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getting up to speed before I have my scope


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Hello Ladies and Gentlemen I am new to this glorious forum and a little over excited! I hope this isn't a silly question but... I am soon to get a telescope for christmas for my daughters, aged 5 and 8 (and possibly myself ;) ) . It is a Celestron Powerseeker 114EQ. I have found, via google, posts on this here forum that say this ism't a terrible beginner scope (with maybe later addition of new eye pieces). My question, I want to try and get as up to speed as possible before I get the scope, will be about 10 days time. I have heard I need to align and collomate (I am sure that is spelt very badly) the scope before it can be used. Can I educate myself on this before I get the scope? Is youtube the best place to look first? I be aiming my sights on the moon first so as to get the girls interest and not cause frustration. Many thanks Craig

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There are a lot of collimating guides but there is every chance that your scope will arrive fine and you might not have to do anything.  Some of the collimating tools also cost more than your scope so the easiest way is to drill a very small hole in the centre of the focuser cap and use that to check everything is central.

 

For alignment there are also lots of video guides on how to set up an EQ mount, the EQ mounts aren't easy to set up if you have never seen one before.

The main points are to level the tripod and align the right ascension axis to North.  You can use a compass for,this or visually site Polaris.  Most phones have a built in compass.

 

I would recommend pointing it out the window at something a long way away and bring it to focus with the eyepiece in, this,will make it much easier to focus at night as you will be nearly there.  Just be careful not to point it at the sun.

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Hello and welcome to the forum :icon_biggrin:

Once you have put the scope together there will be a couple of things you need to to before you can use it:

- set the latitude scale on the equatorial mount to match (roughly) your latitude. So you could look up your latitude to prepare for this.

- align the finder scope with the main scope so when something is in the cross hairs of the finder, it is in view in the low power eyepiece supplied with the scope. This is best done using a distant object in daylight such as a chimney or TV aerial.

The collimation may well not need adjustment or at least I would not make it a priority initially.

You could also download the freeware planetarium software "Stellarium" so that you can see what might be in the sky when you have the scope. I'n my experience children get bored very quickly watching someone trying to find something with a scope but enjoy looking at it once it's found !

It would be worth finding out a bit about the general principles of using scopes such as how and when to use different magnifications etc, etc. This link might help:

http://www.eyesonthesky.com/Videos/TelescopeBasics.aspx

Hope you enjoy the scope :icon_biggrin:

 

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Hi Craig and Welcome to SGL, much can be had from reading the advise and information from the various sections of the forum, if you have questions just ask, help will be willingly given. As most observations start with our closest neighbour, the Moon, download the free program, "Virtual Moon Atlas", your Daughters will be amazed when you are able to point out some of the well known features. "Stellarium" is also free, an essential guide to find your way about the night sky. Enjoy your new scope when it arrives and the forum :) 

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Hopefully your scope won't need collimation when it arrives - smaller reflectors tend generally to remain quite well aligned. My ex-neighbour had your scope or one very similar; he had never collimated since he bought it second-hand a good ten years previously but to me it seemed pretty spot on! Big aperture reflectors are usually much more sensitive. In any case it isn't a big deal after you've done it once or twice.

Stellarium, as Glowjet mentions above, is a really excellent planetarium program which can be as simple or advanced as you want. Download it from http://www.stellarium.org/  and configure it to your time zone and location (many major cities are pre-listed from a menu, or you can input your latitude and longitude). You might want to activate the Navigational Stars plug-in - these are stars used by sailors to find their way and are generally the brightest in the sky. If you can slowly learn these, you will have a very good network of reference points.

You don't need a telescope to get started with observing - just start looking at the night sky with your eyes and try to "join the dots" of the constellations. Polaris, the North Star, will be another important star - you will need to be able to identify it to set up your Equatorial mount correctly.

