Lots of questions

Hi Guys, I got my scope for xmas, and despite the bad weather and the vomiting bug, ive been out two nights for about an hour with pathces of clear sky. I got a Celestron C6N 150/750mm newtonian scope and am very happy with it, the clarity of the sky is great and the once I saw the moon it was too bright to look at properly,but I saw some great detail.
I have a few questions Im hoping you can help me with.


The Moon

Like I said, it was uncomfortable to the eye, so i tried a few filters, they changed the colour of it, but didnt help much comfort wise. It was a full moon, or as near as makes no difference. Is there a particular filter i should use or should i just wait until the moon is shadowed to look at it? I know that improves the contrast etc.


Photography
I didnt get a goto scope, nor do i have a webcam, am i snookered photography wise?For long exposurers i suppose so. I bought the attachment for the camera. Ive a Nikon D50.


Eyepiece

Ive never used a newtonian before, takes a bit of getting used to. Took me ages to get the moon in the scope(was too impatient to attach the finderscope). The bracket for attaching the telescope to the tiripod and the eyepiece are in the same line, would I be right in saying i should loosen the tube rings and rotate the scope so when perfectly upright, the eyepiece of the scope should be off at around 30 degrees from vertical?


Eyepiece 2

Theres another eyepiece on the mount, parrallel to the telescope that lets me look through the mount? the manual doesnt mention it, why would i want to do that?


Minimum Angle

They dont seem to let you depress them very far, that was one of the problems i had getting the moon in view, i set the scope up high, then couldnt depress it enough. had to lower the scope and wait for the moon to rise more. IS this a feature of these scopes or something im doing wrong?


Minimum angle 2

In the end, i would use the wheels and have the scope almost on its side, with the counter wight way out the farside. Is this bad for it or bad for the mount, or bad practice even?


maximum magnification

According to my specsheet, my highest useful magnification is 354x. My focal length is 750mm and most powerful lens is a 6x, which gives me a 125x magnification,yeah? I have a 2x barlow, what does that give me? 250x?


Nebulas

I see all your great photos of nebulas?? etc, but i remember hearing someone on one of the boards say that they dont look like that through the scope, its only after a long exposure? Is that correct? Are there any nebulas/clouds that you can see with colour?

Also I remember hearing that the great NASA pictures you see arent actually those exact colours, they cant be certain, so they just approximate them? Is that what you guys do with your photos?


Heart attack

Why did no-one tell me how much these things weigh. Instead of sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for it to be delivered i could have been working out.


Lenses

I have one lens i havent used yet, a 15mm Wide View. What does it do? Give you a wide view?


Where to next

Im waiting for saturn, i saw it through my old scope and cant wait to see how big it is in this one. But it hasnt appeared seemingly, or could be cloud covered. Saw a large white planet last night but it wasnt jupiter. Not sure what it was.

While im waiting for planets to heave into view, is there something you guys could suggest me to look for?

Sorry for all the questions, hope you can help me with some of them!!

Thanks,

Conor

The Moon

Like I said, it was uncomfortable to the eye, so i tried a few filters, they changed the colour of it, but didnt help much comfort wise. It was a full moon, or as near as makes no difference. Is there a particular filter i should use or should i just wait until the moon is shadowed to look at it? I know that improves the contrast etc.

I was also blinded by the moon when i looked at it with my new scope. I believe its better to look at the moon when it is not full as this shows more surface detail and contrast between highlands and lowlands


Eyepiece 2

Theres another eyepiece on the mount, parrallel to the telescope that lets me look through the mount? the manual doesnt mention it, why would i want to do that?

I'm gonna assume this is the finderscope. Its used to easily find and line up objects in the main scope


Minimum Angle

They dont seem to let you depress them very far, that was one of the problems i had getting the moon in view, i set the scope up high, then couldnt depress it enough. had to lower the scope and wait for the moon to rise more. IS this a feature of these scopes or something im doing wrong?

You need to align the polar axis on the scope. This will keep the moon and other objects in view for longer. Before i aligned mine i could only see the moon for about 30 seconds. Now i can view it for about 6 mins...using only MINOR adjustments

Minimum angle 2

In the end, i would use the wheels and have the scope almost on its side, with the counter wight way out the farside. Is this bad for it or bad for the mount, or bad practice even?

I had this problem too until i aligned the polar axis



maximum magnification

According to my specsheet, my highest useful magnification is 354x. My focal length is 750mm and most powerful lens is a 6x, which gives me a 125x magnification,yeah? I have a 2x barlow, what does that give me? 250x?


Nebulas

I see all your great photos of nebulas?? etc, but i remember hearing someone on one of the boards say that they dont look like that through the scope, its only after a long exposure? Is that correct? Are there any nebulas/clouds that you can see with colour?

Its my understaning that us folk with small scopes are doomed to view MOST Nebs in B&W. The Orion Nebula does show some colour though. I havent viewed many YET.



