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New from East London/Essex

deisen

By deisen
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deisen

deisen

Posted
Posted

Hi

I live in Woodford, on the edge of Epping Forest. I have had an amateur interest in Astronomy, but never taken the plunge until my wife bought me a Celestron Astromaster 76eq reflector for my birthday.

Couple of questions;

- I have been waiting for a while for a combination of clear night and reasonably bright celestial body to view, as I am aware that the light pollution makes major decent viewing difficult. Last night, I had a great view of Venus with the naked eye, but try as I might I could not get the thing in view on the telescope. At one point, I got something which looked like a reflection of bright light. I got see a circle of light with the silhouette of the plastic bit at the front of the scope which holds the second mirror, but I really can't believe this was 'it'. Any advice as to what I might be doing wrong? I was viewing from indoors with the window wide open. I know I shouldn't be disillusioned after this first time, but I was trying and failing to view this object for nearly two hours

- I dont know if anyone has any experience with the Finder on the Astromaster and can give me some pointers, because neither my wife or I could work the thing properly.

- I understand that this isn't a bad scope, but wondered if it is worth upgrading to the 130 (I don't think she would notice as they look the same!)

- Finally, anyone know any good star spotting spots around light-polluted East London/Essex?

Regards

Dan

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johnh

johnh

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Firstly welcome to the Lounge Dan. Secondly your scope is out of focus that is why you see the black central secondary, you need to rack in/out the focuser until that secondary shadow gets smaller and smaller then you are approaching focus from the right direction. Venus is very bright so may need a filter with that but the Moon is the best target for a beginner but Venus should show its Phase about 50% atm. Looking out of the window seems the easiest but your scope should be out doors so the secondary and primary can cooldown to the same temperature to get the best focus. Let us know how you get on, a bigger scope would be much better as the 76 is a bit small, 130 or 150 will give you details on Jupiter/rings of Saturn etc, happy viewing.

JohnH.

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brantuk

brantuk

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Hi Dan and welcome to the group :)

It sounds to me as if you were out of focus. I think you have a 10mm and 20mm eyepiece supplied with that scope. Start with the 20mm and the focuser all the way in. Then very slowly adjust the focuser outwards by turning the wheel back towards you (anti clockwise). Go slow because it is easy to overshoot the focus point.

Before you start - in daylight ensure that the laser pointer is aligned with main tube. Use an object at some distance 1-2miles away like the top of a pylon. If you can focus the scope in daylight then the night setting won't be far from that (in terms of draw tube movement).

Here's a review of your scope that may help:

http://www.telescopereviews.org.uk/astronomical/celestron-astromaster-76eq-telescope/

Hope that helps :D

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Capricorn

Capricorn

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As has already been said it sounds very much as if you simply haven't managed to get the object in focus.

When you do get anything in focus please be aware that just about everything will be small.:) Venus by the way will have no detail as the planet tends to be covered in dense cloud. Jupiter is getting better at thistime and even at 60-80x magnification is reasonable.

The drawback with getting the 130 is that you will then want the 150.:D Just thinking it may be better to keep with the 76 learning how to use and set it up etc then going for a 150 if you decide to stay in the hobby.

Not sure of dark sites but there are several clubs around the area. Have a look at fedastro.org.uk and look at the member societies

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BAZ Senior

BAZ Senior

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Hi Dan, welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear you got off to a frustrating start, I think at one time or another we have all had problems, it should resolve your problem with the advice already posted.

I think I would try a low power eyepiece and see if I could get it to focus on a distant object in the daytime, and then line up the finder to the object in the eyepiece. Then when you look through the finder at night, your target should be in the field of view.

Let us know how you get on.

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