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Help for beginner

Donkeiller

By Donkeiller
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Donkeiller

Donkeiller

Posted
Posted

Hi, I am an absolute beginner and have been a "lurker" on this blog for some time, deciding what my first 'scope should be.

As I live in the middle of a city, I wanted something that I can leave

setup, pick it up, walk with it 100 yards to a local park and get viewing.

Eventually decided on a Skywatcher ED80 on a AZ Synscan "goto"

mount.

Telescope has arrived, still awaiting mount.

Much bigger in the flesh than I thought!

In the meantime, I have been looking through the finderscope.

It does not appear to be in focus- roof tiles 100 yards away are

not "sharp". Is this usual? I can see no way of focussing the finderscope.

Suggestions welcome.

Don (Cambridge, UK)

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SeedyF

SeedyF

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Hello and welcome from me Don :(

The finderscope isn't designed for use that close up, and as you seem to have realised there is no way of changing the focus. Can you get a view of a building or tree quite a bit further away?

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SniffTheGlove

SniffTheGlove

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In the meantime, I have been looking through the finderscope.

It does not appear to be in focus- roof tiles 100 yards away are

not "sharp". Is this usual? I can see no way of focussing the finderscope.

Have you tried looking at the night sky through the finder? It's designed to focus at far away objects.

Good luck with the scope Don, it's a nice little scope.

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Don and welcome to the forum.

Glad to hear that you've already got yourself a scope and hope the weather is clear for you when you finally receive your mount. Can I make a suggestion regarding viewing in the park and that is that you take somebody with you to help with security over your new kit. I understand why you might choose this location to observe but if its anything like my local park - there is a lot of other 'observing' going on and wouldn't want your learning and enjoyment spoilt by people paying you unnecessary attention. Is there a local astronomy society that you can link up with that can help you locate a better (darker) observing site.

Clear skies

James

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Donkeiller

Donkeiller

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Thanks for the tips guys.

I have sorted the finder problem

100 yards is too close, but you can alter the focus by unscrewing the locking ring at the objective end and moving the objective cell in and out. Now got good focus.

I have to say the manual that comes with the Skywatcher ED 80 is rubbish. I had to download the manual for the Celestron ED 80 to find this out (and alot more).

Can't seem to find a better Skywatcher manual (unless you guys know better!)

Don't worry about me observing in the "park". Cambridge is not a high crime area and I'm fairly big and fit.

Can't do much in the back garden- surrounded by trees and other houses and the one open side has a nice big sodium streetlight.

The only way I can see is just about straight up.

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hello Don, a very warm welcome to SGL, hope you enjoy the forum, I think you need to go back to blue block at the top of this page, click on control panel then you will see a new list, go to edit details and work from there. Happy New Year.

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