Just joined

[keora]

Hello to everybody. After looking at the stars for about a year with image stabilising binoculars, I thought I'd join the forum to get more advice about astronomy.

I live in West Yorkshire (Northern England) on the edge of a big city.  A few weeks ago I bought a  Celestron Explorascope 114 AZ telescope. It's basic and fairly simple to use. I was very pleased to see the rings of Saturn and four moons around Jupiter the first time I used it.

I've found the Red Spot Finder is useful if I can see an object with the naked eye. But if it's not, then there's no easy way of locating dim objects. For example a couple of weeks I managed to identify both Uranus and Neptune by using binoculars and the Sky Safari app set to a high magnification. But I can't locate them with the Red Spot Finder.

Could forum members give me advice please on the best way of finding dim objects with the telescope?

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by keora

[toshapetriji]

Hello welcome to SGL. You most likely have a very basic red dot finder and there are better options for navigating the night sky. Have you aligned the red dot finder to your scope correctly? Remember it's only used to point your scope at things you can see. 

For things you cannot  see unaided you need to navigate to the correct area of the sky and for that you could do worse than getting a copy of 'Turn left at Orion' which will give a lot of good tips for navigating the night sky with useful information about what you can see.

Take a look at the forum sponsor at the top of each page, FLO will offer alternative finders you may find easier to use.

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi there and welcome. 

[banjaxed]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[Mr Spock]

Hi, welcome to SGL 

If you can't fit another finder, like a 6x30, then the best suggestion is a low power eyepiece. A 32mm Plössl would give x31 and allow you to see about 1.7° - enough to locate faint objects but wide enough to align with the red dot.

Of course you'll need to point the red dot in the right place. If you have it aligned correctly all you need is a good sky chart. I use Cartes du Ciel but many use Stellarium - it's just down to personal preference.

[Floater]

Welcome. Yes you have to make sure the finder is aligned with the scope. This is best done in daylight or dusk. Get an object as far away as possible in the eyepiece then adjust the finder so that the dot is on the object. Recheck that that the object is still in the eyepiece, i.e. the scope hasn’t moved, and you’re good to go.

Hope you have lots of fun. 🙂

[sloz1664]

Hi, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

+1 for Turn Left at Orion.

Steve

[keora]

Thank you for the useful advice.

I've learnt how to calibrate the red dot finder so that the object it covers is shown in the centre of the eyepiece. It's a clever system. I've previously looked at Turn Left at Orion, and thought it was too advanced for me. I'll look again next time I go into the local bookshop.

I like the idea of using a less powerful eyepiece to start with, I'd never thought of that.

Well, just a few hours after joining and I've received plenty of help from forum members

 

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL 

[Neil H]

Welcome to SGL and happy star chasing 

[dark knight]

Hi and welcome to the lounge

[tich]

Hi & welcome aboard keora, nice to see you're back to Carl 🙂

[reezeh]

A belated hi and welcome to SGL, Keora, from a sunny city - maybe same as yours in West Yorkshire! 👋

[Zermelo]

On 11/10/2020 at 10:50, keora said:

Thank you for the useful advice.

I've learnt how to calibrate the red dot finder so that the object it covers is shown in the centre of the eyepiece. It's a clever system. I've previously looked at Turn Left at Orion, and thought it was too advanced for me. I'll look again next time I go into the local bookshop.

I like the idea of using a less powerful eyepiece to start with, I'd never thought of that.

Well, just a few hours after joining and I've received plenty of help from forum members

 

Welcome,

I doubt that you will be disappointed if you buy Turn Left at Orion. It is ideal for beginners, and concentrates on the easier-to-find objects.
The other relevant feature for your query is that it describes how to find the targets using multiple diagrams for each - e.g. the view through a (regular) finder, and through a refractor diagonal. One of the challenges in finding targets is that different instruments will reverse the actual view - left/right, or up/down. So the view you get may be different from the chart you're using. If you found Neptune with binos you may already be comfortable with this, but some people prefer to have the views matching, which can be achieved by reflecting a paper chart in a small mirror, or by flipping the view in some charting apps, or using a "correct image" finder (which matches a regular starchart view). The book also has an accompanying website that has some useful supporting information.

This resource is also a good guide to finding objects.

[westmarch]

Hi there,

welcome to the forum.  As Zermelo has said, if using the low power eyepiece on your Newtonian reflector, everything is back to front and upside down.  Your Sky Safari App allows you to compensate for that by flipping the image. The menu comes up if you do this:

 

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire 🙂