Look what Santa brought me

Muppet Man

My First telescope!!!!

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p5546_Starscope-150-750mm-Newton-Teleskop-mit-Montierung---Stativ.html

Probably not the best, but as a starter scope, I'm pumped! I hadn't even asked for one... But my recent interest in the planets seems to have been enough of an accidental hint... :-)

I think Santa did well considering she didnt have a clue what she was buying.

Anyone know when the first clear skies are expected?

Muppet man

ZeRoY

Muppet Man wrote: »

Probably not the best, but as a starter scope, I'm pumped!

Good starter scope by all accounts. For visual stuff it should be great, I'd advise getting yourself a Star Chart and start getting your way around the main stars / planets. The moon should look great in that scope!

Rubecula

Clear skies Muppet man and welcome to the fraternity

Muppet Man

well, I managed to put it all together - took about 2 hours LOL

I also managed to get some clear skies and I nearly burned my eye balls when I looked at the moon. I found a use for the moon filter very quickly

I also got Jupiter and a few of its moons which was dead cool because I couldnt see them with the 10x50 binoculars. A couple of observations from a total noob:

I couldnt believe how badly the wind can shakes the scope...
Those weights are seriously heavy. I assume it would be standard practice to put the weights on AFTER you get the scope out in the open?
It gets cold... quick. I had to call it a night when I couldnt turn one of the knobs on the EQ mount... I'd seen enough at that point though.

Cheers!
Muppet Man

newbie2

Don't want to start a new thread - so I'll jump on this one. Santa (my wife) brought me an Astromaster 130 EQ. Really looking forward to trying it out. Maybe try my hand at some astrophotography if I can.

Muppet Man

Arent wives awesome!?!?! Happy star hunting.

Kersh

Super stuff, welcome along.

Santy was very busy!!

@Muppet Man - Clouds and wind will really wind you up over the next while. But make sure you have your scope balanced, on both axis.

Scope in tuberings and also scope with the counterweights.

When you let it go it shouldnt fall one way or the other. Keep moving the weights til it sits easy.

And slide it up and down the tuberings until it sits steady.

Check this out - http://www.astronomyforum.net/telescope-mounts-forum/80872-balancing-german-equatorial-mount.html

Muppet Man

Many thanks kersh , that's a great tip.... Great web page. Never even considered balancing the tube, and didn't have a clue how to balance the weights. This is great, thanks again. I'll give that a go shortly.

Thanks,
Muppet man

ZeRoY

newbie2 wrote: »

Don't want to start a new thread - so I'll jump on this one. Santa (my wife) brought me an Astromaster 130 EQ. Really looking forward to trying it out. Maybe try my hand at some astrophotography if I can.

If the model you have doesn't have the motor, Im selling one :

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=82268557&postcount=19

newbie2

just broke the telescope out for the first time. i'm pretty impressed. jupiter and its moons looked great - I could even make out a couple of dark cloud rings on jupiter itself. I then checked out the orion nebula - it looked great too.

So for my forst time gazing - It was a great success - however - it's plainly obvious that you need a plan if you want have a constructive evening's work.

I would deffo like to take some photos. Does anyone know of a good 'where to start' guide on;line?

Kersh

newbie2 wrote: »

So for my forst time gazing - It was a great success - however - it's plainly obvious that you need a plan if you want have a constructive evening's work.

I know exactly what you mean. I'm a disaster when I go out. Loads of plans, both visual and photography, and then when I get out and get set up it turns into a free for all of firing the telescope at anything I can think of. Then I'm cold.

newbie2

Hey Kersh,
I'm pretty green when it come to this stuff - I'm afraid I'm looking to run before I can even crawl sometimes. What eqipment are you using for your photography? Do you just attached a camera to the lens and then snap away - or do you need a different lens completley?

Jesus -I've loads of questions - maybe I need a week or two before I even think of snapping anything

ZeRoY

newbie2 wrote: »

Hey Kersh,
I'm pretty green when it come to this stuff - I'm afraid I'm looking to run before I can even crawl sometimes. What eqipment are you using for your photography? Do you just attached a camera to the lens and then snap away - or do you need a different lens completley?

When doing astrophotography the best results are obtain by doing prime focus, this is when the Telescope becomes your camera lens essentially. To do this you need a SLR/DSLR camera or at least one that can do long exposure (at least 15 seconds) and one that can be attached to the telescope using a T-ring.

Here is a good guide to start of with, it covers the basics for equipment and what you can do with it.

Vaxxine

I also got the Astromaster 130EQ today for my Birthday So excited to start using it!

Kersh

newbie2 wrote: »

Hey Kersh,
I'm pretty green when it come to this stuff - I'm afraid I'm looking to run before I can even crawl sometimes. What eqipment are you using for your photography? Do you just attached a camera to the lens and then snap away - or do you need a different lens completley?

Jesus -I've loads of questions - maybe I need a week or two before I even think of snapping anything

I could probably take anything I want from the Skywatcher range to use, but I dont for some reason!! Im still using gear I bought 10 years ago.

Soon I will prob have to get a HEQ5 Pro with a Quattro as a demo model, but thats for later in the year.



