I mentioned once, a long time ago, that I was collecting Coke Points for a telescope. A year later, I finally have enough and have gotten it today. It's not great, but since I didn't actually drink more Coke than I would have, not bad, right?

So what should I do for my first viewing, with the understanding that I live in Washington and it may take days for the skies to clear?

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Oh, so YOU'RE the reason why our weather's been so lousy lately!

What type of scope is it; and do you have experience with using a telescope in general?

For a first viewing , I'd recommend checking out the moon if you've never fiddled with a telescope before. It's a nice, big, bright target with lots to show you. Also, you don't need to go to a dark sky site to view the moon, you can do that from your back yard. This way you can learn about using your scope such that you'll be able to use it at a dark sky location without trouble when the time comes.

If you're up late (after midnight) and have a clear view to the southeast, check out Jupiter and the Galilean moons. You can't miss Jupiter. It is by far the brightest thing in the sky right now and the moons put on a show in any size scope (they're visible in 7x35 binoculars).

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Saturn is very close to Regulus in the Southwest as it gets dark.

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"I'm as accurate as any psychic. And I'm a cartoon!" -- Squidward

"Arrrgh, the laws of physics be a harsh mistress!" -- Bender

Saturn's pretty low in the SW after dark up here in the Pac NW, though it still can be observed.

It's a Celestron Powerseeker AZ 50, if that tells anyone anything. (Again, in my head, it's "my free telescope.") It rained today; it's supposed to be cloudy all week. My apartment complex is relatively dark, so I'm far more worried about clouds!

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Ah, Celestron's superlow end. It'll do OK, epsecially for a free telescope. The mount is probably the weakest point of the powerseeker line.

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Telescopes, Science Toys and more: www.spectrum-scientifics.com

The Science Store Blog: blog.spectrum-scientifics.com

Of course it did! You just got a new telescope!

Nick

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Nick Theodorakis

WOW your first scope....and your a senior member, cheers and welcome to the club of scope owners. Be careful - If your too successful at looking at Saturn, Jupiter etc - you could catch yourself a bad case of aperture fever.

Expect that for about a month - there's no way to end a drought quite like buying a new telescope...

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WANTED:

Schroedinger's Cat

Dead And Alive

This is the PAC NW we're talking about, it'll be more like 2 months

I'm hoping for a clear night on 20 June; friends are getting married in the middle of nowhere the next day, and we're hoping for the chance to have a star party the night before.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Yes, rain all week, interspersed with showers, and occasional sprinkles.

Like the fabled Esquimaux and snow, people of the PNW have over sixty different expressions for meteoric water. Almost 1/3 of them are printable.

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If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

Here's a good site for determining when the moon will rise and what phase it's in: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php

Looks like full moon is on June 18. A full or close to full moon isn't ideal for observing, as its brightness and orientation to the sun makes seeing much detail a bit difficult. Best time for observing the moon is when it's 1/4 to 1/2 full or thereabouts. Regardless of phase, observing other targets when there's a moon out is problematic as well, as its brightness washes out most other astronomical targets.

All is not lost however, you should still be able to get a good view of Jupiter that night, its bright enough that even a full moon won't affect it too much. You may also be able to make out some of the brighter open and globular clusters.

I just checked the Celestron website. The 4mm eyepiece (#3) is useless with a 50mm scope. The 150x power is too much. Anything over 50x per inch just makes bigger blobs! Same goes for the 12mm EP with the 3x barlow. Again, 150x is just too much.

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Please forgive me if this sounds a bit know it all like. But I'd thought i'd mention this as I see it happen alot with new users. Your telescope may need to use its diagonal to get the correct focal lenth for your eyepieces, otherwise you may find yourself winding the focaser all the way out and still not getting those stars as pin points instead of cotton balls.

Yeah OK i'll admit it....I did this with my first refractor, but that was years ago OK.

Believe me. It is not hard to know more about telescopes than I. It's why I posted here in the first place. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Well, if the mount seems shakey, try hanging some weights from the connection to give it bit more stability. You might consider getting at least one decent eyepiece, the ones that come with it are doubtless junky. Maybe get a reflex finder like a EZ Finder II in place of the 5x finder scope. Get some binoculars to go with the scope.

Those are the options that cost money.

Go through the software that came with the telescope and *use it*. You can get some decent printouts of the night sky.

Pick your viewing nights carefully.

Best of luck with your new toy!

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Telescopes, Science Toys and more: www.spectrum-scientifics.com

The Science Store Blog: blog.spectrum-scientifics.com

The scope you got is a low end Celestron. It is not a scope that would ever be recommended, but still a good deal since you got it free! It, however, is probably the worst telescope sold by Celestron. It has a horrid mount, and a cheap focuser that only accepts 965'' eyepieces. A big issue is its 50mm aperture, which won't show you more than 10x50 binoculars. But, if you mod it, it could be a nice little scope.

First of all, trash the mount. It will likely turn you off astronomy. It's so wobbily that it would make a good earthquake detector. The head is completely plastic and the legs are paper-thin aluminum. Get a plain photo tripod, even a marginal one is likely to be much better.

Second, get better eyepiece. Nobody makes good .965'' eyepieces anymore, but I did find this at Telescope Warehouse. It should give you a pleasing low-magnification view.

Better yet, get a .965 to 1.25'' hybrid diagonal and pick up a few 1.25'' Kellners or Plossls.

Finally, download Stellarium. It will be an excellent beginning resource. You may also pickup a few star charts or a planisphere.

Hope you have fun with your new scope!

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You can't really tell the difference between drunken rambling and sober blogging.

I can't afford to modify anything right now, or any time soon. However, it is clear out, so I'll be taking the 'scope out for its trial spin tonight.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Do you have a photo tripod to mount it on, though? If not, you should try fixing a water bottle beneath the legs of the mount, or at least something to give it more mass. Don't get too frustrated with it if it doesn't work well.

I recommend you stick with the lowest power eyepiece, the 20mm. A Huygens or Symmetrical Ramsden is forgivable at low focal lengths.

Some objects out right now that I recently viewed at 12x through a tiny 62mm Cometron, decent targets for your scope:

M13 in Hercules should be decent.
So should M81 and M82.
I think the Whirlpool and M101 wouldn't be visible in any small scope because of the Moon's illumination.
The Moon right now is obviously a good target.

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You can't really tell the difference between drunken rambling and sober blogging.

Let us know how you did! As Siguy stated, the moon is ideal for observing right now.

You can get some very high quality abbe orthoscopic .965 eyepieces new from http://www.kkohki.com/English/kkohkiparts.html . And there very affordable (usually under $50).

Hope this helps, they will make a big differance to your scope.

Yeah, I've actually seen those before (considered buying a 4mm actually, as the price is good.) I didn't suggest them because in a 50mm f/12, high quality eyepieces aren't necessary. Plus, orthos are kind of specifically planetary eyepieces.

But I probably should have said "decent .965'' eyepieces are difficult to come by nowadays" instead of "nobody makes decent 965'' eyepieces anymore."

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You can't really tell the difference between drunken rambling and sober blogging.

hahaha. well you wait a few days till the skys clear. duuuuuhh

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"The purpose of life is not just to be happy; the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all."

"I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
-Albert Einstein-

The Moon (close to full right now) is always a good first target, being an easy target as well. Almost any eyepiece will show you something. Use the "moon filter" (if scope came with one) only if its bright enough to hurt your eyes; I prefer to skip it myself.

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

oh gee--didn't realize this was a few months ago.

Todd

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

Gillian we never did hear how your viewing went!

Pete

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PJE

There's so much I don't know about astrophysics. I wish I had read that book by that wheelchair guy.