Meade Telestar NG-60 Refracting Telescope good?

[doat1]

Hello all, i am new to this forum and relatively new to star gazing. I recently bought this telescope and would like to know how good it is (i.e. can i see saturn, jupiter, etc.) Here are the specs from the site. If my calculations are correct, this is a 4in aperture correct?

Features/Specifications:

• 
  
• Meade Telestar NG-60 60mm Refracting Telescope
  
  
• General Features:
  
• Refractor optical design
  
• 60 mm objective lens
  
• 600 mm focal length
  
• f/11.7 focal ratio
  
• 0.965-inch eyepiece barrel diameter
  
• Coated, achromatic objective lens
  
• Aluminum body
  
• Adjustable aluminum tripod
  
• 5x24 mm viewfinder
  
• Rack and pinion focuser
  
• Easy to use
  
• SR4 mm, H12.5 mm and H25 mm eyepieces
  
• 3x Barlow lens
  
• Single arm mount
  
• StarLocator Astro software included
  

[Ben Ritchie]

If my calculations are correct, this is a 4in aperture correct?

It's 2.4 inch aperture (60mm). One of the figures in the list above is wrong too, because it can't both be 600mm focal length and f/11.7 if it's a 60mm objective, think they probably meant 700mm focal length.

You'll certainly be able to see the moon and planets with it, along with some of the brighter deep sky objects - there are limits to what 2.4" can show you, of course, so it's not going to be one for finding faint galaxies. The main issue I can see is that it uses 0.965-inch eyepieces, almost all eyepieces are 1.25" or 2" these days so finding replacements will be an issue although there are some around.

[John]

Hi and welcome to SGL

I agree with Ben's comments. You will get more out of the scope if you can replace the standard eyepieces that come with it with a couple of 1.25" ones but if it comes equipped to take .96" ones then you will need to get an adaptor. One solution is to replace the star diagonal supplied with the scope with a hybrid one that is .96" at one end (where it fits onto the scope) and 1.25" at the other (where the eyepieces go). Something like this would do the trick:

North Star Economy 1.25" to .965" hybrid mirror star-diagonal

Feel free to ask more questions on how to get the best out of the scope.

John

[doat1]

I do not plan on spending too much money on this telescope because i want to buy a better one with a larger aperture. I will just use this to gain better knowledge of the night sky and such. Thank you all for the help i appreciate it very much.

[The Warthog]

John's suggestion about the diagonal is very good. You can get decent .965 Plossls from Antares, but getting the new diagonal and 1.25" eps will give you more options. The long focal length will avoid some chromatic abberation, and you may be able to see brighter galaxies like M81 and 82. You will be able to split some double stars, although the size of the lens restricts the resolution of your scope.

I would suggest that an 8mm plossl and a 18mm plossl will give you satisfactory results and a good range of objects to see without seriously straining a budget.

[doat1]

John's suggestion about the diagonal is very good. You can get decent .965 Plossls from Antares, but getting the new diagonal and 1.25" eps will give you more options. The long focal length will avoid some chromatic abberation, and you may be able to see brighter galaxies like M81 and 82. You will be able to split some double stars, although the size of the lens restricts the resolution of your scope.

I would suggest that an 8mm plossl and a 18mm plossl will give you satisfactory results and a good range of objects to see without seriously straining a budget.

i will look into that thanks again

[doat1]

can anyone give me an example of what i could see with this telescope? Like would i be able to see craters on the moon in detail or a close up view of jupiter or venus, etc.?

Also is that .95 to 1.25 eyepiece adapter the one that is linked above only sold in the uk? i live in the US and this might be a stupid question but would i need to buy a 1.25 eyepiece and if so can anyone recommend one for me? I am still learning about how telescopes work and what not but i got the gist of it.

[The Warthog]

If you buy 1.25` plossls, you will be able to take them to your next scope, which you won`t be able to do with .965`eps. Antares makes the adapter you need, and I`m sure other manufacturers do, too. My Antares dealer is Island Eyepiece in Vancouver, Island Eyepiece and Telescope Ltd . A diagonal and two eps of 7.5 and 17mm will cost $95 Canadian, or about $75 US.

The maximum theoretical power of your scope is 120x. In practice, you can get about 90x most of the time, which is about what the 7.5mm or 8mm ep will give you. At that power you will be able to see Jupiter as a disk, and see the moons, and the rings of Saturn, but not a lot of detail. Star clusters will be great, and Planetary nebulae and some doubles will look fine. Albireo will be gorgeous in your scope (it`s a bi-coloured double star.) You should have a great time on the moon at 90x, too.

To see more you will have to get a much larger scope, which you will want to do soon. BTW, where in the US are you?

[doat1]

If you buy 1.25` plossls, you will be able to take them to your next scope, which you won`t be able to do with .965`eps. Antares makes the adapter you need, and I`m sure other manufacturers do, too. My Antares dealer is Island Eyepiece in Vancouver, Island Eyepiece and Telescope Ltd . A diagonal and two eps of 7.5 and 17mm will cost $95 Canadian, or about $75 US.

