Accessories for New Telescope

[AussieStarBloke]

Hello All.

Santa was good to me and left me a Celestron FirstScope 114 Short Tube Telescope and some money under the Chrismas tree.

I was thinking that the money could go towards some accessories for my new scope.

I am thinking that my primary use of the scope will be lunar and planetary observations because the light pollution in the inner suburbs of Melbourne might make any other objects a bit too difficult to view. I am also thinking that getting to know my local astronomical neighbourhood would be good before wandering off to far away places

I am after suggestions for some accessories (e.g. filters, eypieces, etc) that would be useful for a lunar and planetary astronomy debutante such as myself.

The scope comes with a 10mm and 20 mm eyepiece (1 1/4 inch dia) and a copy of "The Sky" software.

Thanks in advance to all who reply.

[Dave Mitsky]

I suggest a 32mm Ploessl (oe equals o and an umlaut), a good 2x Barlow lens, and a unity power aiming device such as a Telrad or Rigel QuikFinder. Color filters may be of some use for planetary observing, particularly a Wratten #21 and a Wratten #80A. Some people think that a moon filter is necessary. Like Jeff Medkeff http://jeff.medkeff.com/astro/lunar/obs_tech/index.htm I do not but if you must have one I suggest a variable polarizing filter.

You might also want to get a copy of Terence Dickinson's _Nightwatch_ and an introductory star atlas such as Wil Tirion's _Cambridge Star Atlas_.

Dave Mitsky

[Bluewolf027]

Originally posted by AussieStarBloke@Dec 26 2004, 02:12 PM
Hello All.

Santa was good to me and left me a Celestron FirstScope 114 Short Tube Telescope and some money under the Chrismas tree.

I was thinking that the money could go towards some accessories for my new scope.

I am thinking that my primary use of the scope will be lunar and planetary observations because the light pollution in the inner suburbs of Melbourne might make any other objects a bit too difficult to view. I am also thinking that getting to know my local astronomical neighbourhood would be good before wandering off to far away places

I am after suggestions for some accessories (e.g. filters, eypieces, etc) that would be useful for a lunar and planetary astronomy debutante such as myself.

The scope comes with a 10mm and 20 mm eyepiece (1 1/4 inch dia) and a copy of "The Sky" software.

Thanks in advance to all who reply.

I would suggest a couple of eyepieces and a 2x barlow lens. If you still have money after that get yourself some filters.

Since the scope came with a 10mm and a 20mm I would get a 7.5mm and a 25mm(or 32 as Dave suggested) ...when coupled with the barlow you would have 8 different manification choices.

The best accessory I ever bought was the Book Nightwatch- It helped me to find my way around the night sky.

[Betelgeuse]

I can only echoe what's been said. My Celestron NexStar 130 GT couldn't be used to it's full capability because of the eyepiece magnification ability (it came with a 25mm and 10mm eyepiece which takes it up to magnification of max 60 when it's capable of 130&#33 + I found it difficult observing the moon because of it's brightness. So, yeah, I'd splash out a few pounds/dollars/euros on an eyepiece set and maybe a filter pack.

Here's the link to a celestron page about filters for lunar, solar and LPR needs. If you want more info on accessories that are recommended for your celestron, click here and then on recommended accessories.

Good luck with your scope and I'm glad to hear that santa was so generous!
Regards
Rigel

[Gneiss]

As suggested earlier.... a good quality, low power eyepiece.

I've lost count of the times I've gone out with a specific target in mind (usually one of the planets) simply to spend the time wandering aimlessly around the sky using a low power - only to find it clouds over before I actually get round to looking at my intended object

That's meant to convince you by the way

[paul f. campbell]

Hi Aussiestarbloke. dave talks about a 32mm lens, it may work for his system. and maybe yours, but with mine, I have found that a 32mm lens, eye relief seems to be poor to fair. I am forever moving my head up or down to find the image, but I am using a Meade etx 125, that could be the differnece I dont know. See if you can find some one who has one, before you buy one. the 2x tele is a must. I had a telrad for my scope but I found it to be to big for my set up, I thought it was a great finder scope but could not use it, maybe you can. I have Moon filters but like dave I seldom use them. I take alot of my Moon photos during the eveing hours before dark. That is why the colors of my Moon photos are more red to purple then gray. I am now changing my photos to gray scale thanks to this group Hay nice to know you clear skys

Yours in the way Paul F. Campbell

[Dave Mitsky]

What Paul means is that the eye relief is excessively long. This is a consequence of focal length with most eyepiece designs. The longer the focal length, the greater the eye relief. (Lines like the Tele Vue Radians and the Pentax XL and XW are designed to have a constant long eye relief for eyeglass wearers.)

Unlike 40mm Ploessls I've never had a problem using 32mm Ploessls. If an observer can't find the proper focal point add-on rubber eyeguards will do the trick. Another alternative is a wide-field 1.25" eyepiece such as the superb, but expensive, 24mm Tele Vue Panoptic, which has an eye relief of 15mm and which provides the largest true field of view possible with a 1.25" barrel.

Dave Mitsky