Christmas is coming / Ready to reach the stars!🌟

General Discussion
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Hello fellow travellers!

As you all know Christmas is slowely arriving, and daddy is about to buy for himself something great!
If I wanted to share this with you guys, it’s because it is sky related, and I thought that maybe some of you could give me an advice or two.
Here comes the beast!

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Oh yes! look at this big guy! We have a project with my older son, about watching the Moon on her different phases, and maybe some other things we will be able to catch trough our new lents!

Anyone owns one already? After reading a lots of things on different models, motorisations, the needs etc, I thought this one would do it!

Don’t hesitate if you want to share your personnal experience/info/warning/pictures?

Cheers!!

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Nice! I am not sure if you are a beginner or not. Here is some basic info to get you started. Choosing eyepieces that are right for your scope is important.
http://old.observers.org/beginner/eyepieces.freeman.html
Refractor scopes are nice because they are more easily transported. I use a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount. Here is a picture of one like mine.

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Not really the easiest thing to move and set up but, I love it.
Just a word about a growing trend that irritates me. Reflector scopes are called Newtonians after, of course, Newton. The mount they sit in is called a Dobsonian mount after Dobson, who invented it. More and more, people are calling the telescope a Dobsonian scope
he did not invent the reflector scope, Newton did. Just had to get that clear, lol.

Another nice thing about refractors
you should not need to collimate it
though some do have that ability. Collimation is something I still just can’t quit get right. :roll_eyes:
Once you have worked out which lenses and accessories you want, you will want to invest in a case to keep everything orderly and clean. If you are viewing the moon, you will definitely want to invest in a set of lunar and solar filters. The moon is very, very bright through a telescope, especially at full phase. Here is my case and filters and lenses.

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As you can see, you only need a few quality eyepieces and filters to fit over the lenses.
If the nights are getting cold, make sure to take your scope outside and let it acclimate for a while before viewing. Going from warm to cold, as you know, causes fog. Not good for viewing. Mine has a 10-inch lens, so I actually hook a fan onto the bottom of my scope so that it adjusts faster. Not something you will need with a refractor.
My French is not great, not sure if this one has the Go-To features, automated tracking. It is really nice if it does. If not, you may want to eventually invest in some star charts. Here are my charts.
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Of course, start simple with a book or the Messier and Caldwell cards.
Most important of all, just have fun! Enjoy the stars with your family and welcome to the wonders of the night sky!

One more thing, get a flashlight for night. A red or a blue lens. This will not ruin your ‘night eyes’ like white light and you will need it for finding lenses and those tiny screws in the dark.

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Or go low tech and wear an eye patch. Cover your good eye. :rofl:

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:pirate_flag: Har Har me matey! Not a bad idea.

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Username checks out

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Oh thanks for your reply @sheralmyst, the Dobson/Newton part made me laugh, it sounded like you had to make a statement haha
Wow sweet equipement!!
I have been reading a lot these last days, info info and more info! So now I just have to choose between one of these guys I found on the Internet. Tuff, because they all fulfill our needs

I also saw the kind of those you own which are very good aswell. I had to define with my Galactic partner (my son) what we wanted to study or look at and we choosed the Moon so
 I think that object will be the center of our research (: !
I also think that further on, I will slowely invest on other lents, or spare parts that you can add to the main body. But oh well
 I will need to train my skills before adding other items to it!
But sure, you are right, I just bought a case this afternoon after reading your comment! Of course it is a must have if you want to keep your things tidy and secure.
So thrilled!!!
Again, thank you for taking the time answering that much, very appreciated :hear_no_evil:

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You may already know about Astronomy Software but, if not, there are 2 that I use.

Open source version is Stellarium - https://stellarium.org/.

Pay version is Starry Night Pro - Starry Night 7 | Professional Astronomy Telescope Control Software for Mac/PC.

I have both on my laptop so I can access all the information when I am looking at the stars.

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I always forget about the software, lol. I love my paper charts. :nerd_face:
Long time ago, I used Redshift. Have not even looked to see if it is still around.

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I knew about stellarium, it’s a very good application! @BlackIris, thank you (:slight_smile:
Starry Night Pro looks beautiful and I can’t imagine the possibilities you could use with this one. The only - is the price of course, expansive.
I’ll go for Stellarium on Ipad, that will do it I guess

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Wow all these people know so much. Here’s me in the corner looking at the moon by zooming in with my phone’s camera.

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A decent pair of binoculars also works really well for the moon. Try to find a 10x pair. I keep mine handy even when using my telescope. They just require a steady hand which can be helped by leaning on something like the car hood or a table or even leaning against a tree can steady your arm quite well.

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Yours seems to be a little larger than the one I have
(wow that didnt come out right😋)
If you are a beginner, but if you are, I would highly suggest looking up how to collimate your re reflective telescope and how to set up your Equatorial mount properly for north. Collimating your telescope will give you a clear image. If it is out of alignment the best you will get is a blurry image. Seting up your equatorial mount properly will let you track stars and other celestial bodies with only a small twist of a knob. If yours is auto tracking then proper mount setup is the only way it will track properly.

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I’ve been thinking of getting a telescope for a long time, but there are so much different telescope’s.

Don’t know wich one i should choose or go for


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It depends on what you would like to do. You can get a tabletop telescope for a starter.

They are very lightweight and small to store. As you can see from everything above, the larger the scope, the more there is to learn and deal with. But, if you want to dive in the deep end first, just remember, the larger the mirror, the better the view. I love my 10-inch. Also decide if you want motorized or manual. Motorized scopes have the Go-To tech that will find the stars for you. If you go with a manual scope, it will cost a lot less but you will also need to learn the sky. To me, that is what makes it fun. I love being able to ID constellations and not be fooled by Venus in the early morning
(apparently a lot of people mistake it for a UFO) :laughing:

Here is a video that might help

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I’ve never really seen star’s in real life, i hope this product blows my mind !

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Just discovered a nice shop here, called “Astroshop” i’m so lucky they sell this telescope!

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Just asked my dad if i can have this Telescope, and he said yes!!! for New year.

omg i’m so glad

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Keep in mind, these little scopes will not give you a mind-blowing view of planets but are good to practice on and excellent for moon-viewing. And when it comes to looking at stars, you will not really be able to resolve the image into more that a shiny dot no matter what scope you choose. Planets are the best viewing in the sky and trying to find the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is also fun but still just a glow in the depths of space.

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How about Mars & Venus?

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Venus is not a planet that will resolve in a scope. Mars can , at times. You can sometimes make out the snow-covered polar caps. Once you learn on the smaller scope, you can later move up to a larger one. Do a lot of research. Learn how to choose the correct eye pieces for your scope. Then, you will know what you want in a scope. Then you can start putting back some money and invest in something larger later on.
I pull out my table top scope a lot. So easy to use. Have fun with it.!

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