Viewing The Moon!

Just a quick question that the mods can erase once answered.

Does anyone know what magnification telescope i would need to view the moon and actually be able to see things on it? Not so good that i can see the landers etc, but good enough to see hills, craters etc.

Would i be able to see much of the other planets with the same telescope?

Also is it possible to see the ISS and Hubble with one?

I recommend buying a good pair of binoculars for moon viewing. at least a 7x magnification. Don't look during full moons it will damage your eyes.
You can get a real good set of binoculars for the same price of a cheap telescope. With that same pair of binocular you will be able to see the Galilean moons of Jupiter and the rings on Saturn. For the planet viewing you will need a tripod to get a steady view.
I will be buying a pair in a couple months myself.

a nice pair of binolculars would even work, but a nice telescope woul see very very detailed things such as small craters, so if thats all you wnat to observe, just get a cheap galileo one for like $120 or even less than that.

Don't look during full moons it will damage your eyes

Ive heard you can buy a moon filter, would this stop it?
What mag would it have to be to see the landers etc???


And can you see the ISS and Hubble with bino's???

[edit on 1/3/2005 by MickeyDee]

For general use I would suggest 20x60 binoculars, I myself have ones made in Russian (brand is Kronos), magnification isn't enough to show small craters but it makes using these possible without tripod if you just can support arms to something.
Also these are great for "land targets" and for some deep sky objects like M42 (Orion Nebula) look awesome. Getting as good view would require much over ten cm (4 inch) telescope. Also these objects look much better when viewed with both eyes.

Considering telescopes those El Cheapos sold in markets are good for watching only land targets and moon, maybe some planets but optics are generally very poor. Also their light gathering power is way too small for any deep sky objects.

Originally posted by E_T
Considering telescopes those El Cheapos sold in markets are good for watching only land targets and moon, maybe some planets but optics are generally very poor. Also their light gathering power is way too small for any deep sky objects.

Hehe, thats what I got right now. It's so bad that the telescope shakes when I focus on a object and end up losing it.
It was only last night that I decided to buy a pair of binoculars. The telescope I have is just too frustrating to use.

Originally posted by MickeyDee
What mag would it have to be to see the landers etc???

And can you see the ISS and Hubble with bino's???

Let's just say that seeing ant from ten kilometers away might be easier job.

Actually you can see lot of satellites with naked eye, ISS is in pretty low orbit so seeing details from it would be possible with telescope but otherwise you would need pretty big telescope to see anything more than dot... adaptive optics might be also useful for that.


www.esa.int...

Originally posted by Umbrax
It was only last night that I decided to buy a pair of binoculars. The telescope I have is just too frustrating to use.

If you're ready to always use tripod (/have one) you might like this "big brother" of 20x60 I mentioned:
Kronos 26x70 Binoculars
Of course there are also those real "big eyes" like 25x100 but using even that 26x70 without tripod might be pretty hard (meaning more hassle) but for astronomy and general use 20x60 might be very good compromise.
In price versus quality these Russian binoculars are very good and they're definitely NOT made from plastic (plastic+cold=generally bad combination)... maybe I should check from box are those made in same place as telescope I have. (originally military optics factory)

I don't mind paying for quality but I do have a limited budget on things like this. The Kronos 26x70 Binoculars page you posted was really impressive I will have to see if they are available here and if they are within my budget.

Thanks

How much of the moon can u see with cheap cheap bino's???

Originally posted by MickeyDee
Just a quick question that the mods can erase once answered.

Does anyone know what magnification telescope i would need to view the moon and actually be able to see things on it? Not so good that i can see the landers etc, but good enough to see hills, craters etc.

Would i be able to see much of the other planets with the same telescope?

Also is it possible to see the ISS and Hubble with one?

Reasonable questions = reasonable answers... here goes -

Unless you are into deep space stuff - ie nebular or star clusters or even astro photography- a quality pair of binoculars are the best option. Ohh and even though they are binoculars, dont think this is a cheaper option then a quality telescope - in other words, dont buy a cheap pair, binos vary greatly in quality, but the price diferential is pritty small, we may be talkin say 20 pounds more for a 200 X better pair, if you follow. a good pair of 8 X 50`s are adiquate for a good moon glimse.

