Newbie bresser pollux

[Byrnsiiee]

Hi, sorry in advance as I'm new to this, I received a bresser pollux 1400/150 as a Christmas present, after mentioning I would be interested in trying this as a hobby however I wasn't actually expecting to get one so soon, so I haven't had much chance to look into it in more detail, 

 I had my scope yesterday and so far I have managed to build it, I'm not sure what else is required in the set up of this, 

I have tried using it but when I put the 4 mm and the 20 mm in I cannot see anything at all, 

im sure someone on her would be able to help?

 

many thanks in advance

[D4N]

It is best to start off in the day pointing it out of a window at something distant and use the low power eyepiece (20mm) to focus (be careful not to point the scope at the sun).  Align the finder with what you see in the eyepiece.

Now when you use it at night the finder will help you find things and to focus you will just need to move the focuser in a little bit from where you had it in the day.

The 4mm eyepiece gives 350x magnification, this would require very good seeing to achieve so best to stick with the 20mm (70x) for most things.  Once you have something in the 20mm you can try the 4mm but it is likely to go fuzzy unless it is very clear.

[alacant]

Hi. Anything at all? Black? Something out of focus? What was the telescope pointing at? Is there already a lens in the focuser? Can you send us photos? -looking down the tube toward the mirror - looking into the focuser with no eyepiece inserted -the whole telescope on it's mount? It's probably something easy to fix. HTH.

 

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. I am not familiar with this scope, but I am sure you will soon get some good advice on its set up. A little more information might help and perhaps a photo on how you have set it up.

[ronin]

Several questions:
Where are you, stick a town as a location in the signature part, it really does help.

Where did the scope come from ? Jessops, Curry's, Amazon, Scope retailer.

The scope apppears to be a Bird-Jones design (Amazon site), which will cause problems. Forget the 4mm eyepiece just too short and sounds nice as they will say it gives 350x but not a chance. Reality is closer to the 150x the mirror diameter. And you will get lower blood pressure by aiming at 100x and maybe less. Which leaves the 20mm for 70x.

Drop the 20mm in and try to ain the scope at something about 2 to 5 miles away. Then adjust the focuser until you can see whatever you are aimed at. It needs to be 2 to 5 miles away not 200 to 500 yards.

Owing to the design I will suggest that you are limited to low power and medium power viewing, not actually a bad situation.

You will need to set up the finder and the scope to point at the same thing but first just get familiar with it and get seeing something, likely an upside down tree. You may want the upside down tree to align finder and main scope. See a use already for an upside down tree.

If you received a barlow with the scope then put that to one side. The scope design if as I read already has a barlow in the focuser, and using what would in effect be 2 barlows tends to be a bad idea.

Did Bresser really call it "Pollux" ?

[Byrnsiiee]

Thanks for all your replies, yes it was called the Pollux,

http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/bresser-pollux-150-1400-eq2

 

i have aligned the finderscope, it could just be me being dense, I've attached some photos of my set up,

 

im guessing it could be out of focus but how would I adjust that?

 

thanks

 

[nightfisher]

in the second pic you have the tube with a pair of finger wheels, this moves focus in and out, also if it came with a x2 barlow dont use it for now

[Byrnsiiee]

1 minute ago, nightfisher said:

in the second pic you have the tube with a pair of finger wheels, this moves focus in and out, also if it came with a x2 barlow dont use it for now

Hi I have moved the wheels, and i have managed to focus one an object so thank you very much, my bad! 

Is the image meant to be upside down?

 

[nightfisher]

Yes i think it would be as its a mirror glad your getting the hang of it

[Byrnsiiee]

5 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

Yes i think it would be as its a mirror glad your getting the hang of it

That makes sense many thanks for your help! Just going to keep practicing now. Is there anything else I should know?

[Cornelius Varley]

8 minutes ago, Byrnsiiee said:

That makes sense many thanks for your help! Just going to keep practicing now. Is there anything else I should know?

The black tube inserted into the focuser is a barlow lens which increases the magnification of the telescope. Normally you won't need to use this.

[Byrnsiiee]

6 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The black tube inserted into the focuser is a barlow lens which increases the magnification of the telescope. Normally you won't need to use this.

Thanks, this also came with a second Barlow lense so won't I need to use this or when will there be a time to use it?

[Cornelius Varley]

Just now, Byrnsiiee said:

Thanks, this also came with a second Barlow lense so won't I need to use this or when will there be a time to use it?

You would use the barlow lens when you need a bit more magnification ie the 20mm (x70) would effectively become a 10mm lens (x140). Don't use the barlow with the 4mm eyepiece though, the 4mm eyepiece gives a magnification of x350 which is far more than is practical for your telescope.

[Byrnsiiee]

3 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

You would use the barlow lens when you need a bit more magnification ie the 20mm (x70) would effectively become a 10mm lens (x140). Don't use the barlow with the 4mm eyepiece though, the 4mm eyepiece gives a magnification of x350 which is far more than is practical for your telescope.

Many thanks for the advice! Think I'm nearly all set to go now.

[D Wright]

This looks very similar to my first scope which was a Visionary Mira Ceti 150/1400. It is a Bird jones type reflector with a spherical mirror and a corrector lens built into the focuser tube. It wasn't too bad a scope producing some good views. I Don't want to confuse you but they can be a bit tricky to collimate.

[Victor Boesen]

I have the scope. Great beginner scope but later  you really want something better. The build in x2 Barlow also called a corrector lens will really ruin the quality. If you take it out, the scope won't work because of the spherical primary mirror.

But again, good beginner scope.

Victor Boesen

[Byrnsiiee]

10 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

I have the scope. Great beginner scope but later  you really want something better. The build in x2 Barlow also called a corrector lens will really ruin the quality. If you take it out, the scope won't work because of the spherical primary mirror.

But again, good beginner scope.

Victor Boesen

Thanks, just wondered if you have used the smartphone adapter, I wanted to look at something but when I put the adapter on it didn't show on my phone, just black, I'm sure it was in line with the scope lens too.

also are there any other accessories you have brought for yours? 

And do you use the 4mm eyepiece? I can find things with the 20mm but if I swap it for the 4 I can't see anything.

[Victor Boesen]

9 hours ago, Byrnsiiee said:

Thanks, just wondered if you have used the smartphone adapter, I wanted to look at something but when I put the adapter on it didn't show on my phone, just black, I'm sure it was in line with the scope lens too.

also are there any other accessories you have brought for yours? 

And do you use the 4mm eyepiece? I can find things with the 20mm but if I swap it for the 4 I can't see anything.

It is a bit tricky to get your phone lined up with the ep, but when you do, you can take shots of the moon and planets. I have bought a 12,5mm plossl ep and I use it a lot, because I don't use the 4mm.

[Byrnsiiee]

1 hour ago, Victor Boesen said:

It is a bit tricky to get your phone lined up with the ep, but when you do, you can take shots of the moon and planets. I have bought a 12,5mm plossl ep and I use it a lot, because I don't use the 4mm.

Thanks! I did notice I can't see much through the 4mm I might consider some other sizes, thanks again.

[Byrnsiiee]

I'm still waiting for some sky maps and other bits to arrive. However I managed to find this in my scope just in the south direction. However as they haven't arrived yet I can't really identify much. Can someone advise me on this.