Also I remember hearing that the great NASA pictures you see arent actually those exact colours, they cant be certain, so they just approximate them? Is that what you guys do with your photos?

This is true


Heart attack

Why did no-one tell me how much these things weigh. Instead of sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for it to be delivered i could have been working out.

Tell me about it. I thought mine was lightweight when i bought it. It weighs nearly 30lbs


Lenses

I have one lens i havent used yet, a 15mm Wide View. What does it do? Give you a wide view?

Yep it should give you a closer up wide angle view then say a 20mm eyepiece...................but not as narrow a view or close-up as a 10mm eyepiece


Where to next

Im waiting for saturn, i saw it through my old scope and cant wait to see how big it is in this one. But it hasnt appeared seemingly, or could be cloud covered. Saw a large white planet last night but it wasnt jupiter. Not sure what it was.

While im waiting for planets to heave into view, is there something you guys could suggest me to look for?

Orion is always good. The Seven Sisters, Andromeda. Have you downloaded the Stellarium program yet?

www.stellarium.org

Hi.

Congrats on a fine scope. To answer some, but not all your questions:

The Moon

Like I said, it was uncomfortable to the eye, so i tried a few filters, they changed the colour of it, but didnt help much comfort wise. It was a full moon, or as near as makes no difference. Is there a particular filter i should use or should i just wait until the moon is shadowed to look at it? I know that improves the contrast etc.

You can get a neutral density moon filter, see here: www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-telescope-moon-filter.html

I dont have one of those but i hear they are quite good. You eyes will become accostumed to the moons intensity after a few minutes but it will kill your dark adaptation, and not even the filter will help much with that. You should just try to get used to looking at the moon in all its glory. Maby someone else here knows a better idea though.






Photography
I didnt get a goto scope, nor do i have a webcam, am i snookered photography wise?For long exposurers i suppose so. I bought the attachment for the camera. Ive a Nikon D50.

There are many more astrophotographers on these boards infinately more qualified to answer this question but IMO, without a goTo scope you are very very limited to the astrophotography you can do. You can get an adapter to hook your nikon to the back of the scope and take single frames of the planets and especially the moon. without a drive though, and lots of expirience you dont have a chance with any deep sky objects.

Eyepiece

Ive never used a newtonian before, takes a bit of getting used to. Took me ages to get the moon in the scope(was too impatient to attach the finderscope). The bracket for attaching the telescope to the tiripod and the eyepiece are in the same line, would I be right in saying i should loosen the tube rings and rotate the scope so when perfectly upright, the eyepiece of the scope should be off at around 30 degrees from vertical?

If adjusting the orientation of the scope makes it more comfortable for you to use, then by all means do it. depending on how much you move the scope around its axis this orientation will change anyway. once you find your target i guess you could adjust the scopes orientation and then retarget and focus again. whatever makes the observing expirience most enjoyable for you.


Eyepiece 2

Theres another eyepiece on the mount, parrallel to the telescope that lets me look through the mount? the manual doesnt mention it, why would i want to do that?

As you specified the finderscope seperately, you know what it is so Im guessing this is something different. It sounds like a polar allignment scope. It allows you to allign your scope with the north pole ( using the north star, Polaris). because the celestial globe rotates around ( in the northern hemisphere) the celestial north pole, where polaris roughly is, for accurate tracking of celestial objects accurate polar allignment very necessary for photography but for standard observing just a rough allign is sufficient. by rough allign i mean to simply eyeball polaris through the polar allignment hole in your mount, or as you have an allignment scope, even better


Minimum Angle

They dont seem to let you depress them very far, that was one of the problems i had getting the moon in view, i set the scope up high, then couldnt depress it enough. had to lower the scope and wait for the moon to rise more. IS this a feature of these scopes or something im doing wrong?

Im having a bit of trouble with your description of the issue, but I think, if you polar allign roughly first, so that the scope is alligned, then rotate the tube so that the eyepiece is at a comfortable position for you and then try to find the moon you should be ok. I had a problem with an old equitorial mount before where as I did not balance the scope correctly, the declination axis would not work properly. It kept slipping. basically once i balanced the scope against the weight, so that the weight was barely lifting the scope when the dec clutch was released, it worked fine. my description of this issue is not the best so if you want a clearer description just ask. if this is not applicable to your issue, then disregard it

Minimum angle 2

In the end, i would use the wheels and have the scope almost on its side, with the counter wight way out the farside. Is this bad for it or bad for the mount, or bad practice even?

That is the way equitorial mounts work. this is not bad for your scope and mount as long as you have your scope firmly attached and all nuts and bolts tight, so nothing can slip or fall off your mount.


maximum magnification

According to my specsheet, my highest useful magnification is 354x. My focal length is 750mm and most powerful lens is a 6x, which gives me a 125x magnification,yeah? I have a 2x barlow, what does that give me? 250x?

