National Geographic 76/700EQ

[Mackmackem]

I am very new to star gazing and this may seem a really stupid question, but its getting me really frustrated.

My daughters gave me a National Gegraphic 76/700 for my birthday a few days ago.

I have set the mount up and set up the viewfinder, I have located various stars via the viewfinder, when i look into the scope with a 'small' zoom lens I can see the star in which I was looking for but it does not magnify it very much, more or less similar to the viewfinder, once I have the star i.e. Mars in the centre of the viewfinder I have tried combinations of eye pieces and barlow lens and erecting lens and for the love of me cannot zoom in on the star, in fact I don't see anything, I know I must be doing something really stupid and easy to sort, but I have tried rotating and raising and lowering the viewfinder in case I moved the scope.

Much appreciated if someone can tell this old dinosaur what he's doing wrong,

[Cup of Tea]

With a small scope you'll not see much of Mars beyond a very small orange disc.

Jupiter and Saturn are much more pleasing but they're both very low at the moment.

Stars will only ever appear as points of light. No matter what eyepiece you use. You'll just be able to see more of them.

Try the Moon. You'll get a much better feel for the scope and what it can do.

Also have a look at here...

 

PS Mars is a planet, not a 'star'.

[Tiny Clanger]

37 minutes ago, Mackmackem said:

I am very new to star gazing and this may seem a really stupid question, but its getting me really frustrated.

My daughters gave me a National Gegraphic 76/700 for my birthday a few days ago.

I have set the mount up and set up the viewfinder, I have located various stars via the viewfinder, when i look into the scope with a 'small' zoom lens I can see the star in which I was looking for but it does not magnify it very much, more or less similar to the viewfinder, once I have the star i.e. Mars in the centre of the viewfinder I have tried combinations of eye pieces and barlow lens and erecting lens and for the love of me cannot zoom in on the star, in fact I don't see anything, I know I must be doing something really stupid and easy to sort, but I have tried rotating and raising and lowering the viewfinder in case I moved the scope.

Much appreciated if someone can tell this old dinosaur what he's doing wrong,

Is this the model of telescope and the actual eyepieces, barlow etc  you got ?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/National-Geographic-700-Reflector-Telescope/dp/B007WRYAVE

The more you tell us, the more we can help.

If so, the 'small zoom' lens you refer to is the eyepiece with the greatest magnification, i.e. the one with SR3 written on the side. Best start off with the larger eyepiece , the 20mm, which is counter intuitively the lower magnification get the object you want in the centre of your view, make sure the mount is tightened so the tube itself will not move, and swap in the medium eyepiece, centre the target again, and only then try the highest power.

Have you aligned the viewfinder with the telescope yet ? Best done in daylight .

Stars are never going to be more than points of light, but you should be able to see the planets Mars Jupiter and Saturn as tiny discs.

Don't give up ! Patience will be rewarded eventually.

Heather

Edited December 22, 2020 by Tiny Clanger
left out the limk !

[gilesco]

Also, just because you have a barlow, doesn't mean you have to use it. start without it, as mentioned with the 20mm, and go to the 12.5mm once you have something in view, if you feel you can still go further try the 20mm with the 3x barlow, which will be a magnification in between the 12.5mm and the 4mm.

You'd need excellent conditions, pretty good eyes and focus ability to use anything with more magnification.

[Mackmackem]

Thanks for your comments, I will certainley try them.

Tiny Clanger

The eyepieces I have with scope are 4mm, 8mm and 30mm and the scope in the shortcut is the one I have.

 

Cheers again for the advice

[Padtwo]

It's also well worth having a look during daylight hours at things you can see so you can get an idea of how the scope moves relative to the image. The image you see will be inverted you are looking at a reflection which can also be a bit confusing at first. I got a 32mm celestron plossl last year and that showed me a lot more sky than my existing eyepieces,  the 20mm and 6mm that came with the scope. I always start with the lowest magnification eyepiece (32mm in my case, 30mm in yours) and centre what I want to look at. Then increase the magnification centring the object in each eyepiece as I go. 

[Waddensky]

Not a stupid question at all, and great replies here. Align your finder in daylight (point it to a tree or something else in the distance), at night start with the 30 mm eyepiece and make sure you are in focus (turn the focusser completely in and out - you are focused when the stars are tiny points of light). Then point it to Mars, you should be able to see a tiny, tiny disk. Then proceed with your other eyepieces to see what magnifications the conditions allow. It might even be better to start with the Moon, easy to find and very rewarding. Good luck!

[gilesco]

12 minutes ago, Waddensky said:

It might even be better to start with the Moon

The moon is often overlooked, but is actually a spectacular object to try higher magnifications on, you see so much detail that you sometimes want to just reach out and touch it!

[Bold Seagull]

I’m really struggling with centering the viewfinder on the same scope. It’s like the viewfinder needs to be on too big an angle within the holder for the adjustment screws to hold it. It’s driving me a bit nuts - I just don’t seem to be able to fix it to the centred image in the scope. Any help greatly appreciated.

[Starwatcher2001]

Does the finder scope fit to the tube with screws? If so, is it possible to losen them a little and move the bracket itself?  On other scopes it's sometimes necessary to "shim" the mount with a piece of cardboard or similar. If you're able to take a photo or two of the finder and post them, it might help someone come up with a solution.

Oh, welcome to SGL. Good to have you with us.

[Bold Seagull]

8 hours ago, Starwatcher2001 said:

Does the finder scope fit to the tube with screws? If so, is it possible to losen them a little and move the bracket itself?  On other scopes it's sometimes necessary to "shim" the mount with a piece of cardboard or similar. If you're able to take a photo or two of the finder and post them, it might help someone come up with a solution.

Oh, welcome to SGL. Good to have you with us.

Hi yes, 2 screws and a plastic mount - shims sounds a good idea - I hadn’t thought of that.

[rwilkey]

On 23/12/2020 at 11:57, Mackmackem said:

The eyepieces I have with scope are 4mm, 8mm and 30mm and the scope in the shortcut is the one I have.

Hi there, the 30mm will be your best eyepiece to view the night sky, the maximum useful magnification of your telescope is 140x.  The 4mm eyepiece supposedly gives 175x (700/4 - focal length/eyepiece size) and therefore this is exceeds the capability of the telescope (twice the aperture 70x2=140x) - you might get something out of it if you point it at the Moon, but the 8mm will be more useful.   Good luck & clear skies!