New telescope.

[paultf1]

Hello. 

May I ask for some advice please. 

I have just purchased my first Telescope. It Is 76_700. Vivo. Reflector Telescope. 

The  following are features and specifications.. 

Choice of 2 Magnification eye pieces 105x, 525x

Aperture76mm (3") Focal Length 700mm. F9;

Finderscope5x24 

Eyepiece:SR 4mm H12.5 H20mm 3x Barlow lens Erecting lens1.5x

I will be using the telescope on a quite Caravan park on top of a very high hill. There are very few lights around so no problem with light pollution. 

Can someone please give me some advice on what extra Eyepiece and filters. Would be helpful to purchase. 

I am in my mid sixtys and it takes a bit for me to sink in with focal lengths etc. 

I have seen lens and fillers on eBay and how do I know what size to purchase, as I am a bit confused  with it all. 

Thank you in advance for any help given to me. 

 

[scitmon]

Well first of all I think you have made the common 'newbie' mistake of buying a cheap telescope that you find in department stores and the like.  While it maybe a ok telescope for looking at the moon for example, you may find the tripod its mounted on frustrating to use and the eye pieces it comes with are not very good. 

Before looking into buying accesories such as eyepieces etc I would consider replaceing your telescope with something from a dedicated retailer... for example: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL. The first thing I would recommend is not to use either the erecting eyepiece or the 3x barlow. I would also igone the claims of x525 magnification. Yes, you can achieve x525 with the shortest focal length eyepiece together with the x3 barlow , but what you will see will be very blurred. The practical maximum magnification for a telescope is typically 2x per mm of aperture ie 2x76 =152 which is slightly less than the 4mm eyepiece will provide focal length of telescope / focal length of eyepiece). The best two accessories you should get are a book, Turn Left at Orion, and a red light torch to read the book by at the telescope.

[happy-kat]

There are lots of larger brighter deep space objects you will be able to see, for example M42, M45, M44 and the book suggested will be very helpful. Often objects are viewed in medium to low magnification so something like a Vixen vpl 30mm or GSO/revelation 32mm to give the lowest magnification for finding objects.

[domstar]

I agree with Turn Left at Orion. It's really helpful. I had a 70mm scope with similar eyepieces. I had a massive improvement when I bought a cheap 25mm plossl. A lot of people try and sell their skywatcher plossls that come with their upgraded scopes. You can pick them up on ebay usually for under 10 pounds. It showed me more sky and gave better views. The scope is still limited but, in my case, this simple cheap upgrade opened up possibilities and ultimately led me to knowing that I was in the hobby for sure and wanted to upgrade.

Have fun with your new scope.

[sloz1664]

Hi and a very warm welcome to the Lounge. Enjoy your first scope and if the bug really bites, and you have the inclination & the money, buy a better scope. But, post on the forums and tap into the vast knowledge available to point you in the right direction.

Steve

[FaDG]

Before buying any accessory, make sure it fits your scope as well as being usable in the future in a better scope. 

Just stating this because some of the cheap 76/700 don't use 31.8mm/1.25" accessories, but rather 24.5mm ones. 

If this is the case for your scope, just don't buy ANYTHING but a book: use your reflector on the moon and if you like the hobby, ask here before upgrading. 

Sorry for being blunt, but wasting money on that setup is really not the good way to start. 

Fabio

[newtyng5]

Hi there Paul.

I started astronomy many years ago with a much inferior scope to your 3 inch reflector. You should be able to see many double stars, open clusters, globular clusters, a few nebulae and galaxies, plus of course the moon and planets (although they are really quite poor for northern observers at the moment).

I would echo the thoughts of the other folk on here. For certain do not buy filters or eyepieces yet. Try your scope out first.... And I agree with all the previous replies,  the most useful piece of advice .. buy/read/download a beginners guide/book. The advice and information, will be much more valuable to you.

I wish you well.

Edited April 27, 2019 by newtyng5

[Alan64]

On 26/04/2019 at 06:45, paultf1 said:

Hello. 

May I ask for some advice please. 

I have just purchased my first Telescope. It Is 76_700. Vivo. Reflector Telescope. 

The  following are features and specifications.. 

Choice of 2 Magnification eye pieces 105x, 525x

Aperture76mm (3") Focal Length 700mm. F9;

Finderscope5x24 

Eyepiece:SR 4mm H12.5 H20mm 3x Barlow lens Erecting lens1.5x

I will be using the telescope on a quite Caravan park on top of a very high hill. There are very few lights around so no problem with light pollution. 

Can someone please give me some advice on what extra Eyepiece and filters. Would be helpful to purchase. 

I am in my mid sixtys and it takes a bit for me to sink in with focal lengths etc. 

I have seen lens and fillers on eBay and how do I know what size to purchase, as I am a bit confused  with it all. 

Thank you in advance for any help given to me. 

 

Hello Paul, and welcome.

I can't imagine that you'd need any filters for the telescope, but you certainly could use some better eyepieces.  But before any recommendations can be made, we would need to know the diameter of the barrels of the eyepieces that came with your new kit.  The current minimum, and of what is readily available, is of a 1.25" diameter.  The old standard is of a .965", or 1" diameter.  If the .965", you'll be hard-pressed in finding eyepieces of that size.  Here's an illustration of both types...