celestron astromaster 130eq

[Tonwenman]

Hello every one 1st thanks for letting me join this forum I hope to find out more and learn more. 

I am new to astronomy and I have just brought a celestron astromaster 130eq which I think is a good telescope for beginners now I find it very hard to find things in the sky even the moon I use the scope finder line it up with the moon or jupiter or a start but when I look through the eyepeice I see nothing what am I doing wrong it took me half an hour last night to find the moon it was doing my head in then I lost it as it went out of my veiw I have a 10 mm and a 20 mm eye piece and just ordered a 4mm one as well any advice will be greatly appreciated thank you  Tony 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Tonwenman

[Vulisha]

If you have stock laser finder/red dot you need to set it up firsr. 

Point telescope to distant street lamp or something similar, and then using bottom and side screw on red dkt ajdusit it that red dot points at street lamp

[MattJenko]

I had this very scope as my first scope and it was tricky to get working well in terms of aligning and keeping on target. As mentioned above, you need to align the red dot finder during the day to make sure it is any use at all. Once that is working, it solved the initial find the object issue.

After that, you are into the world of equatorial mount alignment. Before you start observing, you need to align the mount to point along the earth's rotational axis (polar alingment). This only has the be done roughly for visual with this scoipe, but without doing this, then keeping the object in view is going to be frustrating. Once aligned roughly, then all that is needed is to use the RA slow mo to track the object, which helps enormously.

For this scope, the 10mm eyepiece is no where near as good as the 20mm, so a decent 8-12mm EP is well worth it (more so than a 4mm in my view). I also got a 28mm for the scope to help with targeting and finding. The best bang for buck for this scope though is a Telrad.

 

 

 

[Tonwenman]

OK I have sorted out the scope how do I take pictures I have a dlsr camera I have a T ring can't focus on the moon 

 

 

[NGC 1502]

 

Hi and welcome to SGL.  Could you post a photo of the red dot finder on your scope please ?

Some of the Celestron 130 EQ scopes had a type of red dot finder that was very frustrating indeed to use.  We’ve had several people bring those to my local club for help, and even experienced members struggled. Our advice was to replace the finder with something better.

This may be irrelevant if your scope already has a better finder, if you have then as mentioned best to align it during the day on as distant an object as you can. Start with the lowest power eyepiece you have ( largest number ) aim the scope as best you can at the distant object - chimney pot, aerial etc - centre that in the eyepiece field of view, adjust the finder to align with your object.   Change to higher power eyepiece, repeat.

Good luck, Ed.

[NGC 1502]

6 minutes ago, Tonwenman said:

OK I have sorted out the scope how do I take pictures I have a dlsr camera I have a T ring can't focus on the moon 

 

 

Wow, you’re are trying to run before you can walk 😬 no offence meant at all but best to get some observing in first.......

Cheers from Ed.

[MattJenko]

I can't remember if the focuser was too far out or required extensions. I suspect it is too far out and that you either need to push the main mirror forwards to push the focus point further out of the focus tube or try and get a low profile focuser, or move the dslt closer in somehow.

[Tonwenman]

What size eye piece is best for viewing the moon I have a 4mm 10mm and a 20mm is it worth getting a 40 mm

 

 

 

[MattJenko]

10mm will give you a decent full disk kind of view and when the seeing is good, you can use a 4mm to get higher magnification. I would not recommend a 40mm for the moon with your scope.

 

[Tonwenman]

Thank you 

 

[Alan64]

For your lowest power, for the hunt, get a 32mm Plossl.  It will give you a power of 20x, binocular-like, and to find your way around the sky...

Focal-length of telescope: 650mm ÷ 32mm = 20x...

https://www.365astronomy.com/32mm-GSO-Plossl-Eyepiece.html

The 20mm that came with your kit is an erect-image eyepiece, for daytime/terrestrial use; birds in trees, ships at sea, that sort of thing.  I have the same one, and that came with my Celestron 127mm f/8 "Bird Jones".  It has a rather narrow field-of-view.  You can replace it with a wide-angle 20mm if you'd like, and for the sky at night.

What type of 4mm eyepiece do you have?  I usually 3x-barlow a wide-angle 12mm for a simulated 4mm, which is much more comfortable to use.  In any event, you can make good use of 2x and 3x barlows, for the Moon, the planets, and the double-stars, and per the telescope's rather short, 650mm focal-length.