Newbie question

[moeferg]

I bought my son a telelscope for christmas and have been working with him for the last couple of nights. It is not a high end scope, but it seems to work pretty well. I have a couple of questions. First, once I have found what I am looking for and crank everytrhing down, I still get some movement. Secondly, when I use the two lenses, I don't seem to have a problem, but if I take off the erector and put on the 3x barlow, I can't seem to get anyting in focus. I start moving the focus in and it starts to get better but then I can't go any more....Any help would be appreciated.....

[mickal555]

The movment you see is the earth rotating, making the sky appear to move ;)

3x barlow is a bit much on the size scope you've probobly got- it's probobly just there so the can clam XXXMagnification, but is other wise useless

Welcome to baut! :D

[moeferg]

Thanks! I should have done a little more research I guess....

[mickal555]

You're welcome :D

[Kaptain K]

Need a little more information. Which scope do you have?

[JohnW]

I bought my son a telelscope for christmas and have been working with him for the last couple of nights. It is not a high end scope, but it seems to work pretty well. I have a couple of questions. First, once I have found what I am looking for and crank everytrhing down, I still get some movement. Secondly, when I use the two lenses, I don't seem to have a problem, but if I take off the erector and put on the 3x barlow, I can't seem to get anyting in focus. I start moving the focus in and it starts to get better but then I can't go any more....Any help would be appreciated.....
"Movement": Do you mean the stars slowly drift across your view, or that they wobble around randomly? If it's the former, then, as mickal555 pointed out, it's the rotation of the Earth. Wobbling might be caused by a shaky mount or poor seeing (i.e. bad atmospheric conditions).

If you take out the erecting prism, your light path might be too short for you to reach focus.

Could you give us some details (make/model, aperture, eyepieces)? That would help us to help you.

[Grey]

Thanks! I should have done a little more research I guess....By the way, don't kick yourself too much about not having done enough research on the first try. It's almost certainly true that the capabilities of the telescope were exaggerated, but it should still be enough to let you get some decent views of planets and some of the brighter deep sky objects. If it's something that seems like fun, you can always step up to a more serious scope in a little while, and the folks here can certainly steer you in the right direction. Welcome to the board!

[moeferg]

The scope is for my 9 year old. He is interested and the shots we have seen of the moon to this point has peaked his interest.

First it is wobbly and I believe I have everything tightened down and the tripod firmly in the ground. The scope is a:

The Galileo CC-2 60mm Refractor Telescope Features and Benefits:
700mm x 60mm Optical Tube Assembly
Diffraction limited Optical Tube Assembly (λ4)
Altitude Azimuth Yoke Mount
Slow Motion Altitude Adjustment Rod
Fully Adjustable, Pre-assembled Metal Tripod w/Accessory Tray
Galileo Mars Eye Electronic Finderscope
.965″ 360° Rotating Metal Focuser
.965″ 20mm Eyepiece
.965″ 6mm Eyepiece
3 Element 3x Barlow

He really likes it, but I am not sure about how I am going to see planets better without the barlow. I have used the 20mm eyepiece and it does appear bigger with color but the wobble makes it difficult. He has been checking things out and he wants to see the rings of saturn. I am not sure how easy that is going to be with this scope.

PS anyone from the Pittsburgh area on here? I would be interested in showing him what you may see with a good scope.

[JohnW]

The scope is for my 9 year old. He is interested and the shots we have seen of the moon to this point has peaked his interest.

First it is wobbly and I believe I have everything tightened down and the tripod firmly in the ground. The scope is a:

The Galileo CC-2 60mm Refractor Telescope Features and Benefits:
700mm x 60mm Optical Tube Assembly
Diffraction limited Optical Tube Assembly (λ4)
Altitude Azimuth Yoke Mount
Slow Motion Altitude Adjustment Rod
Fully Adjustable, Pre-assembled Metal Tripod w/Accessory Tray
Galileo Mars Eye Electronic Finderscope
.965″ 360° Rotating Metal Focuser
.965″ 20mm Eyepiece
.965″ 6mm Eyepiece
3 Element 3x Barlow

He really likes it, but I am not sure about how I am going to see planets better without the barlow. I have used the 20mm eyepiece and it does appear bigger with color but the wobble makes it difficult. He has been checking things out and he wants to see the rings of saturn. I am not sure how easy that is going to be with this scope.

