Telescopes

Archive for November, 2009

i’m looking to buy a telescope for a fun hobby on the side. i’ve been eying this NexStar 60SLT Computerized Telescope and like someone that is pretty familiar astronomy to give me a feedback on this type of scope. is it a good starter scope and can i take digital pictures with this type of scope?

Okay what type of telescope would you guys recommend for that price range either a go-to or manual scopes which ever is better

Asking the same question multiple times is not going to magically turn a junk telescope into something worth buying. Some knowledgable people have given you some well considered responses to your previous and more-or-less identical questions. You would do well to listen to what they have said.

I just got it and cannot get it to see the stars or the moon. It came with a 10mm and a 20mm. I took it on vacation with me and can see other things through it such as the ocean across the street (about 350 yards from where I am staying) and other things, but not the moon or the stars. What mm should I purchase? Can any lens really work, or do I have to go by the name of the telescope? I didn’t know if they were universal.Thanks in advance.

Your question really has me puzzled, as I cannot understand how a Telescope can show you things like the ocean but not the Moon. It would help if I had a better idea of what kind of telescope this is: aperture (diameter of main lens or mirror), focal length and type (refractor or reflector).

If you can see the ocean, and bring it into sharp focus (by turning the focusing knobs next to the eyepiece), you should equally well be able to point it at the Moon and focus it on the Moon. Is the problem that you can’t point it accurately? The field of view of an astronomical telescope is very narrow and it must be pointed accurately; most telescopes come with a finder of some kind. The finder must be aligned with the main telescope by pointing the telescope at something at least a quarter mile away, and then, without moving the main telescope, adjusting the screws on the finder so that it is pointing at the same object. For all of this, use your telescope’s lowest power eyepiece, the 20mm.

The Moon should look like the Moon, only larger. The stars will look just like stars; no amount of magnification makes them any larger. Take a look at Jupiter: it’s the bright object in the south at twilight, moving into the southwest later in the evening. It should appear as a tiny disk with three or four tiny "stars" alongside it. These are its moons.

[Edit] I forgot to answer the second part of your question. Most telescopes use standard size od eyepiece 1.25" in diameter. You shouldn’t need to buy another eyepiece because the 20mm and 10mm eyepieces should work just fine.

A Wide Field Eyepiece.
A good one would be in the 40mm range that says WF or Wide Field on it.