Help

[beano67]

Hi all,I am very new to this so hope someone can help,I have bought a celestron starsense Explorer 100az for myself and my grandson to use and so far have been able to have a nice look at the moon but when I am trying to view other planets ie jupiter,Mars etc I can't seem to get anything like a good view of any of these,when looking through the eye piece (25mm) just looks like bright spheres in the night sky,am I doing something wrong or are there possibly other factors that are effecting the view, any help would be greatly appreciated thankyou

[beano67]

I guess what I'm really asking is have I bought a good telescope thanks in advance.

[Mike Q]

So the 25mm eyepiece will get you 26x in that scope, which is low power, so planets won't be much more then what you are seeing with that eyepiece. A 10mm eyepiece, which should have come with it will get you 66x and should give you a better image of the planets.

Now the "bad" news,generally speaking, the eyepieces that are included with scopes fall between being just ok to little more then a paperweight, so if it were me i would be looking at trying a better eyepiece. I would hit up First Light Optics and see what they recommend. Lastly and i always hate saying this. Some of us spend more on one eyepiece, then you did on the whole setup. This will give you an idea of where your scope fits in the grand scheme of things. It will probably be fine at its price point, just needs better eyepieces

Also, you have a 4 inch scope, which in theory will get up around 200x. A 6mm eyepiece would about 100x and a 3mm would be 200x. How much magnification you can throw will depend on your skies.

[beano67]

Hi,many thanks for all that info and the explanation was very clear,will speak to first light as you suggested and see what they recommend, and I can imagine for some of you guys your set ups would blow my mind I'm sure.can I just ask does it also depend on the time of the night we are looking. Thanks

[helicon]

I am thinking also that it could be a matter of focus if you are seeing large spheres or blobs rather than defined small, but still detailed objects. Make sure you rack the focuser in and out and test this, otherwise I agree with mikeQ that some better eyepieces might fit the bill

[beano67]

OK again thanks for the advice as you said I'm not seeing any small detailed objects so I will definitely give that a try as well,would it be better to try this with the 10mm ep rather than the 25mm.thanks again.

[helicon]

My point basically is that with the moon you can see details without perfect focus. With Jupiter for example you will need good focus to see it as a disk and reveal the main two bands of the planet. With Mars you'll just see a small orange disk with perhaps a very limited feature or two given that Mars is now moving away from Earth.

[Jeff.Stevens]

Hi all,I am very new to this so hope someone can help,I have bought a celestron starsense Explorer 100az for myself and my grandson to use and so far have been able to have a nice look at the moon but when I am trying to view other planets ie jupiter,Mars etc I can't seem to get anything like a good view of any of these,when looking through the eye piece (25mm) just looks like bright spheres in the night sky,am I doing something wrong or are there possibly other factors that are effecting the view, any help would be greatly appreciated thankyou

Welcome to the wonderful (and often frustrating) world of observational astronomy. I started observing with a very similar telescope to yours over 35 years ago, and got hooked.

As folks have said, better eyepieces will help, as will experience of observing. It’s possible you picked a night with really poor seeing (planets can wobble and bubble depending on how stable the atmosphere is on any given night), and the transparency (how clear the sky is) also affects what you can see.

Being patient, and experimenting with the focus (someone has already mentioned), is key too. With time and experience you will see more detail.

Jupiter has passed its best now - it was at opposition (closest to us) back in December, presenting a slightly bigger disk to view. Mars has also passed its best, and would need a lot of aperture/magnification to make out any real detail. Venus is low in the morning sky. You’ve missed the recent planetary parade by now, but each will come into its own again over time.

Keep watching, and learning. The Moon is always a fascinating object to watch, and it’s always worth spending time looking at the night sky and learning the constellations.

In the meantime you could point your scope at a prominent deep sky object like the Orion Nebula (M42). We’re losing it low in the west of an evening now (UK) but you might just catch it and see the faint tenuous nebulosity. Or try the globular cluster (M13) in Hercules, rising in the east much later in an evening. It will be a small, faint, tight fuzzy patch of light. Often with this type of observing, where you really need a large aperture scope, it’s more the satisfaction of actually being able to identify the faint fuzzy object and knowing what it is that you are looking at that gives the buzz.