Check out the planets as well - currently Venus is near the Moon in the early evening and is very bright. Also near the Moon is Mars which becomes visible as a tiny red point as it gets darker. You can also begin to observe the phases of the Moon and get a feel for what stage it's currently in.

 

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cheers D4N, John, glowjet, putaendo I shall follow your instructions, it all sounds very helpful. I am a bit less worried about the collimation now. So things to do/get.

Compass on mobile (EQ video)

http://www.stellarium.org/    (Navigational Stars plug-in)

Virtual Moon Atlas

http://www.eyesonthesky.com/Videos/TelescopeBasics.aspx

I agree kids will get bored waiting for me to find things, hence I will limit their viewings to the moon until I have a better grasp. Still, I think seeing the moon as a 'planet' in 3D, will be mind blowing enough for them for now.

Are the things above all desktop or tablet/mobile?

Is there an app by where you can strap your phone to the scope and it will help you find objects? (I hope the very thought hasn't offended anyone :) just saying it sounds like a very un-purist thing to do)

Thanks again for your help.

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The ingenuity of Astronomers knows no bounds Craig, if you Google something in the order of "Attaching an I phone to a telescope eye piece", there should be quite a few simple DIY projects on offer. You can buy a commercial product if you so wish, I believe Messrs Orion do one such device, but it will be on the expensive side I don`t doubt :) 

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16 hours ago, Dogmatix72 said:

My question, I want to try and get as up to speed as possible before I get the scope, will be about 10 days time

I think you should spend more time studying  as to whats available and what to expect from the equipment. Not sure if anyone here has owned the said telescope you intend to purchase,  though I have just sold a  127EQ Powerseeker.
I've owned it for over two Years, used  initially for about a week until the replacement 200P arrived. IMHO its not the best scope to have/own for the first time. Yes you can see the Moon, look at wildlife  across fields,  I have seen Jupiter, but this scope provided no details on Jupiter and the image was smaller than what I see now, and I still think the 200P image is small? detailed, but small.

2 hours ago, Dogmatix72 said:

I agree kids will get bored waiting for me to find things, hence I will limit their viewings to the moon until I have a better grasp

The kids will get bored waiting for you to set it up, never mind find anything, except the Moon.

A poor performing telescope on a flimsy tripod and setting it all up is the issue,  if a 5 and 8 year old can master the tracking using the slo-mo controls  that's fine, but  the next target you look at, there is a lot of adjusting to fiddle with and tube rotation / adjustment ( this will keep the telescopes focuser in a position that is suitable for the kids to reach?) All this is just totally unnecessary for visual observations.

I would suggest for the children, some 7x50 binoculars, these will be light enough to hand hold, without shaking the image to bits, say if you went over 10x magnification. The binoculars will allow the children to see more due to the field of view, and because the 114 powerseeker will have less performance than the 127, i know that binoculars were of more benefit for my needs!

The  Heritage 100 or a 150P Skyliner would be next on my list  of options for the kids, but I would not advise the Powerseeker based on my experience with the 127EQ. Another hands on piece of kit is a Planisphere available from most good book shops. 

 

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Thank you... am aware it probably isn't great but I am not heavily invested in it. It was just £65 on ebay new and boxed. So I would not loose much if I sold it on quite soon, in good condition. It was purchased to spark an interest and I did see some videos on youtube with people using the same scope and what I saw I was  happy with. The EQ mount just happens to be the mount for it so I don't mind learning with it. I was thinking of moving to a skywatcher Heritage 130 if it did spark an interest. So, yes I can see it not lasting too long, my idea was a few watching events with the kids, me getting it all ready so they can just view for a bit. Then if they show any interest at all, I will be back on ebay or the internet in the new year/spring.

 

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6 hours ago, Dogmatix72 said:

It was purchased to spark an interest

.......and that's all it takes.

It's a pity you were not a lot closer to me, as I have offered the 127EQ as a gift to many folk, all they had to do was pass by the house.
Its gone now!

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