The maximum theoretical power of your scope is 120x. In practice, you can get about 90x most of the time, which is about what the 7.5mm or 8mm ep will give you. At that power you will be able to see Jupiter as a disk, and see the moons, and the rings of Saturn, but not a lot of detail. Star clusters will be great, and Planetary nebulae and some doubles will look fine. Albireo will be gorgeous in your scope (it`s a bi-coloured double star.) You should have a great time on the moon at 90x, too.

To see more you will have to get a much larger scope, which you will want to do soon. BTW, where in the US are you?

I live in houston, Tx, which adapter should i get? The one that was linked earlier cost 9.xx pounds and i don't know if they deliver to US and which eyepiece i should get for the adapter.

Would this eyepiece set be good for me? http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/eyepiece/starter-scope/replacementeps.html

and the adapter i was talking about is this one http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/star-diagonal,northstar/economy/hydridresin.html. I am not sure if they deliver to US i don't see anything stating that.

[The Warthog]

OK. First of all, don't buy from the UK unless you live in the UK, as prices are horribly high compared to US and Canadian prices. Don't buy the 'economy' diagonal as it's made of plastic. My brother-in-law has one on his 60mm scope, and we will have to glue it back together if we are going to use it. The diagonal shown on this page: Island Eyepiece and Telescope Ltd on the third row will do the job you want. It is equivalent to the one that costs £22.95 on the page you show.

Aalternatively, find a similar diagonal from a US supplier. With the Canadian $ at $0.80 US, though, you might want to consider my friends at Island Eyepiece.

The eyepieces I suggested are on this page: http://www.islandeyepiece.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?page=1 The 7.5mm ep is second from the bottom, and the 17mm is on page 2, four rows down. Give them a phone call, it will be either the owner or his wife who answers, and they are very nice people. Tell them you were texting with me, maybe they'll knock something off next time I order from them.

In any case, don't accidentally order the .965" versions of the eps.

The 7.5mm wil give you a magnification of 93, and the 17mm, 41x. The 93 is the practical maximum for your scope, remember, and the 41 will give you more than a degree of field, which is good for many DSOs and clusters, and for searching for things that are small and hard to find.

I know the box your scope came in said 525X!! but it doesn't really give you any more than 120x, and only under exceptional circumstance.

Come back with any more questions you may have.

[The Warthog]

Oh, and as for the eps on the page you referred to, notice "- they were actually designed for this purpose in the 17th century and work well in this type of instrument." Huygens, who designed the ep, was a genius, but a 17th century genius, and since then we have learned to make achromatic eyepieces with wider fields of view. Today, they are considered junk eps.

[doat1]

so 7.5mm is the maximum i should or can get with my telescope? Would this eyepiece set be good to get? http://www.islandeyepiece.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?Search=Yes# the second one from the top. Also is there a particular brand i should look for? They ship to US right? i have ordered things from Canda before and most of them shipped to US.

[The Warthog]

You'll have to tell me what ep that is, as I can't get to it through that URL for some reason. I am trying to help you get a decent ep without spending a ridiculous amount, so go with a Plossl, whatever you decide to get.

I know they cannot ship Celestron products to the US because Celestron won't let them, but I don't think that is a problem with Antares. Give them a phone call, as they are nice people and won't lead you astray.

A 5.5mm ep, or an 11mm ep with a 2x Barlow, will give you the 120x that you will seldom have good enough sky conditions to use. I would stick with 7.5 as a high power ep for that scope. I seldom use the highest power of either of my scopes. With my 150mm Newt, 200x is the most comfortable high power, although the scope is capable of 300x.

[doat1]

i can't get that page up again either now that i am at home but i think this is the same set, it says Super Plossl 7.5mm Antares 7.5mm Super Plossl Eyepeice 1.25" barrel, Fully Multi-coated, rubber eyeguard 4-element symmetrical doublet design With a wide 52 degrees of apparent field

[The Warthog]

Yep, that be the one.

[doat1]

Ok get that and which adapter?

[John]

Ok get that and which adapter?

If you are still going with the hybrid diagonal idea then it's the 3rd item on this webpage:

Island Eyepiece and Telescope Ltd#

John

[doat1]

If you are still going with the hybrid diagonal idea then it's the 3rd item on this webpage:

Island Eyepiece and Telescope Ltd#

John

sweet, wish it was cheaper i gotta save up 30 dollars to make sure i cover shipping.

[doat1]

alright i got $80 US to spare so i can buy the diagonal and the eyepiece set, so up to 7.5mm my telescope can handle. What is the difference between Plossl and everything else? Can someone give me a quick explanation of that?

[The Warthog]

Plossl is an achromatic (reduces colour fringing) design with a decent (52º) field of view. It is the most popular design in amateur astronomy, as it is a good eyepiece for a fairly low price. Look here: Eyepieces for descriptions of various eps.