THE START OF THE QUESTIONS

[bcfcciderhead]

Ok guys after a poor start last night (i blame the cloud:o) had a bit of a play today and managed to set up the spotter scope to match the main scope what i think is pretty much spot on, would it be ok to glue this in place as it still moves on it's adjustments as when i tighten them more it moves the spotter again?.

Also (as the manual says) tried the defferent lens's, looking at a tv arial on a roof at about 200m away, the 20mm eyepiece with no extension looks great and easy to focus etc, then tried the 12.5mm eyepiece, of course things got bigger but harder to focus, to much magnification?.

Went back to the 20mm but this time with a 1.5mm eyepiece extension and could not see a thing, just a blur, again to much?.

Then the kids woke up and had to put it away before it got all sticky lol.

A few pointers as to when to use what eyepiece, extension etc would be great and of course any more tips for a complete novis...

thanks guys and lets hope the cloud goes for tonight.

[John]

What scope do you have ? - it will make answering the questions a bit easier

By 1.5mm eyepiece extension do you mean a barlow lens ?.

Generally start with the lowest power eyepiece (the 20mm) then try more power if needed.

[bcfcciderhead]

Thanks Jahmason, any help is needed at this stage.

It's a "Telescope Planet 70060" refractor type, a few spec's for you-

focal length 700mm

obj diameter 60mm

view finder 5x24mm

eyepieces- SR4mm, magnification 175x.

H12.5mm, magnification 56x.

H20mm, magnification 35x.

1.5X Erecting eyepiece

3X Barlow lens

Max magnification 525X

also with a 48" tripod.

[John]

OK - I'd just use the H12.5mm and H20mm for the time being - any other combination will give too much power to be of use - I'm afraid the max magnification figure is desparately optomistic - 120x is the practical maximum.

Sounds like its a refractor (lens at the top end !) scope so you will probably have a thing called a diagonal to turn the light through 90 degrees - you put that in the scope focuser tube then the eyepiece into that.

Don't bother with the erecting lens or barlow lens, certainly for astro use.

Keep the questions coming !.

[Capricorn]

I'm afraid the max magnification figure is desparately optimistic

Still laughing from the idea of 525x from a 700mm scope.

Who writes these things?

Yep, 120x is more realistic, you will probably need to get a few additional eyepieces as time goes on. Perhaps a 7mm to give 100x.

Not sure how good or bad the ones are that came with the scope.

If you glue the finder in place then within a week you will need to adjust it.