Celestron Nextar 130 SLT

[WendyF]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if you can help me. Today, I received my first ever telescope (I've never even looked through one before), and I THINK I've set it up correctly, though thankfully, it didn't need too much setting up.

Unfortunately, I am struggling to see anything at all. I know I'm probably forgetting to do something obvious, but as a newbie, I really don't know what it is. At the moment, all I can see through the eyepiece is the mirror below it. To be honest, I don't know how telescopes work, so I can't identify any missing pieces, and the manual does not have a problem solving section.

Would anybody be able to give me some advice? I feel like a bit of a dolt, to be honest. I even spent ages trying to work out which way the finderscope should face!! (I've decided I don't like it as I had to be at an odd angle to see through it, and even then all I could see was the reflection of the plastic).

Sorry if I sound like a dumbo, but I really am lost, and given how much these things cost, I am not going to give up.

Thank you

Wendy

[John]

Hi Wendy,

Welcome to the Stargazers Lounge !.

If you can actually see the mirror below the eyepiece then I'm wondering if you actually have an eyepiece in the focuser tube at all

Sorry if thats too obvious but that's all I can think of !.

The eyepieces have different focal lengths marked on them, eg: 20mm, 25mm, 10mm or similar. Use the one with the longest focal length (ie: the highest number) to get used to the scope. The eyepiece fits into the focuser tube - the tube that moves in and out when you turn the small wheels.

Hope that helps a bit and you are not too insulted if I'm making the wrong assumptions

[WendyF]

Hi there, thanks for your response. My husband had a little play about with it. He said he didn't do anything, but all of a sudden I had a VERY clear view of the moon.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to align it because of the clouds, typical. Never mind, it's a start. Here's to me catching my death of cold in the winter nights!!

Incidentally, I also saw what I thought was a star at first, but when I sharpened the focus, it looked rather big and silvery to be a star. Are there any planets that would appear to be silver (it's not the moon, before anyone asks, LOL)?

Thanks

Wendy

[Ags]

If it was very very bright and not too far from the moon, then that was Jupiter. I'd say it is straw-colored though. Were there little dots next to it? Those would be its moons.

[Ags]

If you are very far out of focus, you could have been seeing the shadow of the secondary mirror - perhaps that was what you are describing. If so, the fix is to twiddle the focus knob. sorry if that is too obvious.

[brantuk]

Hi Wendy and welcome to SGL

Don't worry about asking questions - we were all beginners once and the only daft question is the one you didn't ask.

A useful tool to get to help you identify objects in the sky is "Stellarium". It's planetarium software that you can download for free and most of us have it - so you should too. Stellarium click the link to download it.

Hope that helps and keep the questions coming - you're sure of a quality reply here

[Capricorn]

Well you found the moon and could make it out in detail. Many haven't made it that far especially on a first night.:D

Sounds as if the bright thing was Jupiter, from the post I guess it was Friday night and if I recall Jupiter was to the right of the moon.

Out of interest did you see another very small dot just above it (I think), if so that was Uranus. Just thinking as the scope flips things it could have been below it . So you may have managed the Moon, Jupiter and Uranus in your first night.

All you need now is to get the finder set up, not necessarily as simple as it sounds and off you go.

You will start wanting more eyepieces, assuming that the scope came with the stanard 10mm and 25mm offerings then something like a 6 or 7mm would give more magnification and a 15mm sits nicely in the middle ground. The 10mm you have may be poor, for whatever reason they are, but the 25mm is often decent.

Orion is in the sky in the early hours of the morning, 5:00AM, and is an excellent constellation. LOTS to see, and should be relatively easy.

Several layers, silly hat, thick socks, heavy soled boots and a down coat help. :rolleyes:

If interested in clubs wherever you are check out fedastro.org.uk