Telescope

[shortstuffO3]

I have this telescope and I have no idea how to use it. The instructions it came with are of no help and I have tried and tried. I can get a star into view on it, but it just looks as if I was just looking at it with my naked eye. It is like I can't zoom in on it and actually look up close or anything. I have been really eager to see Saturn and its rings, but all I can see is the basic part. I want to actually see the planet itself. Can somebody help me? Teach me how to use it and what I can do. My telescope is a Meade model 60AZ-AD D=60mm F=700mm. I have a 2x Barlow lens also attached to it. Thank You!

[lord molly]

your lens may not be powerfull enough to see saturn in full. what is the zoom on your main lens?

[astronaut]

Hello shortstuff03, I too, was perplexed when 30 years ago I was given a 3inch reflector, in those days, it was very difficult to find out anything at all, my local library only had limited information and I had gone beyond that. I did discover alot about the moon, since this was the only object I could view clearly. Other celestial objects were unobservable. Years later I made do with a 10x50 wide field Olympus and bought every astronomy magazine possible to self-educate. In the back of those magazines are advertisers to telescopes and binoculars, I am actually awaiting hubby to return from the States with a nice pair of astronomical binoculars and tripod so I can up sticks and go, (light pollution and all that). There are also courses that you can go on, meet like-minded people and will learn, and observe not only Saturn but the other planets. (I'm a galaxy and nebulae observer myself). I do recommend buying the magazines first, before parting with any cash if you decide to upgrade your telescope. It can be a very expensive pastime. Lots of luck in your new found hobby.

[jake-the-peg]

You may be a little disappointed if youre expecting to see the sort of images that are on the television or in Astronomy books.

These are taken with photographic exposures hours long on huge telescopes high on mopuntains. Even with such equipment you will not really see much colour for example with the naked eye.

You should be able to see the rings of Saturn with your telescope but it will most likely appear more a bit like this:

http://www.arizonausa.com/sky/solarsystem/saturn-proj-bw.jpg.

A star will always appear as just a point of light - it even looks that way with something like Hubble - stars are just so far away.

Get to know the planets and the moon first. That can be a spectacular sight with a telescope like yours, you should be able to clearly see craters and detail way beyond the naked eye.

If you're careful you can project the sun onto a piece of card and look at sunspots like this:

http://www.eaas.co.uk/astro_photos/Sun/sun-projection-normal.gif

Just never look at it not even with the finder!

You should be able to see the four moons of Jupiter, if you keep a notebook and draw a sketch you should be able to see them move around it over a few days - Doing this let Olas Romer estimate the speed of light for the first time in 1676.

best of luck and have fun!

[Pressgang1]

You could try this page, as it does mention the Barlow magnifier:

http://www.opticsplanet.net/telescope-faq.html#use

But if you type "How to use your [or my or a] telescope" into Google, you do get quite a lot of pages, some more 'scientific' than others, admittedly, but some very basic and useful.

Hope this helps!

[Ralph]

To start off, it's best if you leave the Barlow lens off the scope. Just use the regular eyepiece, or something like a 10mm if you have a choice.

In order to be able to find something, you have to set up your small scope on the side of the telescope. To do this, focus the main scope on something that isn't going to move such as a distant chimney, get it right in the middle. Then adjust the small scope to get the crosshairs exactly on the item that's in the middle of the main scope.

Now you have a chance of finding a planet. Look up in the night sky for a largish (when compared to a star) yellowish-white light and roughly point the telescope in the right direction by sighting along the barrel. Next, look through the small scope and adjust the scope on its mount so that the light is right in the middle of the crosshairs. Next look through the main scope and focus as desired. Be warned that the universe moves quite quick when you're looking at it close up!

Saturn is truely awesome the first time you see it with your own eyes, quite a bit smaller than the pic that Jake posted, but a lot more clear and sharp. Jupiter and Mars are also quite special. The moon is also amazing and you could spend hours looking at it, or at least if it's up it will probably be all you can see since it's so bright!