Scope with missing erecting eyepiece?

[Mightymoo]

Hi All

I've been an avid eyeball/binocs astronomer for many years, and was recently given a telescope as a lovely surprise. It's a Tasco Luminova 40-114675. I'm aware of the reputation of Tasco, however as this is my first scope I need to get to grips with the mounts before eventually upgrading.

So this brings me to the problem I have. I think the erecting eyepiece is missing because I only have the finder to look through. I do have the three lenses and the 3x Barlow tube however and that seems to fit in place nicely in the place provided for it.

I can line up the scope just fine through the finder, however everything is of course upside down and not magnified, with no way to magnify. I cannot see where this erecting eyepiece, if I could find one, would go. Could anyone point me in the direction where I could buy one and also give me some direction on where this erecting eyepiece would go please? I'm assuming it's somewhere near the finder, but I'm not sure.

Once I've got this in place then I'll be able to use the Barlow lenses to magnify! If I've got this totally wrong however please let me know. I didn't get an instruction book with it and there's not too much I can find on the web.

Cheers in advance, any help much appreciated

[John]

Hi welcome to SGL !.

Congrats on the scope. For astronomy you don't need the erecting eyepiece - we view everything upside down ! (well through newtonian scopes anyway).

Your eyepieces should have numbers on them (eg: 20mm, 10mm, 6mm etc). The lower the number the more magnfication you get - you just need an eyepiece (I suggest the lowest magnfication one) in the focusser tube to use the scope.

The barlow lens if placed between the eyepiece and the scope and has the effect of doubling the magnfication however they can often give too much power and, the low cost ones, add distortions to the views so don't be in too much of a hurry to use that.

I hope that helps a bit - keep asking the questions !.

John

[John]

PS: can't find the manual for your scope but here is one for a similar scope by Skywatcher - I hope that helps as well:

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtsupport/Instruction_Manuals/GENERAL_EQ1and2.pdf

John

[Mightymoo]

Thanks for the replies John

I'll take a look at the manual today. hopefully the skies will be clear enough tonight for me to take a look at the Moon again (my main focus target). Given that I got absolutely no magnification with the Barlow I'll remove it and just try the lenses in there. Fingers crossed!

Thanks!

[John]

Yes - the barlow has to be used with an eyepiece (the lenses) - it won't do anything on it's own.

John

[acey]

If you really want an erecting eyepiece you could try this (assuming you have a 1.25" focusser):

1.25" Erecting Eyepiece 1.5x for terrestrial observing on eBay (end time 18-Oct-09 08:45:35 BST)

But as John says, you don't need one for astronomy - in space there's no up and down. Targeting the scope can be a bit disorientating until you get used to it but soon becomes second nature.

Andrew