I Just Bought A Begginer's Telescope... Now What?

Ok, I just assembled it and without putting the tripod on the ground I held it and tried looking at the sky
I saw nothing, now my eye hurts LOL

Then I read the Warning, to not view sky while telescope is moving

Anyhow I got an 18x and a 25x lens

But I can't see anything that's number one
Can't see anything while looking in the sky
Secondly the tripod won't let the telescope pivot to point upwards, so why do I view the sky?

Come on man, help a fellow ATSer out?

Extremely cheap telescope
The wifey wants me to try out a cheap one before I invest in a good one

Plz Help
Thx

did you take the lense covers off?

reply to post by neonitus


LOL>.

I was gonna ask that..



Sorry MA..

not laffing at you..

laffing with you..I had one once..

it's tricky...

There's these amazing things called "instructions". I dunno, you could try
reading them?

There are 2 knobs on the tripod, one probably underneath the scope, and the other on the side. Loosen them up, point in the direction you want to look, then tighten them up a bit so it isn't bouncing. Look around through the scope, find what you're looking for, then tighten the knobs all the way up so it can't move (except maybe a little, because the object will move pretty fast out of view).

And remember, when you are looking through the magnified part, everything is backwards...so move your scope around opposite to the direction the object is moving to keep it in view. (that probably doesn't make any sense, but it will) Hope I helped a little.

Well,it's been awhile since my first telescope,
but adjust the focus and squint abit,
then the sky will open up before you.
When you find Jupiter and it's moons
It will amaze you.
Good luck with the new scope!

Just point it at any street light, then you can tell us all about Elenin and UFO's!

We look forward to your reports!

Well you could see if any of your neighbors leave their curtains open at night.

Or try something simple like checking out the moon which shouldn't be that hard to find on a clear night.

Hopefully you live some place where there is very little light pollution.

Your mount issue might be better understood if you google to see if you have an alt-az or equatorial mount, doubt you have a dob if its a cheapy.

This is an eq
www.astronomyboy.com...

This is an alt-az
www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk...

let us know which and maybe a more detailed explanation as the problems, (seemed more like a riddle )

reply to post by ModernAcademia


start with moon its close and the easiest to track remeber everything is moving so once you got it you must keep up with it good luck

Now buy a telescope for professionals.

reply to post by wavemaker


Hahaha so true, after getting into astronomy one soon learns $ makes it almost too easy. I mean 1 touch gps locating, progressive position learning with each star observation, massive ccd sensors, piggyback scopes, auto PE correction, ahhhhh nerdgasm

But yea on the cheap can cause headaches.

P.S. Try the moon as said above

These days..
If you buy an "extremely cheap" telescope..
the only thing it will really be 'good' for is some moon gazing.
Maybe a glimpse of Saturn rings, if you're lucky. lol

Nah, really.. What is "extremely cheap"?


What telescope is it?
Can you link us to it?

It's got to be a refractor (tube with lenses at each end),
But a little more to go on would be helpful in us helping you..
probably. lol

Good for you. Just keep trying. Maybe its out of collimation or needs a similar adjustment, but you'll get it.
Tell us the type, size and brand of scope. It helps when helping to know what we are dealing with. The inexpensive models can be difficult and have some issues too.

Remember, you can damage your eye with an impact with the eyepiece. That's why the warning was there.

Light adjust your eyes by using a red light to tinker while you are looking too, or your eyes will not work well. What type of lens are you using? Start with a wide field so you will be able to see lots of sky, then as you get things going, go for higher power like 15mm.

Start out just going through the Messier catalog, getting used to acquiring those objects and keep a log. That will be great practice in using your scope and soon finding anything you want to look at when you want. Just have fun.

Join a local club and you might find someone willing to help you through the difficult spots. Check for local clubs by Google-ing your town/city/county and the word/s Astronomy, Club, Star party and such. There are tens of thousands of us peppered around.

There's some great events to practice for happening in a month or so. Comets and solar events. But for solar get a solar filter or for that or you can project onto a white card. You might see some cool stuff!

Best of luck, and keep it pointed skyward.

ZG

I want to be clear first. I am not going to make fun of you. Some of us forget we have had issues and needed help. At the very leaste you should be able to focus on something, anything!! If you can't feel free to "U2U" message me. I have some opinions on this issue that are good arguments for certain possibilities at this point in time that have to do with telescopes..

