What can I expect to see

[Sarahperry]

I have just got a Bresser Messier AR-152L 1200mm. It comes with a 26mm eyepiece. 

I am new to all this and I am unsure what I should expect to be able to see with this scope. It also seems the focusing mechanism has to be fully out to be able to see anything. 

 

Any my advice on if this is normal I would appreciate any help 

thanks

 

[Bizibilder]

You have a decent sized scope there!  I would suggest the Moon as a first object.  You have a magnification of 1200/26 which is 46x with that eyepiece (focal length of scope divided by focal length of eyepiece).  that will give you good views of the surface features.  Most of the planets are not too well placed for observing at the moment (that will improve with time over the years!) .  You could also look at some "deep sky" objects like star clusters (try the Pleiades!).  If you download "Stellarium" (freeware) you can set it up to give you a view from your observing position for any time of night you like - have a look round and see what is there.

The Moon is visible in the early hours at the moment but after 6th Jan (New Moon) it will appear in the evening sky after sunset.  If you have a camera or phone you could try to take a picture by holding it to the eyepiece - with care the results can be surprisingly good.

Please, whatever you do, DON'T try to look at the Sun - it WILL blind you!!  After that stark warning the good news - you can buy a sheet of solar filter and make a holder to fit it to your scope so you could observe the Sun in complete safety!  (it is a bit spotless at the moment as we are at the point of minimum solar activity, however in a few months (maybe by the end of 2019) activity should have increased enough for you to see some decent sunspots).  You can probably tell that I'm a bit biased and enjoy observing and photographing our nearest star!

[happy-kat]

Welcome

There is an excellent 'what can I expect to see' sticky thread.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/

[bingevader]

Clouds!  

Seriously, the wonders of creation!

Enjoy yourself. 

Happy Christmas!

[Les Ewan]

HI Sarah,

I assume this is a refractor, how far the draw tube is extended will be dependent on whether you are using the diagonal or not.Some eyepieces don't focus on some telescopes without adaptors but in your case the eyepiece does focus that's the main thing.As for targets to start I would go  for high impact ones like the Orion Nebula and easily found doubles like Gamma Aritis ,Mizar, Cor Caroli and the beautiful Alamac in Andromeda.

When going on to fainter objects try the easier located ones first (ones close by a bright anchor star) such as the Crab Nebula(close to Beta Tauri) and for a real test the galaxy close to Mirach NGC 404.

Of coarse the Andromeda Galaxy is on view which could be thought of as a bit underwhelming telescopically but watch out for the subtle dustlanes and its great fun detecting the main galaxy's satellite dwarf galaxies M32 and M110.

Be aware some of these objects will be just faint blurs in the eyepiece but if your not using a goto the satisfaction felt tracking down these elusive objects cant be beaten.

Personally speaking I'd consider paper charts as well as downloads. Atlases such as Norton's are cheaply picked up 

second hand on Ebay at the moment.

[wheresthetorch?]

I wonder if you have only tried it on terrestrial objects so far, as they would require the focusser to be wound right out? Objects in space are much further away, so will mean the focusser will be further in. 

[Les Ewan]

33 minutes ago, bingevader said:

Clouds!  

Seriously, the wonders of creation!

Enjoy yourself. 

Happy Christmas!

Your not a member of The Cloud Appreciation Society are you?? If so you must be happy most days!

[Alan64]

Do you have the refractor's diagonal inserted, then the eyepiece inserted into that?

[John]

1 hour ago, wheresthetorch? said:

I wonder if you have only tried it on terrestrial objects so far, as they would require the focusser to be wound right out? Objects in space are much further away, so will mean the focusser will be further in. 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

The above post is spot on - if you have been testing the scope out on anything closer than many hundreds of metres away, you would have needed to rack the focuser right out to get it in focus. Because astro targets are effectively at infinity the focuser will need to be racked somewhat inwards to get them into sharp focus.

 

 

 

[Sarahperry]

19 minutes ago, Alan64 said:

Do you have the refractor's diagonal inserted, then the eyepiece inserted into that?

