Newbe

[joeando10]

Hello everyone!

Im new to this forum and also astronomy. Its something ive been interested in for many years but only recently decided to start studying it more. 

I have bought an Orion spaceprobe 130st replector and i must say it is a very well built bit of kit. Being a novice in astronomy i was at first having trouble actually seeing much at all, just kind of pointing it at the sky and having a nosy. Couple of weeks have passed now and ive manged to have a look at m42 which was impressive! 

Yesterday morning i was able to have a look at jupiter and its moons. One thing, however, i am having trouble with is being able to get a clear image on it. Even with my 40mm skywatcher eyepiece with 58 degree field the image i am seeing is somewhat distorted. HELP!!

I have tried collimating the mirrors and have got them lined up, but still a blury image. Is this just due to not having a powerful enough scope? or am i doing something wrong?

Some tips and tricks of the business would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Joe 

[nightfisher]

Joe welcome to SGL, sounds like your mirrors still need a bit of collimation, if you can find some one near you to set the secondary properly then primary is really easy to keep right and once secondary is locked it barely needs any further work, also for Jupiter a 40mm is not best as you need more power to see any detail, better with about 10 or 12mm

[joeando10]

Okay thankyou i will have a look at that, it is a tricky thing collimation. With your knowledge do you think my scope is large enough to give me details on planets? It has a 650mm appature. I have a 4mm, 10mm, 25mm, 40mm and a 2x shorty barlow lense.

Joe

[nightfisher]

Yes you should get pretty good views of Jupiter and other planets as and when they are well placed, also for a newcomer it is easy to think you are looking at the right object but you may well have been on wrong target, worth downloading the free Stallarium software to help find things in the night sky, it can be a bit frustrating starting out in this hobby but worth it, if you have a local astro club worth going along once in a while

[PeterCPC]

Hello Joe and welcome.

Peter

[nightfisher]

Joe, have a nose through the group on this link there might be some one that can check your scope over

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/129-south-yorkshire-stargazers/

[ronl]

Hi and welcome to S G L, at the moment the seeing conditions are not that good around 

my neck of the woods, high cloud makes for milky sky's, for a good clear view it needs to be

really good seeing, you may be observing through this high cloud which won't help your views,

give yourself time over a few sessions, getting use to your scope, then you will see a difference,

Jupiter is well worth getting up early for, hope you get a great view soon.

Good Luck and Clear Sky's.

 

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Joe, welcome.

[Floater]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby. I'm sure you're going to have fun with both.

Just a gentle correction to your terminology - Your scope has an aperture of 130mm and a focal length of 650mm. This provides a focal ratio of f5 (650 divided by 130). Knowing these figures and the 'jargon' won't increase your enjoyment but will help with understanding the magnification you are using (focal length of scope divided by focal length of eyepiece) and some other relevant facts. A focal ratio of f5 is considered quite 'fast' and impacts on how critical you need to be with collimation and the type of eyepieces which will give best results.

Don't worry about these things just enjoy the learning curve and keep asking questions. Oh, and always make sure you're enjoying what you're doing. ?

Edited December 30, 2016 by Floater

[BXRO]

Hello and greetings from Lincolnshire, welcome to SGL, keep asking the questions as it gives the seniors something to do

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. With your 10mm eyepiece you will get a magnification of 65x and should be able to see Jupiter as a small disc with 2 equatorial bands. With your 4mm eyepiece you will require good seeing conditions, but it will give a magnification of about 160x and you will see a larger disc and hopefully more detail. How are you collimating your scope? What tool are you using for Collimation?

[gingergeek]

Hi there Joe and a warm welcome to SGL

[joeando10]

Thankyou everyone for your help! I appriciate it so much!

I have tried collimating my scope and have got both mirrors lined up to the best of my current ability. I understand that in order to get the absolute best put of my scope they need to be lined up perfectly, which im pretty sure they are not. I have been using an alan key and a philips head screwdriver to adjust both mirrors. Took me nearly 2 hours to get it to a position i was relitively happy with, any more adjustment seemed to be making it worse. There is no where near me that will collimate my mirrors for me. I have read that using a red lazer is an easier way but that obviously means spending more money that i dont really have.

If anyone has any links to websites/videos that are great at explaning the process that would be great. 

I JUST WANT TO SEE JUPITER!! ??

Thanks guys 

[swag72]

Hi Joe and welcome to SGL - This is a great place to hang out, so settle down and enjoy the ride  

Look forward to seeing you around

[glowjet]

Hi Joe and welcome to SGL, enjoy using your scope and the forum

[JamesM]

Hi Joe and welcome to the forum

Clear skies

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire :-)