in need of some serious help?

[charmedkelly]

can anyone, anyone help me i am new to all this but have wanted to do this for years and this xmas i recieved a astromaster 114 telescope so my dream came true finally but i need some help.... i would like some help please any1....

umm theres a few things i need some help but i would like anyone that could help me or could have a chat with me through my email or through my skype either way p,ease someone help?

[blinky]

HI there,

Welcome to the forum What would you like help with? Just ask in here and you will recieve all the answers you want This is a really friendly place and no questions is too silly/simple/obvious.

[charmedkelly]

hi craig thanks for the help umm 1stly is my scope good enough for viewing planets in detail its a astromaster 114 made by celestron

kellu

[charmedkelly]

is anyone there?

[GazOC]

Just post your questions here Kelly, there are plenty of people on the forum willing to answer.

[Kai]

Hi Charmed kelly

Welcome to Sgl

Can i suggest that you remove your email address from the above post or you might end up with no end of spam emails etc as its exposed to the internet.

The forum has a way of private communication that is the Pm (personal message) system , a little like email .

With your scope you should be able to get some detail from the planets.Jupiter being the best one at the moment.

Do you know where to look for it ???

[charmedkelly]

how can i remove my email

[charmedkelly]

done it

[charmedkelly]

is jupiter the bright yellow star right near the moon

[blinky]

Yep, The scope you have is suffiecient to show you some detail on the Planets. As has been said Jupiter is the best placed at the moment.

May I suggest you invest in a book, not just any book, this one is called 'Turn left at Orion' It has very easy, simple directions to find the best objects in the sky.

As for the planets (Sorry, I forgot that was your original question :oops: ). I am sure somebody will be along shortly with directions on how to find Jupiter. You should also get some great views of the moon with your scope as well.

How far have you got with your scope? Have you looked at anything yet?

[gary1968]

Howdy,

Welcome to the forum Kelly, you'll get all the answers / advice you need here in the forum.

Your telescope gets fairly good reviews. It will be good for showing you the Planets and the Moon. It will shown the planets as small discs, size obiously depending on eyepiece used, but clear detail on a good night will be seen in Saturn and Jupiter, and perhapse even Mars. Although I have yet to have a good view of Mars and that is through a 8" reflector..... :?

It will also be quite good for showing you some of the brighter deep sky stuff.

I startd out with, and still have, a Celestron 114 reflector and one of my most memorable views was the 1st time I saw saturn through the 114, it really is an amazing sight.

Gary

[barkis]

Hello Kelly. I believe these are the specifications for your scope.

Recommended Usage: Astrophotography , Viewing Galaxies/Star Clusters , Viewing Nebulae , Viewing the Moon , Viewing the Planets

Warranty: 2-Year Limited

Brand: Celestron

Usage: For the Beginner

Weight Complete: 17 lbs.

Finderscope: Fixed StarPointer

Lens Coating: Aluminum

Good for Astrophotography: Yes

Telescopes Series: AstroMaster Series Telescopes

Optical Design: Reflector

Aperture: 114mm = 4.5"

Focal Length: 1000mm

Focal Ratio: f/9

Mount Design: CG-2 Equatorial

Eyepiece 1: 20mm (50x)

Eyepiece 2: 10mm (100x)

Highest Useful Magnification: 200x

Star Diagonal: 1.25 Inch

User Level: For the Beginner

(click to enlarge)

Your telescope is in the beginners class Kelly, it's mirror is 4.5 inches in diameter, which is on the small side for useful astronomy, but nevertheless you will get a lot of pleasure, and experience from using it.

It gives the maximum useful magnification as 200 times, but I would stay well below that figure. The higher the power you use, the dimmer the object will be. I would stick to viewing the moon and brighter planets at the higher magnifications.

Usually, a six inch reflecting telescope is regarded as an entry level size for astronomy use. I have a friend who has a 4.5" scope, and he loves it to bits. Just choose your targets carefully, and try not to view at too high a magnification and you will get a lot of joy from you telescope.

