Telescopes

[Baroque Brass]

Does anyone have experience with astronomical telescopes? I got a Celestron 114 for my grandson and I’m less than impressed with it. Yes, I can view the moon but the Tasco refracting telescope I had as a kid seemed to be better. No, this isn’t a top of the line scope but I really expected more. There’s no “wow” factor when viewing the moon and I don’t think it will hold my grandson’s interest for long. Thanks!

 

[specialk]

i bought a meade from sams about 10yrs ago for my then teenage son. if you locked it down on the moon the image would move out of the screen rather quickly so it had a tracker that would move the scope with the moon.....bought the adapter so i could hook my digital cam and take pics......i paid like 350 for it.....

 

[sinclair1]

I have a celestron with tracking. You can put an phone adapter on it to record events. It will follow them as the are all programmed.
You’re right though, just looking at the moon is boring unless you are looking at a much more expensive scope.
I don’t even pull it out for once in 300 year events anymore as you can get a better view on the NASA channel.

 

[gunnurse]

I have a celestron with tracking. You can put an phone adapter on it to record events. It will follow them as the are all programmed.
You’re right though, just looking at the moon is boring unless you are looking at a much more expensive scope.
I don’t even pull it out for once in 300 year events anymore as you can get a better view on the NASA channel.

Can I have it?

 

[Baroque Brass]

Well, well. It seems there’s not just one but TWO lens covers on the front of the tube. There’s a small one the fits into the center of the large one. I’d only removed the small one. The scope works MUCH better with the large cap removed. If that was in the instruction booklet I sure missed it?

 

[Cmp1]

Can I have it?

X2,,,,?

 

[Cmp1]

Try to get away from extraneous light,,,,you may be able to see Alot more,use a camera adapter and take a Pic on bulb setting,,,,you should be able to get some good star trail pic's,,,,

 

[Baroque Brass]

Try to get away from extraneous light,,,,you may be able to see Alot more,use a camera adapter and take a Pic on bulb setting,,,,you should be able to get some good star trail pic's,,,,

It’s dark where we live. In the country and we like it that way. It offer some good viewing opportunities.

 

[RedHills]

Well, well. It seems there’s not just one but TWO lens covers on the front of the tube. There’s a small one the fits into the center of the large one. I’d only removed the small one. The scope works MUCH better with the large cap removed. If that was in the instruction booklet I sure missed it?

That's actually a "moon cap". During peak moons, you just take the center out to reduce the light gathered.

I upgraded a 114 I had, for a 10" dobsonian. Sold the 114 and kinda wish I kept it. The dob is just a bear to get set up and move around.

Read up on collimation, just a fancy term for adjusting the mirrors for optimal performance.

 

[GunnSmokeer]

Inexpensive telescopes are difficult to use, and many kids today just aren't interested enough to make the effort. They have video games-- which are a more interesting alternative to getting outside and looking at the sky in real life. They also have fancy cable TV and streaming services which make kids into zombies in front of the TV or computer screen. Back in my day, TV's only had 3 VHF channels and maybe 3 more UHF channels that would come in clearly, so if none of those six stations were showing something interesting, you'd WANT to go outside and do stuff like use a telescope to look at objects in the night sky.

When it comes to tracking, I find that cheaper telescopes are best set at lower magnification-- maybe 100X on the top end. I've enjoyed using 50X and 60X terrestrial / spotting scopes to look at planets, stars, and the moon. I've seen the rings around Saturn and some of the moons of Jupiter with spotting scopes with only 60 mm lenses and only 50X magnification. That low power setting will give you enough time to marvel at the image you're seeing before it moves out of your view and you have to re-adjust the scope.

WHEN IT COMES TO EXPENSIVE SCOPES, my brother once paid $3000 for a 10-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain scope (Celestron brand, I believe) that had computerized tracking. It was a nightmare to set-up, and required dozens of calls to tech support and consulting with computer experts to properly get it to work with his laptop computer. When everything was working right, a few months later he was forced to upgrade his operating system, and the new software wouldn't work with the telescope anymore. Soon after that, the scope's own program became out -of-date and the company stopped supporting it, wanting you to abandon it and buy their newest tracking programs instead. He gave up. Stopped using the scope entirely, even as a non-tracking model. He just quit it, and no longer wants to own his own telescope ever again. He'd rather go to a planetarium or observatory as a guest, or come along with some friends who are in an amateur astronomy club and look their THEIR scopes that THEY have configured and set-up. He gave away his telescope to come charity many years ago.