Celestron powerseeker 114eq help!

[John]

Mid August for Saturn and Jupiter to be reasonably placed in the South at around 10:30 pm.

 

 

 

 

[DaveL59]

34 minutes ago, Jennifere20 said:

Later in the year as in when? I can’t wait that long. I need to see a planet!!

I see John has answered re when.

 

Just for you, Venus thru my SW130, managed to take a couple pics with the phone at the eyepiece before it dropped below the fence. Must remember my glasses to get the focus right for the phone next time, doh!

20mm eyepiece:

and 10mm eyepiece

 

 

[Jennifere20]

Aww thanks!! I’ve just seen it!! Should there be a black sphere in the middle of Venus??? 

[DaveL59]

Well done!!

if you're seeing a black dot then you need to adjust focus a bit as that'll be the secondary mirror you're seeing. Adjust until the image is at its smallest which should then be a sharp thin crescent in Venus' case.

Edited May 14, 2020 by DaveL59

[Jennifere20]

7 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Well done!!

if you're seeing a black dot then you need to adjust focus a bit as that'll be the secondary mirror you're seeing. Adjust until the image is at its smallest which should then be a sharp thin crescent in Venus' case.

I tried focusing. It was just constantly there. Could the scope be broken? 

[DaveL59]

I'd like to hope it isn't broken, how far is the focuser racked in, do you get to the point in the focus where Venus shows as a sharply defined crescent that's quite thin especially at the tips?

My images are a little out of focus for the camera so bloat a little, not to mention its a very bright object against a dark background. 

Are you able to take a pic to show what you're seeing?
Not easy but phone against the eyepiece might just do it. Ideally you need the camera focus to infinity and manual settings mode (pro mode on mine) or try the FV-5 lite app. We'll have more of an idea of we can see what you do  

[Geoff Barnes]

No you are seeing Venus properly Jennifer. Look at Dave's photos above, Venus has phases like the moon.

[Jennifere20]

6 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

I'd like to hope it isn't broken, how far is the focuser racked in, do you get to the point in the focus where Venus shows as a sharply defined crescent that's quite thin especially at the tips?

My images are a little out of focus for the camera so bloat a little, not to mention its a very bright object against a dark background. 

Are you able to take a pic to show what you're seeing?
Not easy but phone against the eyepiece might just do it. Ideally you need the camera focus to infinity and manual settings mode (pro mode on mine) or try the FV-5 lite app. We'll have more of an idea of we can see what you do  

It’s bogged off behind the houses now. Will try again tomorrow 

[Jennifere20]

Just now, Jennifere20 said:

It’s bogged off behind the houses now. Will try again tomorrow 

What phone do you have? I have an iPhone 11. Can’t find the app you suggested? 

[DaveL59]

ahh always the way. Mine's a note-10 plus, not sure what camera app there is for the iphone but does yours offer a pro mode where you can set focus etc manually?

I tried the other app to see what it does but find that since mine lets me do all that with the in-built app I didn't see the point to buy another just yet  

[DaveL59]

5 minutes ago, Geoff Barnes said:

No you are seeing Venus properly Jennifer. Look at Dave's photos above, Venus has phases like the moon.

yeah I did think that after I posted, the crescent extends a way around when I was seeing it earlier low in the sky, might give the impression of a black sphere in the middle slightly offset. 

[Jennifere20]

Oh thank the lord for that haha. Was about to go get the hammer 😬

[Jennifere20]

I hold a science degree believe it or not 🙄

[DaveL59]

sorry, thought best to check as its a common mistake, focus way off, a bright ball of light and a black circle in the middle...

But sounds like you got there after the frustrations of getting the finder set up AND saw your first planet with your own eyes! When you do get to see Jupiter and Saturn I'm sure you'll be blown away, as we pretty much all are  

[Jennifere20]

Oh I can’t wait! Is Jupiter viewable most nights? 

[Jennifere20]

My only problem is is where to find the planets as I can’t find them

with the naked eye to zoom in on 

[Geoff Barnes]

Unfortunately only Venus is visible in the evenings at the moment Jennifer. All the others are visible before sunrise if you want to get up really early. Later in the year Jupiter, Saturn and Mars will return to our evening skies.

[Jennifere20]

Around August? It was mentioned by John earlier? 

[DaveL59]

I use this site on teh PC which you can set date and time and it'll show you what would be up to look at

https://in-the-sky.org/skymap.php

At the moment Jupiter and Saturn would be rising early hours, like 2AM and be quite low in the sky and quickly overtaken by the dawn tho you should still be able to view if you can track them. You have a RA motor for your mount I think you said, which would help once you've got the object in view and the RA axis pointed north.

[Jennifere20]

Oh bloody hell. Don’t talk to me about that yet haha. I’m only just figuring out how to love the thing! 😄

[DaveL59]

The best bit will be, depending on how it fits to yours, that you get it all set, turn it on and it tracks the opposite direction  

And yeah, that's exactly what mine does if you set it to N for northern hemisphere like what we should. I have to set mine to S and then it goes the right way

[Jennifere20]

So they don’t work properly? Haha and my last post was meant to say move not love 😀

[DaveL59]

Ah they do work, just the way it fits on my skywatcher EQ2 its the wrong side of the big gear wheel so needs to run the opposite way. Once on you'll figure out if you need to set N or S as it'll be obvious pretty quickly once the target stays in view or drifts off to the side in the eyepiece. Once you get the hang of getting the mount pointing to N and level they do make for a more relaxed viewing of a target as you don't have to be adjusting the RA to keep things in view.

 

[Jennifere20]

Will not having my scope set to north affect my viewing objects? Because I don’t understand it how you set it to north and then move the telescope around to find things? 

[Padraic M]

Hey well done! Glad you got to see Venus, it's a real treat this month because it's almost at its closest to the Earth and showing a lovely crescent. 

As Dave said earlier, just wait until you see Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings! They are absolutely amazing. Then later again in the year you will see the Orion Nebula. 

Keep playing with your setup - the more practice you get the better you will be. All of these techniques have to become second nature to you. You also need to learn your way around the sky. If you have a PC, then download Stellarium. It's free and it's brilliant for finding out where the planets and other things can be found. 

I wouldn't worry about the motor drive - never found it particularly useful for observing, and I don't find it good enough for imaging, although others do.