x150 with good atmospheric conditions - this however is more than enough to give excellent views of the Moon and planets.

2. Tripod may be very shaky. You may be able to suspend a weight (such as a bottle of water) from the centre of the tripod to give more stability. Similarly, not extending the legs to their full length may reduce vibration.

Many people buy these type of telescopes with expectations of seeing incredible colour images of the night sky, similar to those you see in magazines or o the Internet. You won't - photography is a very different process to visual observation, and you won't see these images with any telescope no matter the price! Keep your expectations to a minimum and you may be pleasantly surprised.

A couple of general tips for observing: let the telescope cool down 20-30 minutes before using it, get your eyes used to the dark for a similar length of time, and get a red light torch (red light doesn't ruin your night vision). If you can, use your telescope well away from bright lights - the darker the sky, the better the viewing.

You may also find a reasonably inexpensive pair of 8x40 or 10x50 binoculars to be a very useful compliment to the higher magnifications of your telescope in learning to find your way around the sky.

Stellarium is a really excellent free program which you can download for your computer from the Internet and will provide a map of the night sky which you can personalise to your location and time.

Astronomy is a hobby which gets better with time. Patience and accumulated hours at the eyepiece are essential, frustration (especially with the English weather) is all part of the game. Take things gently to start with and probably in a year or so you will want to buy a larger and better telescope (then another, then another etc!).  Above all, have fun!

 

 

[cloudsweeper]

Your alt-az mount is nice and easy to aim and use.  I started off with a 'scope of the same 70mm aperture, and had good views of M42, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, some clusters, and double stars.  For faint objects like galaxies, you might need a larger aperture - especially in light-polluted skies.

Doug.