Hi Troll hunter.

I think I've used one of these scope a couple of years back. I'm assuming
that it's the same scope that you're using....

It's a 4.5" newtonian Reflector with a Focal Length 1000mm. Possibly
called the Tasco StarGuide 114. If my guess is right I know the scope. For
those not familier with the Tasco's it's almost identical to the Celestron
NexStar 114GT it's just that it's got a smaller object database and is
painting in the Tasco colours.

Here's a link to the NexStar scope for reference.
http://www.celestron.com/prod_pgs/tel/nx114gt.htm

And here's the tasco.
http://sale-depot.co.uk/camera-photo...lesco pe.html

Ok ok, enought with the Guess work.


Now for some helpful hints...

You'll need to do a little math to work out what magnification your
eyepieces *should* give you. When you use an eyepiece in combination with
the Barlow double the magnification. Now you know what the eyepieces give,
you'll need to know how to drive the magnification. The basic rule of thumb
is 50x per Inch of apeture. In the case of your scope that's the diameter
of the main mirror. This should work out to about 225x ish, on a perfect
night. Taking the british weather into account, and sky pollution etc, you
would be extremely lucky to get to over about 180x, and even that is
optimistic. Don't let this put you off though, as a smaller image will be
brighter and with a little practice you'll be ableo to pick out alot of
detail.

The floppyness of the mount is a problem with tripods. Some people add
weight to their tripod to help reduce the shaking effect. I find, on my
scope, that keeping the legs retracted helps to work better. It's worth a
try, as it may help a little.

These is also something that you can do to help recude the shaking. That is
to not touch the scope whilst looking through the eyepiece. This way the
scope can do it's think with you getting in it's way. Also as your detached
from the scope, you'll not be pressing down and possibly causing some
movement in the scope.

You might also be able to come up with some ingenious solution that will tie
the tripod legs together and make them more ridgid.

Hope this helps

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com