Newbe

[Mike potter]

Can I say thank you for letting me join I have a autistic son  Mattie who love star gazing so on a very limited budget got a meade Polaris 130eq  md  for 120 of eBay any help with how to improve it for my son remember we have a very limited budget so any ideas many thanks in advance 

[Ricochet]

Well if you have a PC then the first thing to do is to download Stellarium for free so that you can find things in the sky. If you have a tablet then my preferred app is SkySafari (plus). Celestron SkyPortal is a free, slightly modified, version of the basic SkySafari if you want to test it out.

You'll need to understand how to set up/use the equatorial mount so if you haven't already got that figured out have a look at the following videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkB5NCnFps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HVDKAZ6eM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plx6XXDgf2E

Once you set the telescope up properly and find an object it will then be easier for your son to keep track of it by turning the slow motion knobs. You'll also need to align the red dot finder with the telescope during the day by pointing the telescope at the furthest thing you can see and then adjusting the red dot finder to also point at that target.

The mount supplied with the tripod is probably a bit wobbly. To lessen this you can hang a weight from the underside of it. A water filled bottle on a thick chord will do and not break the bank.

Beyond that, you're probably looking at upgrading the eyepieces next as the ones given away with scopes aren't the best. The 25mm is probably the best of them and might be fine for your low power eyepiece. A 10-12mm Plossl should suffice for DSOs (but beware eye relief only being about 2/3 - 3/4 of the focal length if you or your son need glasses), and for Planetary you'll want something in the 5-6mm range. A Plossl on it's own will be too tight on eye relief here so you can either use a 2x barlow with a 10-12mm Plossl or something more like this modified Plossl whcih has longer eye relief, although if you're spending that much I would personally opt for a BST Starguider instead. 

Given that your son is the main user of the scope he might find changing eyepieces a bit difficult. In that case you might want to invest in a single  zoom eyepiece instead of using fixed eyepieces. The cheaper 8-24mm zooms are generally better received than the 7-21mm zooms so I suggest sticking with an 8-24mm. You'll see the same one under several brand names so just go for whichever is cheapest. Ebay is probably your best bet unless one turns up in the classifieds either here or on ABS.

[Mike potter]

Thank you very much very helpful 

[bobro]

Some tips:

If your son finds it difficult to look into an eyepiece, a simple webcam type eyepiece (look for 'electronic eyepiece' on ebay) will allow the telescope's view to be seen on a computer screen.

The Moon can seem very bright in an eyepiece. It can be made less bright by putting the large cover over the end of the scope and removing the small cap in the cover.

If setting the motor speed correctly is fiddly, a larger knob fitted over the very small speed control makes it easier.

[Mr Spock]

Maybe I can help, being autistic myself.

Does he have sensory issues? If bright lights are a problem then perhaps a moon filter would be a good choice. It doesn't bother me but the moon can seem very bright through a scope.

The much recommended Stellarium might be too confusing to be of use. I find it difficult and frustrating. Cartes du Ciel suits me better. It's highly customisable and satisfies my need for precision and complexity.

If he's anything like me he will be obsessed with technical details. What aspect of observing is he interested in? Perhaps a few good books will help and allow him to absorb lots of detail.

As autism is a 'spectrum' and everyone is different, more information would allow me to help more

[Dave In Vermont]

Just found this thread, and have now read same. I believe I said 'welcome' to you elsewhere, so I'll bypass a repeat. I have something else in mind: Stellarium has been brought up as a good source of information for find one's way about up there, I very much agree! I usually put out a longer introduction to this wonderful software 'planetarium-program,' and I've not done so in awhile. So I'll toss you (and anyone else) and Mattie a few links and 'copy & paste' posting on this program. So here we go:

__________________________________________________________________

On this link is the main page for downloading Stellarium. Choose which version is correct for your computer. Here you go:

http://www.stellarium.org/
 
As for instructions, a full copy of them is bundled with the program that you download. But if you need another copy for some reason, these can be downloaded here:
 
https://sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/files/Stellarium-user-guide/0.15.0-1/stellarium_user_guide-0.15.0-1.pdf/download

This program is quite large, so download when you have a few minutes. I'll leave you with a screenshot of mine, and also one of the screen approximating - roughly - of how it looks when you first begin to use it. Please know that I am an experienced user. I do this to help you understand the immense range & versatility of this amazing software-program.

In the beginning:

 

My advanced edition:

 

We have many members here who can help you with any questions about this, including one of the development-team itself. So have no worries about asking questions about this.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Hope you and Mattie enjoy this. It's also fun just to play with it - for both adults & kids!

All the Best,

Dave

[ronin]

Does he have any problems with an eyepiece? There is no mention of such from you in this thread yet it seems the prevelant idea. Wondering if I have missed something.

If not then I would get a couple of better eyepieces and also do not try for high magnifications, the most common seems to be around the 80x area. So I suggest something, maybe 2 eyepieces, that deliver around 50x and 80x.

As the scope is 130 f/5 so 650mm focal length tht makes something around the 8mm and the 13mm area. However it is usual that a wide field is a useful option to have, easier to locate things. Not sure what Meade supply these days, used to be MA's and in 26mm and 9mm formats. Which actually seem a fair pair. Actually reads that it comes with 3: 26, 9 and 6.3.Which actually seems a reasonable selection. So I am going off the idea of more eyepieces. Those 3 are a reasonable selection.

Best on eyepiece is really if any one is really poor then replace with a resonable plossl of close match in focal length.

Really it is get used to the scope, it will take a while. You may have to learn more as you will I half guess be the source of information. Get something like Stellarium and select the brighter therefore easier things to see. Sit down and make short lists of say 5 or 6 things. May not seem a lot but you are not in a rush.

26mm in a 650 is 25x and that relates to a view in an MA of around 2 degrees, mention this as Andromeda is often a taret and at 2 degrees you will not get all of it in view. It is not going to resemble the pictures in any way.

As said I suspect that it is you that will need to do the work in identifiny targets. Try groups of: Planetary Nebula, Globular clusters, Open Ckusters, Galaxies, Double stars.