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New to this just wanted to ask...


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I have a very basic telescope Science Museum Magnum Power Telescope 675X I have the " Barlow lens 3X" also " F=12.5 mm" an

" F=4 mm"

At the moment I am just trying to look at the basics..moon stars etc.. I was wondering what lens to use? also if I can get a sky map somewhere that would cover the Cardiff Wales area.

Thank you for any help, much appreciated!

Paul

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Hi Paul,

I suggest you use just the 12.5mm eyepiece first. That will give you the lowest magnification and probably the best view. Don't believe the hype on the box - your scope will never be usable at 675! But low power gives much better images, particularly in a small scope.

For a map I suggest you download Stellarium which will show you want you can see at any particular time. Stellarium

Which part of Cardiff are you in? is your light pollution very bad? (I live about 15 miles north of Cardiff and still get a lot of glow!)

Helen

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Hi and welcome.

You can download stellarium. It is free planetarium software and will show you the positions of the stars and planets as they appear in the sky at any given time. You can also pick your location or somewhere close to you so you see the sky as it appears where you are.

If i have my facts right your telescope is a 76mm reflector telescope with a focal length of 900mm. The telescope is advertised as giving a magnification of 675x. Unfortunatly that amount of magnification for you telescope is not practical as it would degrade the image to such an extent that you would never use it.

The eyepieces you have i beleive are 20mm, 12.5mm and 4mm.

To get the magnification of an eyepiece you devide the focal length of the telescope by the focal length of the eyepiece so your magnifications would be as follows.

20mm = 45x

12.5mm = 72x

4mm=225x

Your barlow lense when used with the eyepieces will give you 3x the magnification so 45x would become 135x etc etc.

You should be able to get some nice views of the moon and be able to make out the cloud bands of Jupiter as long as you dont try to push up the magnification too much but trial and error will teach you what is best to suit you and what you are looking at.

I hope that this is of some help and hope i have not over simplified too much

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If you've got a low horizon to the East you might be able to show them Jupiter and it's moons before they're ready for bed. You can't miss it - it's far brighter than any star in the area. Just got to hope for a cloud free evening!

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If you've got a low horizon to the East you might be able to show them Jupiter and it's moons before they're ready for bed. You can't miss it - it's far brighter than any star in the area. Just got to hope for a cloud free evening!

That would be amazing! they would love that!

I suppose now my problem is locating it from where I live, they go to bed around 7PM, I need to get used to stellairum

Can't wait to get the hang of this! Thanks again,

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As a beginner with no scope I couldb't help you on the first part.

However the second part I can, when I go out for a gander with just my eyes I use either the stellerium or the sky maps from Astronomy Now as they cover mainly the UK from each direction for that month.

Hope this helps,

Clear skies

Jonathon

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Have you got an iphone or ipod? If so, there's a great app called Starmap Pro, which is brilliant. It uses the iphone compass and you can point it at the sky and it'll show you what you can see in that direction.

Helen

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I think my main aim should be to get to grips with what position I am and where things should be, shame my laptop doesn't have a built in compass!

Sounds silly but I use the sun as a guide.

Knowing which direction the sun rises and sets helps me.

Jonathon

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From where you are in Cardiff (not far from me-newport) if you look towards the river severn and Bristol, and just to the left of your location you will see a very bright star, be low when it first gets dark, that star is jupitar!, try some bino's first you will see it's moons.

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From where you are in Cardiff (not far from me-newport) if you look towards the river severn and Bristol, and just to the left of your location you will see a very bright star, be low when it first gets dark, that star is jupitar!, try some bino's first you will see it's moons.

I'm from the Llanrumney/St Mellons side of Cardiff...

Really frustrating, I see a very bright star I believe is south... I've lined up my scope...but when I put the 12.5 MM in and try and look through that part it's just black, I've lost the 20MM. Really frustrated:iamwithstupid:

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Try looking at a street light, that should be a bit easier to find and will allow you to get close to focus. Does your scope have you got a finder scope? If so, make sure its aligned in daylight (chimneys are good targets for setting up). You will be surprised how difficult it can be to find anything in the sky to start with a finder. So slow scans are best.

Helen

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Like Helen said, looks like your finder scope is out of line.

I do most of my viewing not far from you, i use the road that goes from Castleton to Bassaleg, apart from the motorway lights it quite dark and got a 360 degree view.

Also use the largest eyepiece to start with and then come down a bit till your happy, but be aware good old jupitar wont keep still your forever chasing it lol

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Your SkyScout will show you where Jupiter is (and other objects) then you can point the telescope in that direction. You'll still have to move the scope around a bit to find and follow it.

Make sure you aren't near any metal objects or power line (or the scope) when using the SkyScout as that sends it squiffy (eg cars etc).

Welcome to SGL :o

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