first ever viewing of jupiter :D

[spitfire12]

Hi all im new here and new to the hobby but a lot of you have already welcomed me!

i got a jessops 800-80 telescope for xmas and tonight was my first proper use as the skies cleared! as soon as i got set up i noticed jupiter in the sky and managed to catch a glympse at 40x using the 20mm eyepiece.

it was brilliant although tiny i could see the moons and just about make out a few lines...i must say im chuffed to bits with what i saw with my £39 scope and cant wait to have a look at a higher mag!

only problem i had was finding targets with the crappy supplied red dot finder

[Ian123]

Congrat's on jupiter, great sight, remember my first view.

[oldfruit]

Good for you finding Jupiter. An impressive sight in any size scope

[John]

Congratulations - £39 well spent then !.

If they gave you good eyepieces and put a good red dot finder on it they would have to triple the price of course but you can't complain for what it cost - the moon and Saturn will look great through it as well

[spitfire12]

it was an awesome sight, and an awesome way to start the hobby i must say! i also managed to find a blue cluster of stars near orions belt, difficult to tell what they were or where without a finder though!

im thinking of purchasing one of these: Finders - Baader 30mm Sky Surfer III

can anybody comment on the above finder?

i must say im impressed with the quality of what ive seen through the 20mm EP! (from an amature POV anyway)

im yet to try the 12.5mm or the 6mm yet however, the EP's do have a very cheap look to them though so i assume id get much better quality through a branded EP. the scope also came with a 3x barlow which i assume isnt really worth using?

[LukeSkywatcher]

The cluster of "blue" stars near Orion is Pleiades (M45) which is in the constellation of Taurus. Its a beautiful cluster. If you liked Jupiter just wait a couple of hours and you will be able to see Saturn rising in the east. Its very easy to spot because it is a very bright orange/yellow light.

[John]

...im thinking of purchasing one of these: Finders - Baader 30mm Sky Surfer III

can anybody comment on the above finder?

I have one of those. Nice, low cost, red dot finder. Comes with a variety of bases which might be useful if your scope does not have a standard finder dovetail fitting.

It projects a single red dot, which is adjustable for brightness. The lens is larger (30mm) than some other low cost RDF's and is "hooded" so less prone to dew.

For what it costs, it's good

An alternative would be a Rigel Quikfinder:

Finders - Rigel QuikFinder Compact Reflex Sight

More expensive but uses a 2-ring projected reticule which makes star-hopping a bit easier. It comes with 2 bases which fit using double-sided sticky tape - pretty secure but you can use a single screw through the base as well.

[spitfire12]

Yes i was drawn to it because it comes with all those bases, i think im going to get one wheni get paid, for now im going to try a new battery in the jessops red dot and see if it works.

i wish i could take a look at saturn tonight but i couldnt stay up late enough to go outside, work tomorrow

fingers crossed for clear skys this weekend!

[sbooder]

Hi Spitfire12, Saturn will blow your mind. It is by fat the biggest wow factor and you will spend many more nights glued to the eyepiece. I know little about your scope but I am hoping you will make out the shadows cast by both planet and rings.

[spitfire12]

i think i could well see the rings with a higher mag, i only had time to see jupiter at 40x before it clouded over and i could see the moons and just about make out some detail on the tiny orange sphere!

this might seem like a nooby question... but would buying branded EP's improve quality? i assume the plasticy jessops ones wont be great as ive heard people say that a quality EP can make all the difference.

[sbooder]

Absolutely it will make a difference. If for a while you are tight on budget, eyepieces are the way to go because you will still have them when you get a better scope, as long as they are 1.25", if they are 0,96 you will have a slight problem, although you can buy adapters.

[Astro_Baby]

Good for you......its a great sight and I never get bored with seeing it.

[spitfire12]

i think its 1.25" i havent measured the EP's but visually they look jsut over an inch in size. im definatley on a tight budget for now, payday on the 25th will definatley see me with a new red dot finder at at least one new EP.

[spitfire12]

dont mean to double post but i took the red dot apart after testing the battery and finding it still has 2.9v running through it, the wiring all seems to be fine and my multimeter confirms that there is definatley a complete circuit, thus im putting it down to the LED being knackered. Ive found £20 i didnt realise i had so im going to order the baader skysurfer 3 from FLO rather than spending it down the pub

real shame the forcasted clear skies havent happened tonight in the east mids!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'm amazed that the RDF on a new scope is not working. A few months back my RDF stopped working. I knew the battery was still good etc (because i hardly ever use my RDF), so i couldnt figure it out. In the end it turned out that the tiny screw that holds the on/off wheel onto it was loose and there was no connection being made. A simple turn of a screwdriver to tighten the on/off wheel solved the problem.

Try it................it may just be the problem.

My main scope (Heritage 130P) is too low to the ground to use a RDF or even a finderscope so i usually just "wing it". But to help me out somewhat i am about to add a Wixey to the scope to at least enable me to point the scope to the right altitude of objects i want to observe. Then its just a case of swinging it left or right on its AZ axis to locate them.

[spitfire12]

im shocked too to be honest, its bust after its second use! ive had the whole thing in bits and tested it thoroughly with a multi meter and it seems that the LED is giving a lot of resistance and the voltage is halved after passing through it (eben though it dosent light up), ive come the the conclusion that the LED is knackered and its not worth trying to fix!

[removed word] it to be honest though, even when it worked it was terrible even from an amature POV and ive read a lot of reviews saying just how bad it is so ive ordered a new RDF from FLO.