A Lil n00b Help

[petemcr]

Hello everyone

Could anyone help me

I’m still a newbie to the truest meaning with telescopes, I’ve got my 130mm reflector with my 10mm and 25mm lenses, along with the 2x barrow lens

What's the best way to get started, I was told that star hopping is a good way to find planets, is this the case of finding where the planets going to be near and try to locate it that way?

Any help would be much appreciated

[roundycat]

Planets are generally very bright compared to stars so are easy to find. Look SE at midnight and you cannot miss Jupiter. It's well worth spending a couple of bob on a star atlas of some sort so you can familiarise yourself with the sky when it is cloudy.

Dennis

[John]

The next step is to get a good guide to the night sky. The book "Turn Left at Orion" is well recommended as is the freeware planetarium sofftware "Stellarium". The latter can be downloaded here:

Stellarium

My 3rd recommendation is to keep asking questions here - no matter how daft they may seem to you we have all been there and scratched our heads over how the mount works, where you put the eyepieces, what this bit or that bit is for etc, etc ....

Most of all - have fun !.

John

[petemcr]

Thanks guys

i've got some software, got one for my iPhone as well which seems good as well

what about the magnification then on the lenses, I mean is it best to start with a lower to find it? i've only had a lil play around in my garden but never really clear enought o see out yet

[petemcr]

it all seems a bit daunting, but luckily the interest and attraction to it outways it lol

[philsail1]

Hello "petmcr"

As dennis says - look to the South East around midnight and you will see the Planet Jupiter. (It will look like a very bright star). Put a low power (25mm) eyepiece in your scope and you should be able to get it in the field of view. When you have found it, you can try the Barlow with the 25mm eyepiece, then change to the 10mm eyepiece, then the 10mm with Barlow if "seeing" conditions are good enough).

Generally, the Planets and Moon all rise from the same direction (East) as the Sun. They follow a similar track to the Sun.

If your scope is mounted on an "Equatorial" mount, you will need to align it to the Pole Star. If the mount is motorised, it is important that you align the mount to the Pole Star, to allow the mount to "track" whatever you are looking at. If the mount is not aligned to the Pole Star, you will quickly find that whatever you are looking at will slowly drift out of your scope's field of view. (or you will have to keep constantly using the mounts controls to keep it locked onto whatever you are observing).

You can simply use a compass to get you mount to point to North. This will be accurate enough to keep your scope locked on to an object for several minutes.

If you have access to the internet, just tap in "finding the Pole Star" and you should get some information. (I'm sure others on Stargazers Lounge will soon give you advice too).

If you have a computer, you can download a free star program called "Stellarium." This will show you what stars, planets and other objects are visible in the night sky.

Try to learn just three or four of the brightest stars at first. Also perhaps two or three constellations (The Plough (or Great Bear), and Cassiopeia are easy ones to begin with).

It is all very exciting when you get your first telescope, but try not to cram in too much too quickly.

Just set your scope up and enjoy looking at the heavens! It is surprising how much knowledge you will pick up in a very short time.

Best wishes,

philsail1

[petemcr]

Thanks Phil

and everyone else

[petemcr]

lol

just got a couple more questions

I’ll start with the simplest one, my reflector tube cover, there's a two small holes, one of which has a cover you can remove, or, you can remove the whole thing. At a guess, I figure if you use it with the whole cover on and just open up one of the holes this would help the magnification, as it's on one point?

Then the EQ2 mount which I also have, been reading the walkthrough posted on here about setting it up, would I be right in thinking you align it to Polaris, as when I’ve seen star trail pictures, you can see basically where the north celestial pole would be and there's always a star in the middle

sorry about all the questions

Thanks

[John]

With the tube cover you generally observe with the whole cover off and the whole aperture of the scope open. It does not affect magnification at all. For solar observing you can put it back on and cut the aperture down to the size of the whole but you MUST ALSO USE A PROPERLY FITTED SOLAR FILTER fitted to the top end of the scope as well - sorry for the CAPS but this is so, so important.

I'm pushed for time at the moment so I'll let others explain about the mount.

John