Enjoy.

Jeff.

[beano67]

Hi helicon,Jeff
Many thanks for the advice so far and I have taken on board all given,I will certainly keep practicing and like you say Jeff sometimes just knowing what you are vaguely seeing can be buzz enough.I will also try looking for other objects in the sky and keep up with the focusing practice.I have been in touch with first light optics just waiting for a response.once again advice is very much appreciated.

[Thefatkitty]

Hi, another bit of two pence here. But first I have to say, you're "handle" brought back some memories; how long has The Beano been running for! My wife still has copies of this from the 60's and 70's

I might get some flack from others here, but hear me out. Your scope is an F/6.5, which is the focal length of the scope itself. Celestron also makes a 102 at F/9.8; the longer focal length would be better for planets, whereas what you have is great for wide field views of DSO's. Not that you can't use either scope for both targets, but it might take better sky conditions for the scope you have to do better on the planets, and likely more magnification.

I've had/have both, and it's just my personal experience. No one scope does it all, as you can gather from the various signature files from members on here. Scopes are like chips; most of us can't can't stop at just one

And the advice of everyone above is solid, at least in my humble opinion. Even if you just buy one eyepiece, the quality difference from a stock to a quality eyepiece is like a dirty windshield compared to a clean one. And for your scope, I'd go for something between 18mm - 12mm. I had a 102 like yours (my newphew has it now) and my most used eyepiece with it was a 15mm with an 82* FOV. Yeah, he has that now too... I still get the Thanks uncle Mark!

Regardless, the most important thing is quality time with your grandson, and good eyepieces will certainly help a lot. You'll both have your WOW moments, believe me!

And welcome to TSS. We tout ourselves as the friendliest astro forum on the net and always are happy to have new members.

Look forward to hearing how it goes for you!

Cheers mate,

[beano67]

Hi Mark,
Yes "the beano" what a great comic as a kid I loved it especially as my last name is neno and beano became my nickname very quickly.Thanks very much for the welcome it is much appreciated and also everyone has been very very helpful and welcoming and like you said quality time with my grandson will be great,I have read your options that you have also given me and am slowly working through my options but I think that we will have lots of great times ahead and of course will keep you all posted with our journey into the magical world of our dark sky's.

One thing could I ask what you mean when you said an 82*fov,apologies for my ignorance.

Cheers
Ray

[Thefatkitty]

Hi Ray, pleasure to meet you Well, I guess with a last name of Neno it was bound to happen... My last name is Schell, pronounced like the things you find on the beach. No, my family does not collect seashells or own the gas/petrol station... kids lol!

And yes, I think you have a great scope there; I miss mine but my nephew is happy!

As for 82* fov, I should have not assumed in this instance and no apology neccesary; it's me who should be apologizing.
It means 82 degree field of view. You don't need that much for planets, but it certainly helps on observing the Moon and deep sky objects (DSO's).

This is a list of astronomy acronyms from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_a ... acronyms#A

It seems a little daunting, but it probably has every acronym you'll ever run into.
Plus if your reading an astronomy-related article and they use an acronym the same as others such as ATM for example, you'll know it stands for Amateur Telescope Making and not Automated Teller Machine

My two favorite acronyms (not neccesarily related to astronomy but sometimes) are KISS and RTFM

Hope this helps and all the best Ray,

[beano67]

Hi Mark
I'm sure with the info you guys have all provided and the fantastic assistance I have had from flo we will start our journey into space in the right place and very much looking upwards (pardon the pun ) and no apology required either I will have a read through what you have mentioned which I'm sure will definitely help,and also pleasure to meet you to

[JayTee]

Hi beano,

This article may prove useful to you as you start your journey.

https://theskysearchers.com/app.php/art ... 2?style=66

Cheers,

[Baurice]

A moon filter would help with Jupiter and Venus (when it is next visible). Before I had one, I used sunglasses to reduce the glare on bright planets and got some very strange looks!

With the summer months coming and the lack of dark sky, you can also consider a FULL APERTURE solar filter. Don't get an eyepiece solar filter as they are as much use as a chocolate teapot and far more dangerous.

[beano67]

Many thanks for all your help and suggestions, will be sure to keep you all updated on how our journey is going