Oops I've just bought a Telescope!

[wheresthetorch]

@simon the viking I just wanted to give you a few pointers to help you once you get a clear night; forgive me if this is at all patronising as it isn't meant that way.

• While it is light, set up the finderscope on the telescope. Do this by lining the main telescope up on a distant object (e.g. a TV aerial across the street or a distant treetop) and then adjusting the findersope so that it also lines up on the object. You can then use the findersope at night to line up the telescope.
• The telescope probably comes with two eyepieces, which will have numbers on them. Counterintuitively, the higher number is the lower magnification (magnification is the focal length of your telescope, 700mm, divided by the focal length of the eyepiece). Start with the lower magnification while you are getting used to the telescope, as it will be easier to find objects and they will appear brighter. Avoid the temptation to go high power straight away. The barlow that increases by 3x, so would be rarely used. Maximum useful magnification is generally twice the aperture, so the max useful magnification for your scope is 152x. Most objects (galaxies, nebulae) look better under a lower power; high powers are most useful for the moon, planets and splitting double stars.
• Don't be disappointed with your first views. Beginners often complain that the stars don't look any bigger, so they think the telescope isn't working. The stars are so far away that they will only ever look like points of light. But with a telescope you will see more of them, and you will see their colours, double stars, etc. Star clusters are particularly beautiful.
• The moon is one of the best objects to start on. Avoid full moon as it just looks washed out and bland; look at the moon during one of its phases, particularly the terminator line between light and dark. On the terminator, mountains, valleys and craters will stand out in sharp relief as the sun casts shadows.
• Download a free app for your phone called Stellarium. It is a great resource for finding what is up there.
• And I'd recommend purchasing a book called 'Turn left at Orion'; it is the beginners' bible.

I hope all that helps a bit. Clear skies!

 

[Grant Fondo]

Just for info, Uranus is in the South East after sunset, slightly greenish, fnaar

 

[Profpointy]

@wheresthetorch post above is spot on. Here are a couple more thoughts...

An alt-az tripod is absolutely fine unless you are doing photography. I do have an equatorial mount myself and it is handy only having to twiddle one twiddle to follow the moving stars but it is arguably easier to find stuff with an ordinary tripod. It is a pain if either type is wobbly though, and a good tripod is expensive.

My telescope is a 4" refractor, albeit quite a posh one, but even in the city (Bristol) the standard stuff like rings of saturn, moons of jupiter and for that matter the stripes, phases of venus, and orion nebula are all just fantastic. Seeing the "trapezium" stars and detail within the orion nebula is a real treat and should just about be in reach of your 'scope. Not yet had a dark enough sky ( when I'v taken it with me ) to catch Andromeda galaxy, but again that should be easily within reach - you can just about glimpse it with naked eye under a dark sky, once you've first found it with binoculars. It's as big as the moon, albeit much much dimmer.

Anyhow there's loads to enjoy even with a small scope. When I retire, if I end up somewhere reasonably dark, I expect to buy a 12" newtonian, to complement the refractor. The refractor is more portable which is why I went that way.

 

[postman]

i wonder if you can see yourself lending me £5,000.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Looks like you bought a telescope just in time

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...r-night-sky-supernova-explosion-a9263626.html

BETELGEUSE: STAR IS BEHAVING STRANGELY AND COULD BE ABOUT TO EXPLODE INTO A SUPERNOVA, ASTRONOMERS SAY

 

[simon the viking]

@simon the viking I just wanted to give you a few pointers to help you once you get a clear night; forgive me if this is at all patronising as it isn't meant that way.

