Complete Novice.

[SKjack]

Hi there, im what you would call, a complete novice. Basically, I know the planets in our solar system, and that's it

Anyway, I recently got a Celestron Powerseeker 114 telescope, and im just wondering what I can expect to see with it, and how clearly.

I had a good look at Mars and what i believe was Venus lastnight - both were very impressive, but I want to know what lense I would need to see Mars in more detail, or if my scope is capable of that .

Thanks in advance!!

[themos]

Hello, I started with a Celestron 114 three years ago. I just saw Mars with that and took images as well (with a £35 webcam). What you need to get is a short focal length orthoscopic eyepiece, something like a 5mm. They're a bit awkward to use as you have to put your eye right next to the glass and the glass itself is tiny but they give the best views for your buck. The tricky thing is to keep Mars in the field of view with the slow motion controls. Do you have the RA motor?

[Chris H]

Hi and welcome. You should be able to see quite a lot with your scope but don't try and push the magnification too high, try powers around x100 to x150 as a maximum and lower than that for deep sky objects (that's anything not in our solar system) eyepieces around the 10mm size would be good for this. To work out the magnification of a given eyepiece you divide the focul length of you scope in your case 900mm by the size of the eyepiece again in mm eg for a 10mm eyepiece 900 / 10 = x90 magnification. What eyepieces came with your scope?

Next time its clear you should try and have a look at the Orion Nebula (M42) look for the three belt stars in the constellation of Orion then go straight down and you can see another three stars, Orions sword, aim you scope at the middle of these three stars and if you have an eyepiece in the 20mm range use it for this.

Good luck.

[SKjack]

Cheers for the replys

In response to your questions, I have an R.A motor.

The eyepieces that came with the scope were 20mm and 4mm I believe.

On Themos' advice, i'll buy a short focal length orthoscopic eyepiece for a more detailed look at Mars

Weather forecast looks good for tonight, so i'll be wrapping up warm and checking out the Orion Nebula. Any idea what else will be viewable??

[themos]

I have an R.A motor.

That's good, you can observe Mars for minutes at a time, then, instead of seconds. You need to take your time as features jump out at you only occasionally when the "seeing" allows.

[SKjack]

What's your opinion on the Celestron then Themos?? And what scope do you use now??

[themos]

Any idea what else will be viewable??

At 7 pm, The Andromeda galaxy will be 50 degrees up in the west, the Double Cluster 70 degrees up, Casseiopia's open clusters about 60 degrees up, Pleiades and Hyades 60 degrees up in the South, Auriga clusters at 70 degrees up, the Rosette's cluster about 35 degrees up in the south. By 9pm the Beehive will be at 50 degrees and Mars just above it. You want more?

[SKjack]

At 7 pm, The Andromeda galaxy will be 50 degrees up in the west, the Double Cluster 70 degrees up, Casseiopia's open clusters about 60 degrees up, Pleiades and Hyades 60 degrees up in the South, Auriga clusters at 70 degrees up, the Rosette's cluster about 35 degrees up in the south. By 9pm the Beehive will be at 50 degrees and Mars just above it. You want more?

That'll do haha

[themos]

I think my 114 is a good starter scope, especially as I paid half price for it in a closing down sale. The mount was the biggest problem, it's just too wobbly, and the finder was atrocious. I now have it on an EQ6 as a guidescope and planetary imager (it's not really suited to these roles, I know, but I'm determined to push it as far as I can). It's been heavily modified (teflon pads in focuser tube, home-made motorised focuser drive added with manual or USB control, new finder shoe for mounting better finders (optical/RDF), centre spot added on mirror for collimation, shortened tube to throw the focus further out and reach a DSLR sensor). Basically, it's my experimental setup which helps me learn techniques and I don't mind too much if I break it!

[SKjack]

Agreed, the mount is very wobbly and the finder is way off. But my lack of knowledge on scopes means I can put up with it for a while, at least until I know what I want to upgrade to.

[yeti monster]

In the early hours I've been getting some nice views of Saturn, dropping down in the west, whilst waiting for ISS to pass.

Tomorrow morning at 06:17, ISS is a little left and below Saturn, magnitude -3.0, which is bright. So, if the sky is clear around 06:00, get your scope set up with your 20mm and trained on Saturn, Keep Saturn to the south in the FOV and you might get to see ISS "appear" out of the earths shadow and pass Saturn. It's a stunning sight I witnessed the other morning with the BIG bins, I'm going to try with the 114 Newt tomorrow.

Once ISS has passed out of FOV in the scope, if you have binoculars (any size) then follow ISS across the sky as far as you can.

Then back to Saturn and try the 4mm EP, if you get focus then you might see Titan.

[coxie]

download Stellarium its a great free bit of software

[David Pavlich]

I just posted this on another thread, but the constellation Auriga has M36, 37 and 38 and M35 just on the edge of Auriga. These are very nice open star clusters that are visible even with the Moon up and in a light polluted area. These will be very easily seen with your scope. Also, don't forget M42. It's my all time favorite object. I spend time with it everytime I'm out.

David