how to use telescope

[Bvk]

Hi, I have recently bought National geographic 70 * 700 mm EQ. 

I have put the moon exactly on the place where it should be and i checked through view finder but i could not focus on the eyepice as i see only lights coming through.  I used 9 mm eyepiece and 3X Barlow lens.

[cloudsweeper]

That's a large magnification!

Try again with a longer focal length eyepiece and no Barlow, to find your way round!  (Or the 9mm EP on its own.)

Magnification is definitely not everything.

Doug.

[Ricochet]

Unfortunately, this type of telescope is designed to be sold in department stores and as such they always include accessories that technically will produce a completely unusable level of magnification just so that they can put "XXXx magnification!!!" on the box. I would suggest that the 9mm eyepiece on it's own is probably the highest magnification this scope is really capable of. 

[Moonshane]

I agree that the 3x barlow is the problem. 9mm / 3 (The barlow factor of 3x)= 3mm effective eyepiece. Magnification would be 700 / 3 (effective focal length if eyepiece) = 233x and this is too much magnification which I'd say at best is usually 2x the aperture in mm so in your case 76mm x 2 = 152x which equates to a 4.5mm eyepiece. Therefore on the moon, planets and double stars you should be able to use a 2x barlow instead. If you don't have one then it might be possible to unscrew the elements of the barlow and screw onto the eyepiece like a filter.  

https://goo.gl/images/wuJxbK

It's unfortunately unlikely with the cheaper scopes like this so you may need to buy one. For now though just enjoy the 9mm.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

An out of focus Moon is not the easiest object to bring into focus.  Try focusing on a bright star.  This will also show you how good your telescope really is.

Also, 233x is too much magnification for a 70mm scope, even one with a premium quality lens and eyepieces.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'm agreed. You are using way too much magnification. With a 70mm scope you will likely be doing well with 70-85x

[TareqPhoto]

I have 80mm/400 and i am doing fine with 10mm for the moon, even if i added 2x Barlow not 3X which i don't have is more than sufficient for the moon, at least with your setup using 9mm and 3X Barlow then i will definitely look at Jupiter or Saturn instead even they are blurry, not worthy to look at the moon with 233X magnification, this is too much close and you are entering the moon surface details, leave that for imaging not visualing, but buy another EP and keep that 9mm and the Barlow, you may need them later in the future with a better scope, also you will use the 3X ore for imaging if it is too much for visual.

[popeye85]

aside from the magnification point-have you made sure to align the finder scope?

[JOC]

Try using it in the daytime - keep away from the sun.  Find an object some distance away - hundreds+ meters, possible a couple of miles.  Take out the Barlow, put in the eyepiece with the highest number written on it, i.e.  if you have one marked 9mm, 12.5mm and one marked 25mm put in the 25mm (that's what amazon suggests you should have, now practice until you can focus on the object in the day time (don't worry if its upside down) - then try the same procedure on a star at night then you are ready to go and observe something.  Also look at the pictures in the first page of this thread: