Celestron powerseeker 114eq help!

[John]

18 minutes ago, Jennifere20 said:

Right. I’ve just aligned my scope on a church steeple. But when I’ve looked through the eye piece I couldn’t see nothing. What am I doing wrong? Does the telescope have to be upright because I had it to the side? 

You want to use your lowest power eyepiece for this (ie: 20mm or 25mm) and, in case you have one, don't use the barlow lens.

 

[Jennifere20]

Yes done all that. Just got what I think is a very bright planet in my finder then I couldn’t see it through my telescope because my telescope moved 😩😩

[John]

18 minutes ago, Jennifere20 said:

Yes done all that. Just got what I think is a very bright planet in my finder then I couldn’t see it through my telescope because my telescope moved 😩😩

If it is in the West it is most likely Venus.

 

[Jennifere20]

Yes it was. But for some reason I found it in my finding scope then it wasn’t in my telescope? 

[Geoff Barnes]

2 hours ago, Jennifere20 said:

Yes it was. But for some reason I found it in my finding scope then it wasn’t in my telescope? 

Sounds pretty certain that you still haven't got your finderscope aligned with the telescope.

First priority is to get your target in the centre of your view through your telescooe eyepiece and  then centre it in the finderscooe with the adjusting screws. Once that is done you should be able to find everything especially with a 20mm or 25mm eyepiece.

Good luck Jennifer! 

Edited May 14, 2020 by Geoff Barnes

[Jennifere20]

Thankyou. I’m going to take it up to my parents back yard today. They have a lot more space and align it properly 😀

[Jennifere20]

So this polar alignment? Once I have it set up to that can I not move the telescope? 

[Jennifere20]

Also why are the RA coordinates for planets in hours? And not degrees? 

[carastro]

Because the magnification of the main scope is much much more than the finder, if the finder is even slightly misaligned with the main scope it is easy to miss a target in the main scope which can be seen in the finder.

The easiest way to sort this all out is to use the Moon for both alignment of the finder to the main scope, and then focus the main telescope because it is bright, large and hard to miss, even if it is out of the field of view (FOV) you should be able to see it's glow to one side.  You will however have to wait a week or two because the Moon is currently in it's last quarter phase and not rising until the early hours of the morning now when it is starting to get light.

It does sound to me like the main scope is not focused.   

Some telescopes require an extension piece added to achieve focus, though I don;t recall this being the case with this scope, though it was a long time ago I owned mine.  

So...... when you get the Moon in the FOV if you can't achieve focus then, trying moving the eyepiece manually back from the socket to see if you can get focus then and if you can then you may need an extension piece, but don't use the Barlow for this purpose.

I seriously doubt that this scope will not focus simply with the eyepiece, I have no recollection of having to use an extension piece.  

 Carole 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by carastro

[Jennifere20]

Ok Thankyou very much for all your help. Sorry I seem to be mithering. I just cannot get my head around it. And I wanted to go back to university to study astronomy basics haha. 

[carastro]

Quote

And I wanted to go back to university to study astronomy basics haha. 

You don't say where you live, but I did a year's course in GCSE Astronomy (UK), and found it extremely interesting and enlightening.

Carole 

Edited May 14, 2020 by carastro

[Jennifere20]

3 minutes ago, carastro said:

You don't say where you live, but I did a year's course in GCSE Astronomy (UK), and found it extremely interesting and enlightening.

Carole 

I am from the north west of the uk

[carastro]

So the GCSE should be available to you but you would need to find an adult education centre in your area that does it, I did mine at Greenwich, but I know there are other places that do it.

I thoroughly recommend it.

Carole   

[Jennifere20]

Oh brilliant. Il have a look. Thankyou. 

[happy-kat]

There are lots of free courses on line with FutureLearn

The Moon and Orion are good and there are lots more.

[Jennifere20]

6 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

There are lots of free courses on line with FutureLearn

The Moon and Orion are good and there are lots more.

Oh really? Il have a look. Will keep me entertained during lockdown

[Jennifere20]

Is anybody from the north west here? 

[DaveL59]

its a different scope to yours, but if you are still struggling with getting the finder aligned, from around 12:30 on this video may help

 

[Padraic M]

Hi,  understand how you feel because it took me a long time to get this figured out too. A couple of points to make:

- There are a number of different 'alignment' steps that you need to make before you're all done. Finder scope alignment is not the same as polar alignment (and is not the same as star alignment for a Goto mount). All different things. But from your comments above, it definitely sounds like you haven't correctly aligned your finder scope.

- Do your finder scope alignment during the day when you can see what you're at. The video above is very good, it's just a pity she doesn't show what she can see through the main scope and the finder scope. I do this using a distant rooftop (if in the city) or a mountain skyline (if in the country). Look for a point where two lines intersect - e.g. a chimney/antenna meets the roof line, or a distinctive tree/rock/fencepost on the mountaintop. First find the skyline in the main scope by moving it manually up and down; then move left/right to find where it meets the chimney/tree etc. Now your main scope is fixed at a certain, identifiable point. Now without moving the main scope, find the exact same point in the finder scope by adjusting the thumbscrews. When you're done, you should see the same point through the main scope and the finder scope. Now, as long as you don't detach the finder scope, or bump it around, you should not have to redo this alignment again - but don't touch the finder scope thumbscrews again!

- When it gets dark, find a very bright star or the moon in your finder scope, using the mount controls. Once you've got it in the finder scope, you should see it centered in the main scope too. If it looks like a donut rather than a point of light, you need to adjust focus on the main scope. I would be stunned if you need any extension tube or Barlow to find focus. Definitely start with your widest eyepiece and once you have found your target and got focus, swap in your higher-power eyepieces one by one. You would be surprised how easy it is to lose your target in high-power eyepieces.  If you do, put back in your widest eyepiece, check that you still have the target in the finder scope, and adjust the mount controls to center it.

- My first scope was a Celestron Astromaster 130 and it wasn't possible to align the finder scope with the main scope - the holder for the finder scope was obviously badly fitted. I had to wedge a wine cork underneath it to raise the front slightly - then I could use the thumbscrews. I've since found many uses for wine corks in astronomy!

- When you start your set-up at night, you will need to level your mount and polar align. We never said it was easy (!!) but it gets easy with practice.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

Padraic.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Padraic M
(edited to remove Star alignment - not needed for a manual mount

[RT65CB-SWL]

8 hours ago, Jennifere20 said:

Also why are the RA coordinates for planets in hours? And not degrees? 

I cannot remember why...
I think it was used when the ancient astronomers used time as a unit of measure and it stuck.

• 360 degrees in a circle
• 3600 seconds in one hour or one degree of arc.

There are telescopes called 'Meridian Scope'. These are 'fixed' in RA, but 'free' to move in DEC only. Therefore when an object crosses a pre-defined point, let's say 18:12:49, that is its recorded RA position. The height of the object above the horizon is measured in degrees & seconds of arc. (sorry, but I got distracted by the 'phone earlier and had to go out and get something for someone).   

This may help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_ascension or this: https://www.astronomynotes.com/nakedeye/s6.htm - plus there are other sites which give the explanation too. 

Time for me to swat up on this too... I think! 

Edited May 14, 2020 by Philip R

[Jennifere20]

What’s the mount controls? The small black screws that I loosen to move the telescope around? Thankyou for your helpful advice! 

[Jennifere20]

4 minutes ago, Philip R said:

I cannot remember why...
I think it was used when the ancient astronomers used time as a unit of measure and it stuck.

• 360 degrees in a circle
• 360 seconds in one hour

This may help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_ascension or this: https://www.astronomynotes.com/nakedeye/s6.htm - plus there are other sites which give the explanation too. 

Time for me to swat up on this too... I think! 

Haha. So how do I find where a planet is by using time? 

[Padraic M]

4 minutes ago, Jennifere20 said:

What’s the mount controls? The small black screws that I loosen to move the telescope around? Thankyou for your helpful advice! 

Yes. On the mount, you have locking nuts that allow you loosen and tighten the RA and Dec axes, and you have slow-mo controls (knobs) for fine-tuning. This is what I mean by the mount controls - initially loosen the axes, move the scope to point 'roughly' at the target, then tighten them and use the slow-mo controls to adjust to perfection!

You'll spend a lot of time fumbling around in the dark with these controls 🙂 

[John]

7 minutes ago, Jennifere20 said:

Haha. So how do I find where a planet is by using time? 

The setting circles on most mounts are really not large enough or accurate enough to find things, unfortunately. When people used to use them seriously they were made much larger diameter so that the calibration could be much finer and more precise.

 

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

These YouTube videos may help...