Hi all

Hello to everyone, hope everyone got some clear sky with the frosty weather weve had.
I got my first telescope at 10 (that would be 15 years ago) a bushnell 345, fairly entry level but you have to start somewhere as they say. The trouble is one of the tripod legs snapped and it was put in a wardrobe until yesterday, a long time i know haha. Cutting to the chase i have a few questions.

The F5 and F10 (i think) lenses seem to have what look like bubbles in the glass, iv tried cleaning them but cant clear them up, any info on this?

Iv tried looking at sky maps online (cant for the life of me understand what im looking at but it will come to me in time). Iv got the co-rdinates for my house and have a nice clear view into the country side from North to West out the back bedroom window but cant seem to find a good site that can let me simpley put in my coordinates, pick a direction and see what there is to see on the horizon. Does one even exist?

Iv downloaded plans to build a 5" dobsonian for about €130, i think it would be a nice project to keep me busy and would enjoy tinkering with it but would it be worth my while risking clarity etc or should i just save myself the trouble and buy a brand name telescope.

Looking forward to gazing into the night sky and reading all your experiences on here.

Regards

Hi Stephen, and welcome to the forum.

Probably the bet sky map available is Stellarium, which is free to download

www.stellarium.org/

It is very easy to use, and is well designed and laid out.

As for making your own scope, well, that would certainly be an enjoyable challenge, but, a 5" dobsonian will not show you a lot, and you may soon become frustrated with it after all that work. The generally accepted minimum size for a reflector type telescope would be 6", and preferably 8".
Probably your best bet would be to make a small scope yourself, for the challenge, but also to invest in a 6" or 8" for observing. You never know, if the home built scope is a success , maybe you could consider making a 10 or 12"! Now that would be well worth doing.

I agree, Stellarium is a great resource. and as it is for free...it is the cheapest star atlas you will ever get:unsure:

The problem with your old eyepieces is probably a quality in manufacture issue

I also agree that a 5" dob is probably not going to satisfy you in the long term and a 10" would be better project.....but before you go rushing into the project, I would check LIDL before Christmas they do sell some decent telescopes, and many of our members have them. usually the bring out a small and large refractor and a Go-to scope ....check them out, and by all means, contact us before you buy if you need any advise

Declan

very Cold
Co Laois

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, just downloaded stellarium, thats exactly what iv been looking for!

Thats a shame about the lenses, i knew there wasnt that many craters on the moon. I never even thought of lidl, its just a matter of finding out when they will have the telscopes. They seem to go through a variety gadgets every so often, its hard to pin point a date when to go looking for something.

I suppose a second hand telescope wouldnt be to hard to find and for a decent price to.


regards