Planning to buy a first telescope?

Vali x

my 2 cents: you guys never going to be happy with the scope that you bought or accessories! you'll get the disease called "aperture fever " and there's no cure for it ! yes, there's telescopes for every budget out there, but you need to start by writing down the reasons why you want it : stargazing, astro-photography, research ! when it comes to viewing, aperture rules ! the bigger the better ! those dobs telescopes are a real deal for the price that you pay! attention:the bigger it is the heavier! in deed, a bigger dob, so called a light bucket, will provide you the most spectaculars images of heavens ! you always need to make a compromise ! if you never used a scope, start with a pair of binos ! from 7 or 10x50 and up it will give you an idea of the skies! dont go with a variable bino (meaning 7-15x50 zooming options) because the optics are bad. and i dont think you wanna pay at least 500$ for a better pair. just keep in mind that once you got bitten by the astro bug, is over ! you always going to get a better eyepiece, a better collimation tool, a better filter...and the list goes on !
So, good luck! start by visiting your local astronomy clubs, dont aspect to see in an eyepiece the same image that you see on Hubble's website ( because the location of an DSO-deep space object- is very faraway, the amount of the light gathered by a human eye is not enough to excite the cells in your eye to start seeing colors.
this is my point of view !

Drakkith

Vali that happens with pretty much every hobby! You always want something better!

Gliese123

Hello everyone! I bought a Spectra Optics telescope 1400X150 (reflector) for 260 Euro a few days ago and I had quite big expectations on it. The including oculars was on 25mm and 6.5 mm. But when I was going to look at Jupiter recently, then I didn't get a more visible view than a little dot and extremely small dots of its moons. (I've no light pollution) I tested different items I got with it but it was... well, crap! My expectations smashed into pieces. And the sharpness was horrible! A blurry dot was everything I saw. (I had at least expected some contrast and zoom, but nothing...) And as I said, I tested the different oculars and I also got one 2X Barlow, but the view was crap. First of all, the mirror and everything was totally clean and it was no moisture on it, an everything was placed correctly. But it was horrible. The including description claimed that the telescope was able to see nebulae and planets very good, but I consider NOT!.. I'll return it and hopefully I get the money back. This was my opinions, but someone might bought a similar model and are pleased about it?

Drakkith

Got a link to the manufacturers website or somewhere else with the details of your scope Gliese?

DaveC426913

Have you collimated it? It could easily look like crap until it's been properly tuned.

Quick test:
1] Point at a bright star.
2] Defocus your eyepiece a lot.
3] The star should defocus into a large perfect ring with 3 (or 4) vanes (your scope's secondary mirror and spider vanes).

If the ring is somehow distorted or askew, invest in a Cheshire eyepiece for about 50 bucks. First collimation will take an hour or two. After that only seasonal adjustments might be necessary.

Some other things:
- Ditch the Barlow.
- Use only your lowest power eyepiece (the 6.5) until you're satisfied with performance and with your skills.
- Try pointing at a local but distant light source (not the sun or anywhere near it! You will permanently blind yourself!). A distant streetlight or window (100+ feet). This will help you adjust your finder scope, help you practice targeting with your main, and makes it easier to practice focusing. Once you get something you can see, You can swing it around to the stars and re-adjust focus.

Gliese123

This is how it looks like: http://images.pricerunner.com/produc...p-1400x150.jpg

But I don't know if it's available to buy anywhere else than here.. It's perhaps a small manufacturer. I didn't find any link of any English one: This is the Swedish one: http://teknikmagasinet.se/db.pl?tf=p...l&artnr=600134

Maybe I'm just bought something that can be better if it's an other manufacturer.. ?

DaveC426913

Try my test. I may be a fine scope. You won't know until you check.

russ_watters

A 150mm reflector should provide decent views of Jupiter. Besides collimation, some other possibilities:

1. How high was Jupiter off the horizon when you were viewing it? When low to the horizon, objects are always blurry.
2. A clear night does not necessarily equal good "seeing". The air needs to be still, all through the atmosphere.
3. Don't go too high with the magnification. Yes, it will be a little small, but the detail should show up better. If you magnify beyond the acuity of your eye, the object will get bigger but blurrier. So that means use your 6.5mm eyepiece without the barlow or the 25mm eyepiece with it.
4. Temper your expectations. You shold be able to clearly see the great red spot and color bands on Jupiter and a the shadow of a moon going across (every 3rd or 4th night), but that ain't the Hubble you're using. If you were expecting Hubble-like views...sorry, you were misled.

Gliese123

I really thought the observation through this telescope should provided some decent view too... The planet Jupiter was fairly high over the horizon, which I also watched in different times of the evening. 20:00-23:00 (24h) that evening which gave the planet plenty of time to go high up over the horizon. There was no atmospheric interference as I perceived, no foggy clouds. The dot was not twinkle and shaking but rather hard to get a focus on. The weird thing about it was that I tested with and without the 2X Barlow and both the 25mm and the 6.5mm but it didn't make it more visible than a small dot. I really didn't expected Hubble images but at least as you said, a clear visible view of the great spot of Jupiter. What I wanted was a nice zoom and some sharpness, which was denied... At some point I think it's wrong to sell this kind of telescope and less functional than I bought... It really intimidate people from watching the night sky....

DaveC426913

This has got to be operator error if you were seeing a small dot. Even with a 6.5mm,Jupiter should have been a disc with bands.
Don't give up yet. The scope might not be the problem.

It does take a bit of skill, and results can be disappointing until you get proficient.

russ_watters

I'm almost thinking he didn't get the scope centered on Jupiter!

DaveC426913

That was my thought.

With a 1400mm focal length and a 150mm aperature, that gives it an f9.3. With the 6.5mm eyepiece that gives a mag of 142x.
(http://www.csgnetwork.com/telescopemagcalc.html)

That gives Jupiter (actual angular diameter of at least 30 arcseconds) a magnified diameter of ... 71 arcminutes? That's more than twice the size of the Moon. Someone want to check my work?


Gliese, you were not looking at Jupiter.

PAllen

I have a 90mm portable reflector bought more for hiking and birdwatching and can see a few major bands, clear disk, nice moons. I live in an urban area, with no great seeing. I can say I've never quite made out the redspot with this scope where I live. Something very fishy here.

Drakkith

I've got a 10 inch schmidt-newtonian and I've never even made out the red spot. I think I just suck at collimation...(aligning the mirrors)

DaveC426913

You have a ten inch scope and you haven't seen the Red Spot?

Where do you live? Times Square?

Drakkith

Would that matter? I think my collimation sucks is all. Not sure though. I've done the best I can, and even use a good laser collimator.
Edit: The views from my front yard are no different than when I head out to my buddies house or the local observatory, both are in much better light pollution areas than my front yard.

turbo

I have an older 90mm APO by Vernon, and it gives good views of Jupiter, the color bands, and the red spot. Limiting resolution is not the issue with an easy target like Jupiter. In fact, I can crank up the magnification by dropping in a 2" barlow when the seeing is good. This isn't a Tak Sky 90 by any means, but it's still a decent little 'scope that I use for a finder/guidescope for the the 6" APO. I'd like to get some of the respondents together and inspect and adjust their 'scopes and spend a bit of time observing - some of the recent statements don't add up.