Remeber the earth is rotating at maybe 2k per hour, and remember those things in the sky above us - ie saterlites also move very fast - try lookin at the moon for a few minutes - notice the moons moving across the view area?? therefore unless you have some form of auto trackin like say the top of the range mead scopes have, manually using binos to track an object in the upper orbit is rather impossible.

www.dhinds.co.uk...

the above link is a great place to buy binos, ive been a member of several astro forums for sometime, and as all who research a subject, you can be sure the sites these guys use are probably the best for service and choice.

Another consideration would be a quality spotting scope, these truly are an "underrated" tool - in most cases i have found a spottin scope takes better images of the horsehead nebular then say a decent 12 inch casigrain.

I guess it boils down to price, true devotion to the subject. If say you only have a passing interest - id recomend you join an astronomy club thats local to you, and go to some arrange star partys. - otherwise it could be a costly exercise in try before you buy.

hope this waffle helps.

Originally posted by MickeyDee
How much of the moon can u see with cheap cheap bino's???

You can see biggest craters with 7x50. (minimum recommendable size)
I haven't used 7x50 for long time so can't say exactly but it's pretty close to that pic up and right.
www.pbase.com...

With 20x60 there's lot more details. (like you can conclude from bigger magnification and aperture)
Also you can see something from planets, but that requires really good support for binocular.
I checked with Saturn and you can see that it shows as more than just dot and there's something on sides of it. (almost completely with only hand support, would show better with tripod)
And BTW, size of carrying case for those Russian 20x60 binoculars is 28x23x9 cm so they aren't so huge for more general use.


I would say these are quite close to detail level you could expect with good 4-5 inch telescope. (like the one I have and mentioned earlier)
www.dlc.fi...
www.dlc.fi...


But I would suggest at least trying to contact closest astronomy clubs. You might easily get change to look objects with different options.
Here's list of some US clubs.
www.hawastsoc.org...
You should find more with google using words "astronomy club", "astronomical association" and "astronomy association" with name of country.

Does anyone know if this one is half decent or s**t???

Celestron Powerseeker 675 Reflector Telescope!

Originally posted by MickeyDee
Celestron Powerseeker 675 Reflector Telescope!

This one?
There seems to be little different models with same name...
Compare to this:
www.argos.co.uk...
Also it's more than little dubious that thay advertise it with over 600x magnification, more practical upper magnification for that sized telescope would be ~200... and even then you would have lot of trouble keeping object in FOV.
Doesn't sound good:
Spherical aluminised mirror
It's just happens to be that main mirrors in Newton telescopes are paraboloidal. (because of this)


4mm eyepiece is propably uncomfortable, eyepieces with short focal lengths require keeping eye very close.
Also 5x24 Finderscope is quite close to useless with deep sky objects. (very poor light gathering power)

But first could you give link where you found it because there seems to be variation in equipment... also looks like model numbers have changed.

I found it on that Argos site you posted the link to!

Originally posted by MickeyDee

Don't look during full moons it will damage your eyes

Ive heard you can buy a moon filter, would this stop it?
What mag would it have to be to see the landers etc???


And can you see the ISS and Hubble with bino's???

[edit on 1/3/2005 by MickeyDee]

Where did anyone get the idea that viewing the full moon through binocs or a telescope can damage your eyes? Trust me, it's not true. Viewing the sun CAN adn WILL damange your eyes, but not the moon.

As for lunar filters, these are not used to protect your eyes, they are used to bring the lunar features out more clearly.

Originally posted by sensfan
Where did anyone get the idea that viewing the full moon through binocs or a telescope can damage your eyes? Trust me, it's not true. Viewing the sun CAN adn WILL damange your eyes, but not the moon.

I've looked at the full moon with my telescope. It really was hurting my eyes. It left spots on my eye. The instructions that came with my telescope even warned against looking at the full moon.

What do you see when you look at the face of the moon, my Atlantic cousins?

In Britain, we see three large craters on the left side of the moon...it kind of looks like a face sometimes, and I'd love to get a telescope to see it's true beauty!

Originally posted by Wendellion
What do you see when you look at the face of the moon, my Atlantic cousins?

In Britain, we see three large craters on the left side of the moon...it kind of looks like a face sometimes, and I'd love to get a telescope to see it's true beauty!

No matter where you are on earth, the moon looks the same.

If you look at a full moon thruogh amplification you can damage your eyes, not as much as the Sun, but enough to give you a jead ache.

Everyon see's the same moon, just usually it will be higher or lower in the sky, and genrally (very generally) follows a similar path as the sun thruogh the sky.

ONe day i want to get a tracking telescope, especially for sunspot watching, and observing planets