Currently, I use a Meade LXD55, just polar aligned, with either a Skywatcher 80ED Pro, or a Meade LX10 8" Schmidt Cassegrain. Occasionally I use a 10" Schmidt- Newt, but not often, as the mount struggles with the 16kg weight.

Camera wise I use a Canon Eos300D, mounted direct to the scope with a T-ring/T-adaptor.



Im only a beginner at the photography, I have been a visual observer since Halleys Comet in 86, when I was 10!!

newbie2

thanks guys.

just bought a celestron accessories kit with a couple of barlows, a couple of filters and a couple of t-rings/adaptors for 70 quid. gonna source myself a decent camera now - -and i'll see you all back here in a few weeks......

thanks again....

keane2097

Seems like the Astromaster 130EQ is a go-to scope for first-timers, any others I should be looking at as well?

ZeRoY

keane2097 wrote: »

Seems like the Astromaster 130EQ is a go-to scope for first-timers, any others I should be looking at as well?

Not sure if you meant go-to in the "GOTO" function sense but just know the 130EQ isnt GOTO. It has slow motion for both Axis and can be equipped with a Motor for the RA axis for tracking.

I'd advise you look at the beginner section HERE

keane2097

ZeRoY wrote: »

Not sure if you meant go-to in the "GOTO" function sense but just know the 130EQ isnt GOTO. It has slow motion for both Axis and can be equipped with a Motor for the RA axis for tracking.

I'd advise you look at the beginner section HERE

Christ almighty, talk about bad luck! I didn't realise go-to was a telescope feature and was basically asking if the 130EQ was a well-recommended beginner scope

Nerro

keane2097 wrote: »

Christ almighty, talk about bad luck! I didn't realise go-to was a telescope feature and was basically asking if the 130EQ was a well-recommended beginner scope

if to be exact thats actually a mount feature...
and to answer your question, yes 130EQ is a good starter scope.but as a beginner i would be looking at dobs...cheaper and easier to use.

keane2097

Nerro wrote: »

if to be exact thats actually a mount feature...
and to answer your question, yes 130EQ is a good starter scope.but as a beginner i would be looking at dobs...cheaper and easier to use.

Thanks, any particular model you could suggest? The huge variety available is obviously great when you know what you're doing but it's pretty daunting for a noob!

ZeRoY

keane2097 wrote: »

Thanks, any particular model you could suggest? The huge variety available is obviously great when you know what you're doing but it's pretty daunting for a noob!

I think this thread has a lot of suggestions:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056826608

Drake66

Nerro wrote: »

if to be exact thats actually a mount feature...
and to answer your question, yes 130EQ is a good starter scope.but as a beginner i would be looking at dobs...cheaper and easier to use.

I agree with this .I have a 6 inch dob - skywatcher 150P- and I really like it. I was going to get a 8 inch but storage and portability were an issue.

newbie2

Really getting into this now. Got my Celestron accesories kit which contains a 2x barlow and a couple of lenses. It's amazing how the image quality suffers with the high magnification. I'm finding the 15 with or without the barlow gets me the best results.

I'm manageing to find objects purly by star hopping now - which is great. found andromeda a couple of times - just by estimating where it should be then pointing.

i cant wait to get to somewhere with less light pollution. And I also cant wait until the rest of my photography stuff gets here too. It's costing me a fair bit - but meh.

I'm trying to get my head around polar alligning my EQ. having a look here: http://www.astro-baby.com/simplepolar/simple_polar_alignment.htm but i'm not sure I'm doing it right.

ZeRoY

newbie2 wrote: »

I'm trying to get my head around polar alligning my EQ. having a look here: http://www.astro-baby.com/simplepolar/simple_polar_alignment.htm but i'm not sure I'm doing it right.

Well the idea is quite simple, get your mount point due north and see Polaris at centre of high Eyepiece (10mm at least). Easier said than done of course ... There is one technique that I used which could be useful to you, minus the polar scope stuff if you dont have one:

http://www.thestardeckobservatory.com/Polaralign.html

newbie2

thanks zeroy. yeah i think i got that, but it seemed over simple IMO.

i set my latitude to about 51/52 degrees. released the RA clutch and set it directly over the mount. got polaris right in the centre of my eyepiece. but what then? Where should the arrows be pointing on my RA & DEC dials? Are they point at the correct values? How do I then observe/track something using my motir drive ( which is arriving shortly )?

ZeRoY

newbie2 wrote: »

but what then? Where should the arrows be pointing on my RA & DEC dials? Are they point at the correct values? How do I then observe/track something using my motir drive ( which is arriving shortly )?

Then you need to refer to an app to get the position of the object you wish to view at the exact time that you are doing observation. Once you have those number you use them on the two dials (check manual is best to know how they work) and when seeing the target in the eyepiece then you would engage RA motor to keep it in the eyepiece. A little Declination adjustment might be required if you arent polar align too well.

baron von something

santa almost brought me one too but i guessed correctly what santa was getting me so santa called me a smart-arse and got me something else instead.

so i'm planning on getting my own one and the 130 Astromaster seems to be the one that keeps catching my eye.its good to see that other people are getting this as their first one too.anybody got any other recommendations to a similar set up as the 130 Astromaster