• While it is light, set up the finderscope on the telescope. Do this by lining the main telescope up on a distant object (e.g. a TV aerial across the street or a distant treetop) and then adjusting the findersope so that it also lines up on the object. You can then use the findersope at night to line up the telescope.
• The telescope probably comes with two eyepieces, which will have numbers on them. Counterintuitively, the higher number is the lower magnification (magnification is the focal length of your telescope, 700mm, divided by the focal length of the eyepiece). Start with the lower magnification while you are getting used to the telescope, as it will be easier to find objects and they will appear brighter. Avoid the temptation to go high power straight away. The barlow that increases by 3x, so would be rarely used. Maximum useful magnification is generally twice the aperture, so the max useful magnification for your scope is 152x. Most objects (galaxies, nebulae) look better under a lower power; high powers are most useful for the moon, planets and splitting double stars.
• Don't be disappointed with your first views. Beginners often complain that the stars don't look any bigger, so they think the telescope isn't working. The stars are so far away that they will only ever look like points of light. But with a telescope you will see more of them, and you will see their colours, double stars, etc. Star clusters are particularly beautiful.
• The moon is one of the best objects to start on. Avoid full moon as it just looks washed out and bland; look at the moon during one of its phases, particularly the terminator line between light and dark. On the terminator, mountains, valleys and craters will stand out in sharp relief as the sun casts shadows.
• Download a free app for your phone called Stellarium. It is a great resource for finding what is up there.
• And I'd recommend purchasing a book called 'Turn left at Orion'; it is the beginners' bible.

I hope all that helps a bit. Clear skies!

Hi thanks for all those tips! I was struggling to set the finderscope up until I watched a Youtube video.. set it up a couple of days ago but cloudy at night.. Finally got a clear night tonight, just been looking at the moon... even Mrs V was impressed with it.

 

[wheresthetorch]

Hi thanks for all those tips! I was struggling to set the finderscope up until I watched a Youtube video.. set it up a couple of days ago but cloudy at night.. Finally got a clear night tonight, just been looking at the moon... even Mrs V was impressed with it.

Excellent! Here's a shot of the moon I took a couple of nights ago, just by holding my phone up to the eyepiece:

 

[captain nemo1701]

@wheresthetorch post above is spot on. Here are a couple more thoughts...

An alt-az tripod is absolutely fine unless you are doing photography. I do have an equatorial mount myself and it is handy only having to twiddle one twiddle to follow the moving stars but it is arguably easier to find stuff with an ordinary tripod. It is a pain if either type is wobbly though, and a good tripod is expensive.

My telescope is a 4" refractor, albeit quite a posh one, but even in the city (Bristol) the standard stuff like rings of saturn, moons of jupiter and for that matter the stripes, phases of venus, and orion nebula are all just fantastic. Seeing the "trapezium" stars and detail within the orion nebula is a real treat and should just about be in reach of your 'scope. Not yet had a dark enough sky ( when I'v taken it with me ) to catch Andromeda galaxy, but again that should be easily within reach - you can just about glimpse it with naked eye under a dark sky, once you've first found it with binoculars. It's as big as the moon, albeit much much dimmer.

Anyhow there's loads to enjoy even with a small scope. When I retire, if I end up somewhere reasonably dark, I expect to buy a 12" newtonian, to complement the refractor. The refractor is more portable which is why I went that way.

I see you're local to me in Brizzle!!. I have a small refractor & reflector (150mm). Ok for the moon etc but the mountings on these things are very wibbly wobbly!!.

 

[MontyVeda]

Looks like you bought a telescope just in time

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...r-night-sky-supernova-explosion-a9263626.html

Won't need a telescope to see that.... sunglasses, maybe.

 

[Moon bunny]

Is "about to explode" astronomers' "about" i.e. within the next few tens of thousands years?

 

[classic33]

Looks like you bought a telescope just in time

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...r-night-sky-supernova-explosion-a9263626.html

"Forget Betelgeuse, the Star V Sagittae Should Go Nova Within this Century
The star V Sagittae is the next candidate to explode in stellar pyrotechnics, and a team of astronomers set the year for that cataclysmic explosion at 2083, or thereabouts."
https://www.universetoday.com/14452...-sagittae-should-go-nova-within-this-century/

Keep your eyes on it!

 

[gavroche]

Is "about to explode" astronomers' "about" i.e. within the next few tens of thousands years?

Isn't any stars we see through a telescope is actually looking into the past as we are talking about light years away so any stars exploding has already done so but it took that long to reach us ?

 

[numbnuts]

Nice big moon out tonight

 

[uphillstruggler]

I’ve now had a couple of beginners telescopes , I’ll take the advice up thread and try again

cheers for the time taken

 

[stephec]

Thread resurrection time, I'm after some advice please?

Of the two at £180 in the link below, which is my better option?

https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electricals/telescopes/_/N-ajw