I do have the diagonal refractor. Should I try without?

[Sarahperry]

1 hour ago, wheresthetorch? said:

I wonder if you have only tried it on terrestrial objects so far, as they would require the focusser to be wound right out? Objects in space are much further away, so will mean the focusser will be further in. 

I have focused on random stars but can only focus if all the way out?

[Alan64]

6 minutes ago, Sarahperry said:

I do have the diagonal refractor. Should I try without?

No, that would make it worse.  It sounds like you have an extension(s) screwed on to the end of the focusser's drawtube, and before the diagonal is inserted.  Do you see the extensions shown here at bottom-right?  Are they attached to the drawtube? 

I think that there's something, perhaps one or both of those extensions, pushing the diagonal and the eyepiece farther away from the focusser.  You want to position the diagonal closer to the focusser.  That's my best guess.

[John]

If you could post a photo of the focuser of your scope with the diagonal and eyepiece in place, as you have been using it, this might help diagnose any issues.

 

[John]

31 minutes ago, Sarahperry said:

I have focused on random stars but can only focus if all the way out?

At which point the stars look like a tiny point of light ?

When the scope is out of focus, the stars turn into disks of light which expand the further out of focus you get. It's points of light that you should be looking for though.

[Sarahperry]

12 hours ago, John said:

If you could post a photo of the focuser of your scope with the diagonal and eyepiece in place, as you have been using it, this might help diagnose any issues.

 

This is how it is set up at the minute. No extensions etc. 

[Ricochet]

6 minutes ago, Sarahperry said:

This is how it is set up at the minute. No extensions etc. 

This is the problem, Sarah. The Bresser scopes are shipped without extensions to make the packaging smaller, but must have at least one fitted for use. Firstly, you must unscrew the 2" eyepiece clamp from the end of the focuser. There is a small grub screw locking it onto the focuser that needs to be undone to allow the clamp to turn. I think it is a 2.5mm hex (allen) key that is required. On your focuser I can see that the grub screw is at the top.

 

Once you have removed the eyepiece clamp, screw it onto the extension and then screw both pieces onto the focuser. As you can focus with the focuser fully out I suggest you only need one extension. If you use two you might find you can only focus when the focuser is fully in (or you can't even get far enough in to focus)

[Sarahperry]

13 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

This is the problem, Sarah. The Bresser scopes are shipped without extensions to make the packaging smaller, but must have at least one fitted for use. Firstly, you must unscrew the 2" eyepiece clamp from the end of the focuser. There is a small grub screw locking it onto the focuser that needs to be undone to allow the clamp to turn. I think it is a 2.5mm hex (allen) key that is required. On your focuser I can see that the grub screw is at the top.

 

Once you have removed the eyepiece clamp, screw it onto the extension and then screw both pieces onto the focuser. As you can focus with the focuser fully out I suggest you only need one extension. If you use two you might find you can only focus when the focuser is fully in (or you can't even get far enough in to focus)

Amazing thanks for that I have added the extension so will try that out. 

[Ricochet]

15 minutes ago, Sarahperry said:

Amazing thanks for that I have added the extension so will try that out. 

Glad I could help. Stars will always look like points of light when fully focused so turn the focuser knob whichever way makes them smaller. Once you pass the point of best focus they will start to get bigger again. 

Once you have sorted out your focus I suggest the Orion Nebula should be one of your first targets. 

You will also want to align your finder scope if you have not done so already. During the day, point your telescope at the furthest thing you can see. Then adjust the screws on the finder scope so that it also points at the same thing. Then at night you can fine tune it on the moon or bright star. Those to the north, particularly Polaris, will be best as they appear to move the least. 

[R26 oldtimer]

You will have to use the longer extension ring with a 1.25" diagonal, or no extension rings for use with 2" diagonal. Both extension rings and no diagonal to reach focus with ccd or dslr.

Finaly no extension rings for ccd combined with a focal reducer.