Maximium magnification of a telescope is calculated roughly by a simple formula: apature in inches * 50, so your 6" has a potential mamimium of roughly 300x magnification. In reality you will rarely get to use this level of magnification. this is due to atmospheric conditions, known as "Seeing". if the seeing is bad, you will notice stars in the eyepiece will jump around and objects will look slightly out of focus no matter how much you try to focus. bad seeing is caused by dust/ moisture in the atmosphere, differences in temperature between various layers of the atmosphere and objects in your locality. local buildings can affect your seeing as they radiate heat, and if you are looking at, lets say the moon, just above a tall building, the heat radiated from the building will cause the image to shimmer and sway.

You can use higher magnification than 300x but it will not increase what you can see. It will make objects bigger, but also fuzzier. this is because you will have gone passed your scopes max resolution. a scopes resolution basically the detail that can be resolved with your scope and is a factor of your apature. bigger is always better here.

Regardless of all this, in ireland i dont think you will be able to push any scope passed 250x for most of the year and even that will be on only a few good nights.


Nebulas

I see all your great photos of nebulas?? etc, but i remember hearing someone on one of the boards say that they dont look like that through the scope, its only after a long exposure? Is that correct? Are there any nebulas/clouds that you can see with colour?

Also I remember hearing that the great NASA pictures you see arent actually those exact colours, they cant be certain, so they just approximate them? Is that what you guys do with your photos?

Im sorry to say that if you were expecting to see the colourful images you see in magazines and on the web through your scope you will be very disapointed. Human eyes cannot build up an image over time so we can only see the nebula at its acutal brightness, which is usually very low, and diffuse as they are spread over a large area. In amateur astronomy the thrill lies mostly in just finding these faint fuzzies. once you find them, you can then spend hours observing them and using averted vision you will see a little more detail over time. sketching what you see is a great way to build up an image of a nebula so you know what to look for next time out. the orion nebula (M42) and the crab nebula (m1) are very visible on a dark moderately transparent night so you should look for those. Also, although not nebulas, galaxies are great fun to find in a 6" scope. Andromeda (M31) is visible with the naked eye on a clear night and looks good through a 6" scope. observing it for an extended period lets you see subtle details and even hints of dust lanes. Take your time, use averted vision and just enjoy the time spent observing. and think, what you are looking at is one of the most distant objects visible with the human eye, and its also bigger than the milky way ( 2.5 million light years away and roughly 20% bigger than our own galaxy)!!! There are tons of other galaxies visible with your scope.


Heart attack

Why did no-one tell me how much these things weigh. Instead of sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for it to be delivered i could have been working out.

Thats the hobby we chose!!! my cg5 mount is on the limit of what i can comfortably carry and even then, not very far. if you want portable, then you should get a small refractor on a light mount. what i do is carry my rig out in pieces, and set up according to a routine. this way i wont break my back, and get it all set up as quickly as possible. when your apature fever kicks in though, weight wont be an issue!!

Lenses

I have one lens i havent used yet, a 15mm Wide View. What does it do? Give you a wide view?
I dont know if its a plossl or not but if it came with the scope it most likely is. I wouldnt say it is wide view and thats just some jazzy writing on the box as with many pieces of astronomical equiptment. if you can provide more details on the eyepiece someone else here might be able to advise here better

Where to next

Im waiting for saturn, i saw it through my old scope and cant wait to see how big it is in this one. But it hasnt appeared seemingly, or could be cloud covered. Saw a large white planet last night but it wasnt jupiter. Not sure what it was.

While im waiting for planets to heave into view, is there something you guys could suggest me to look for?


The moon is always great. There is as mentioned previous, the andromeda galaxy and other galaxies, the two nebula's mentioned, many double stars, clusters and planets. that planet you saw, if in the evening time is mars. its in gemini i think now. On this site, on the main page there are viewing challenges that you can download, and will give you plenty to do.

I would get a star atlas and spend time learning the constellations and what objects each one holds for your viewing pleaseure. Getting to know the sky is very important and takes time and pracitce. its invaluable to know though. I wish i spent more time at this when i started a year ago. im getting down to it now though



[/url]If i have any errors, please everyone done hesitate to point them out, as id hate to set anyone off on the wrong foot with incorrect information.

Hope this helps.

Fintan.

Yoyr questions reveal that you already know the answers Con20or.

Con-twenty -or-more I presume.

Peter.

Yoyr questions reveal that you already know the answers Con20or.

Con-twenty -or-more I presume.

Peter.

If you'd seen me on christmas trying to get the moon into my sights you wouldnt say that.

Thanks everyone for your help. yes, that is the polar axis, so i line that up with the north star eh?

Thanks!

Yep align the polar axis with Polaris (or use a compass to find north). Also dont forget to set your declination dial to 53 degrees North (thats Irelands latitude).

I had a problem with an old equitorial mount before where as I did not balance the scope correctly, the declination axis would not work properly. It kept slipping.

I'm having that same problem right now. The declination axis does nothing. It turns but the scope doesnt move with it.