Being an amateur astronomer, moreso through my early teens to early 20's i know ALOT about telescopes..
now....what did you get? reflector? refractor? if you got a mall store brand one, or something youde find in a retail store, chacnes are its not that powerful, and probably made of plastic. if so, its GARBAGE.
check out celestron.com or Orion telescopes...yuo can find a nice 70 mm refractor, for like $70. ti isnt gunna get any cheaper than that. did yuo take the black lens off the front fo the scope ( the part that points at the sky?) or maybe, their was a plastic black cover lens on one of the eyepieces?
The only other ting i can think of, is you got a reflector ( bigger garbage canned shaped ones) and ddint attach the 2ndayr mirror correctly or didnt callobrate it right....but it sounds like yuo got a plastic refractor..
rule of thumb...refractors can be very expensive, and offer the clearest views almost...but thier not really found 4 inches these days. and their EXPENSIVE, especially names like televue and NAGLER eyepieces. reflectors, by comaprison are cheaper and you get double the amount of aperature for your buck. and they do make them now, as dobsonians ( reflectors on a base) that have motion and time control, like a german Q mount does, so you can attach a camera or CCD imager. aka follows the stars across the sky via timed motor. celelctron sells em, yuo can get a 12.5 inch MORE than enough for many, for like $1600.
the most exepnsive part of a telelscope, is eyepieces. a 7 mm eyepice will show much more indepth detail, than a 25 mm eyepiece..so something to calloect on in time. you;'ll want a skyglow fitler, or oxygen and hydrogen alpha filter if into the big telescopes.

If you haven't already, download and install your free copy of Stellarium

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go. .

Make sure you take a moment to understand Light pollution

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale

The World Atlas of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness

Absolute magnitude

A little effort to search out favorable viewing conditions will pay the greatest dividends for the least cost. Many city-bound hobbyists invest in special light pollution filters but that is something for the next telescope as they can cost roughly the worth of your current new toy.

Don't worry that you may be missing out on something because your first setup is "extremely cheap".

What you have as a starter would be a technological miracle to those first great minds of exploration like Galileo Galilei. You should have a thousand different wonders of discovery ahead before you have any cause to consider an upgrade.

For most tasks you want to use the least amount of magnification necessary to view your target. Accessories like barlow lenses will see little if any use beyond the moon or whatever terrestrial viewing you may be doing.

The magic is to gather more light so your Emphasis should be on mitigating light pollution and atmospheric conditions ( less humidity is better) humidity.

I am assuming you are working with something like a 4" refractor.

Depending on the season, you should expect to see...

More lunar detail than you knew existed.

Venus as a bright sphere changing phases.

Mars as a rusty sphere with a possibility of a hint of white at the poles on a good night.

Jupiter as a bright sphere surrounded by the 4 Galilean moons. On a really good night you may be treated to a hint of color and banding.

Saturn as a bright orb. During favorable years the ring plane will show a clear gap between the planet and its rings.

The Andromeda Galaxy ( M82) On a good night it should appear as a faintly luminous fuzzy oval.

The Orion Nebula ( M42) On a really good night you should recognize a dimly fuzzy familiar outline lit up by 2 or 3 newborn stars towards its center.

Do not expect to see anything like the vivid colors represented in photographs. Celestial photography uses lengthy time exposure to capture enough light to show color and detail. The human eye cant gather enough light light to define color in even the biggest telescopes'

Another important detail is in how you view an object.

Your eye uses 2 separate kinds of light receptors, cones and rods.

Cones process color in your main field of view.

Rods register black and white in your peripheral vision and are much more sensitive than cones.

When viewing faint objects learn to look from your peripheral vision rather than directly.

With a little practice it is actually rather startling. What was black sky straight ahead will suddenly resolve a nebula when viewed off to the side.

I hope this helps get you started!

My best advice is to view the moon. You can get some amazing views of the moon even with a very cheap telescope.

I remember reading a pair of 7 x 50 binoculars might be better than a cheap telescope if you're interested in Astronomy. You can easily look at a number of stars in the sky. You could pick up a copy of Astronomy magazine and see if it has inside a picture of Jupiter and it's moons. You can point your binoculars or cheap telescope at Jupiter and see some of the moons. They'll only look like little dots but you can see them if your sky is not too light polluted. Look for little dots nearby Jupiter if you can see Jupiter. If they move from night to night, you'll know you spotted some of the moons. You can also point your scope at the moon and might be able to see shadows along the craters if the moon is not full. With a cheap telescope, Jupiter will only be a somewhat bigger white dot with some small white dots farther away.

If you lose your interest in Astronomy, the binoculars could still be used at sporting events or the beach or a number of other things.

Never look at the sun through your telescope or you could go blind. One thing you can do with a cheap telescope though is point your scope at the sun and hold a piece of paper under the view finder. When it is aligned with the sun, you should be able to see any sunspots on the image of the sun on your paper. That is if the sun currently has some spots. It usually does. These spots change from week to week or month to month.

Originally posted by bluemooone2
My best advice is to view the moon. You can get some amazing views of the moon even with a very cheap telescope.

I second that very good suggestion...

I have heard some people put a decent eyepiece on a cheap scope with a filter for moon gazing, and get some very amazing viewing (especially amazing for a new telescope user..)