Just ask if you need to know anything else.

Good Luck.

Ron.

[charmedkelly]

ok no sadly i have not seen much in the sky latley or ever just the Moon lol

i dont know what else to do

but i have these lenses

3 X Barlow Lense

2 X Achro Barlow Lense

H 20 mm

Celestron 20 mm Erecting Eyepiece

H 12.5 mm

SR 4mm

and a

plossl 40 mm af36 lense

[charmedkelly]

wots the best lense to view jupiter

[charmedkelly]

Also wot can i view at the moment and r these lenses good for viewing them wot one shall i use for viewing the plants i.e jupiter

[blinky]

OK, If you find jupiter your best view would be with the 12mm eyepiece I suspect. As I said above, I would get hold of the book as it makes it really easy to find some of the best objects in the sky. First off though get the scope setup and view the moon, then find Jupiter and have a look at that. Once you have seen these throught the telescope you are ready to go hunting for some fainter objects.

[gary1968]

It depends on the conditions, on a good night you could use your 12.5mm wih your x2 barlow. If it looks ok through that then change the x2 for the x3.

If the conditions are not so good then the 12.5 on its own or the 20mm with the x2.

You really dont want to get much above x200 magnification with that scope. To work out magnification divide the focal length of your scope, 1000mm, bt the length of the eyepiece. So, 1000 / 12.5 = 80. so in this eg the magnification is 80x if you put in your 2x barlow then the mag is increase to 160, with the x3 it would be 240, but this is only really useable on a very very good night. The max magnification recomended for any scope is 50 x each inch of aperature, yours is 4 1/4 so realistically 212.5 is ggetting close to the scopes limit.

Hope that helps, I'm sure my figures are correct but if not someone will be along to correct me soon......

Gary

[charmedkelly]

yeah i thought the moon was amazing to look at the craters were amazing i though anyway apparntly the the orion nebula is amazing to see

[charmedkelly]

thanks gary so i will definitly take ur advice on board im writing down everything

[charmedkelly]

hi ron i just read your posting what in your opinion is the best scope for a beginner like me to view good stuff

[charmedkelly]

wot good things are in the skys at the mo that i can view LOL

[charmedkelly]

i bet u all think i am a pain

[barkis]

hi ron i just read your posting what in your opinion is the best scope for a beginner like me to view good stuff

The best scope for you depends a great deal on what you want to do.

I'm sure you are aware that there are a multitude of different types out there.

A good general purpose telescope is a 8" f5 reflector. It is reasonably easy to manage, and has a good light gathering capacity. Sometimes these instruments can be found on the for sale boards of Astro Forums such as SGL. Of course it is easy to be wise after the event, but you should have asked these questions before you spent your money.

We always hope that newcomers to the forum ask all the relevant questions before they spend their dough. As it is, you must get as much as you can from what you have now bought. It will show you some useful stuff.

Ron.

[gary1968]

Again Kelly, it depends on the skies where you are viewing from. Just now Jupiter is nice, roughly south at midnight, I think...

Not sure if it will be visible from where you are in your scope but M27, the dumbell nebula is a cracker. Its only a few weeks till orion starts to amaze us again, you'll get M42 in there. M45 is visible now, although it doestnt really get high enough until the wee small hours.

If were to download Stellarium you'd have your own planetarium, get it here, http://www.stellarium.org/ , its free and very easy to install / use.

It'll show you all that is in your sky once you have it set up.

Hope that helps........

Gary

[barkis]

wot good things are in the skys at the mo that i can view LOL

If you are online, and you must be or you couldn't be posting on SGL. Do a search for a programme called Stellarium. It's a planetarium prog. and it is free. It will show you what is in the sky from where you live, just tell it your Longitude and Latitude Coordinates in the setup, and away you go.

Ron.