PS anyone from the Pittsburgh area on here? I would be interested in showing him what you may see with a good scope.
You have a telescope with a 700mm focal length, and 20mm and 6mm eyepieces. To calculate the magnification, divide the scope focal length by the eyepiece focal length, giving magnifications of 35x and 117x. The Barlow will triple these magnifications, giving you 105x and 350x. But there's a problem...

Your scope's aperture (the diameter of the lens at the front) determines how much magnification you can use. The usual rule of thumb is that you get 50x per inch of aperture: about 118x for a 60mm scope. So I don't think the Barlow is going to help you here.

The good news is that using the 6mm eyepiece (117x) should be plenty of magnification for the rings of Saturn, if you can keep your scope steady. (in fact, you ought to be able to pick them out at 35x). If it's wobbly, try adding a bit of weight to the tripod using some sand, a milk jug, and that theoretical physics standby, string. Be careful with this - you don't want to bend the legs.

What's more, 35x is actually better than 117x for many objects. Try the Orion Nebula or the Perseus Double Cluster with the 20mm.

[R.A.F.]

PS anyone from the Pittsburgh area on here? I would be interested in showing him what you may see with a good scope.

BAUT member Archer17 lives in Pittsburgh...but I don't know if he owns a scope or not.

...and as Grey said "don't kick yourself"...the folks here are a nice "bunch" and are quite willing and able to help. :)

In my opinion, what's most important is you have a child who has shown an interest in astronomy...which is a very good thing.

[JohnW]

BAUT member Archer17 lives in Pittsburgh...but I don't know if he owns a scope or not.

...and as Grey said "don't kick yourself"...the folks here are a nice "bunch" and are quite willing and able to help. :)

In my opinion, what's most important is you have a child who has shown an interest in astronomy...which is a very good thing.
I missed your question about Pittsburgh. Here's a list of astronomy clubs in Pennsylvania. (http://www.astroleague.org/al/general/society.html#Pennsylvania) I don't know the state's geography, but presumably one or two are near Pittsburgh. Most clubs have regular star parties and other public-outreach events - if you ask for help with your scope, someone will be glad to do so. And if you ask to look through a bigger scope, everyone will want to help. They'll probably offer before you ask.

And I couldn't agree more with R.A.F.'s last sentence. I think you're both going to have a lot of fun.

[Glom]

700mm x 60mm Optical Tube Assembly

60mm, eh? As a starter scope for a 9 year old, that's not too bad. It will be good for the moon and the planets, which is really as far as you're likely to go with a child (hey, it's about as far as we go with with our Ten Inch during society meetings).

Altitude Azimuth Yoke Mount

Yes. No need for equatorial mount with that at all. Alt-azimuth mounts are always more stable and easier to use.

Slow Motion Altitude Adjustment Rod

Altitude only? Ah yes, I know what you mean. I had that as well. That's just asking for limited magnification because trying to move the azimuth is going to give a bad case of the shakes. For what you've got and what you intend to do with it, it's probably good enough, although a good deal on an alt-azimuth mount with proper fine motion controls is not to be sneezed at.

Galileo Mars Eye Electronic Finderscope

Electronic? What's electronic about it.

.965″ 360° Rotating Metal Focuser
.965″ 20mm Eyepiece
.965″ 6mm Eyepiece

Uh oh. Don't worry, it's salvageable because you got a refractor. What you need is a star diagonal that can accept 1.25'' barrels. The one you have might be able to accept it already. Many are stopped down on the eyepiece end to accept the included .965'' barrels. Then get a pair of nice 1.25'' barrel eyepieces to replace them.

3 Element 3x Barlow

Use it as a doorstop. Even if it's not as bad as I think it is, on a 60mm aperture, it's useless.

He really likes it, but I am not sure about how I am going to see planets better without the barlow. I have used the 20mm eyepiece and it does appear bigger with color but the wobble makes it difficult. He has been checking things out and he wants to see the rings of saturn. I am not sure how easy that is going to be with this scope.

On our Ten Inch, we get stunning views of Saturn with our 10mm Plossl. That's 120X magnification, so I would say you could get a decent size image using a 7mm eyepiece say. The telescope is limiting, but you should be able to get something.

[Dave Mitsky]

Originally Posted by moeferg
Galileo Mars Eye Electronic Finderscope

"Electronic? What's electronic about it."

I would suppose that it's a unity (1x) LED dot pointer.

The AAAP is the largest astronomy club in Pennsylvania. Here's that club's list of astronomy clubs in the state. (I happen to belong to 3 of them.)

http://3ap.org/pzapadka/clubs.html

Dave Mitsky