Telescope Basics 6 (of 6): Understanding telescope finders, types, and alignment
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New telescopes come with a couple different types of inexpensive finders - magnifying and non-magnifying ones. In this video, David Fuller of "Eyes on the Sky" takes the viewer through the various types of basic finders, highlighting the benefits and drawbacks of each so the viewer can make a better educated decision when purchasing a new telescope. Also covered is how to align a finderscope with the main telescope, with a visual demonstration of how it might look for the viewer. #withcaptions
Comments
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Red eye finder not working
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Outstanding series of videos for someone like me looking to buy a decent telescope. Many Thanks. And now I am off to buy my first setup.
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Will any pieces I get fit? are all telescope pieces universal?
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Hello... I have a Skyscanner 100mm (Orion) telescope - 400mm focal length. From what I understand, all telescopes have a 'limit' - after you go above a certain level of magnification (with or without a barlow), things will just appear fuzzy/blurry - how do I know what my telescope's max is?
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Do you need to do this every time you want to stargaze or just once?
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I watched the whole series. Thank you. I think I learned a little. Wish me luck, I hope to join the stargazers soon.
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Thank you for the awesome info!
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Hi David,
Your series is really good for an armature like me, it helped me to understand the basics very well. Kudos to you for making understanding such an easy job.
I am planning to buy Celestron SkyProdigy 6 as my first telescope. I want to observe deep space with good quality view. Can you please suggest me on same, weather with this telescope will I be able to view deep space and with what combination of Eye piece.
Thanks. -
I spent 30 minutes straight trying to find mars using a 2x barlow with a 4mm eyepiece. Eventually got pissed off and went inside. Should I invest in a magnified finder or stick with the rdf that I'm currently using? I'm pretty sure I had it aligned right, I aligned it earlier in the day before I went through this rodeo.
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Ok I went to replace the finder scope and didn't know there was washers on the inside of the tube assembly holding the mount on.. I got them out ok but don't have a clue how to get the washers back in. Do I need a special tool to reach inside? It is a refractor telescope by the way.
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Thanks for these videos - I'm waiting for my first telescope to arrive....very helpful
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Yay I know how to center my finder! Last night I managed to get Sirius, Jupiter and its moons. The pictures should be up on my google plus soon
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Which telescope will you recommend for capturing photos using a full frame DSLR?
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I have an Orange dot instead of a red dot
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Hey! Nice video series, it helped me a lot when I started stargazing with my telescope. You should do more of these 'tutorial' videos, if you find the time. I wanted to ask, how do you take pictures with you telescope?
I have a AC 90/1000 EQ-2, and about half a dozen of EPs that I use to star (or Planet, or moon) gaze. For me to take good pictures of celestial bodies, I use an 1,25' to T2 adapter, and then use a T2 to NX adapter(because I have a Samsung NX camera). within these adapters I can place an EP, but not all of them. Actually only my 25mm Plössel EP, as all the other ones are either too fat, or have a too small apparent field of view. I am planning on spending a few nights Jupiter gazing in the coming weeks, as we are pulling up to it. The 25mm EP just does not deliver enough magnification. I could use a Barlow Lens to compensate, but I only have a long (pretty cheap, as it came with my telescope) 2x Barlow. This pushes my optics further from the centre of mass of my telescope, and seems to put a lot of torque on my telescope. But even IF that would help with the magnification, I would still have the problem of getting Jupiter into the field of view long enough to take a few pictures. As jupiter is moving rather fast at this magnification (yes yes, its the earth's rotation, I mean relatively) Getting it in frame long enough, having to use a faster shutter speed would probably make the image too dark. What would you recommend would be the best way for me to improve my setup? Getting a motor for my telescope could help with it, but I am afraid of investing in a motor and then having it shake so much that the image will be blurry. I don't have/don't use rubber pads for my tripod. When I was Jupiter gazing about a year ago, I used a 6mm Plössel and a LE 5mm, and I could already see vibrations from people that were walking around me. Keeping still helps, but would a motor not create vibrations? I imagine that the high end mounts don't vibrate at all, but as I am on a budget, it seems unlikely. The Astro-equipment online store of my choice offers mounts like the Skywatcher NEQ-3 Pro SynScan, that would set me back around 500€. thats far more expensive than my scope itself. And cheaper motor only solutions that would only cost around 40€ seem very flimsy. Would upgrading to a better scope do the trick? I did have my eye on a Reflector for some time, and it has the option of a GoTo motor for a fee. It seems to be more price effective. But in normal use I am perfectly happy with manually adjusting my EQ mount.
Thank you for any input in advance,
and keep your lights pointed down, and your eyes on the sky :) -
Hi! I'm new at stargazing and I bought a "Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ MD". This morning, my dad and I tried to look at Jupiter. We could see it aligned through the finderscope, but when we looked through the eyepiece, we saw nothing. It took us a long time to find it using only the eyepiece, since using the finderscope didn't work. We saw it well using a 13mm eyepiece, but we wanted to see it closer. We attached a 6mm eyepiece with the barlow lens and we could see nothing. We couldn't even find Jupiter using that eyepiece. We could see it well using a 13mm eyepiece and we centered it in the eyepiece view, but when it came to attach the 6mm and barlow lens eyepiece, we couldn't even find it. ;( What did we do wrong?
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Now this example, I can understand...
However, what is better than a 6 X 26, by Orion???
You said nothing about options... Do you mean that Orion makes a, 20 X 90 or do you mean that a 2 X 10 is better??? -
Thank you for these videos with Telescope Basics. Very helpful for beginners like me how to get started to watch the night sky.
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4:12 what scope is that ? Looks familier
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Thank you so much for your series. I watched all 6 parts and you really gave me a much clearer understanding of telescopes then before I started. Your series has helped me tremendously in purchasing my first telescope.
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