thanks again colin, and as promised here are the specs to this tube :O)

ill start with listing the eyepeices :- f5mm, h20mm,2 x barlow, and also
one that does it all type gizmo -ie it does these magnifications by way of
moving the selector around .. ie 6mm/8mm/12mm/15mm/18mm.

Now ill list the tubes spec which is :- f= 700mm d= 76mm ohh and it says
underneath this data "coated optics" btw - this is not guided by any
computer/electronic means - only by my good judgment , and my olympic size
forearm(they never used to be large but moving a scope about rigorasly does
make one appear more muscular :O)

Colin, i did attempt to align the scope and spotter by lining up the tube
with the target as your goodself recomended...but this coupled with that
tripod..made it rather annoying! but i did get a good look at jupiter and
what looked like a pearl necklace of moons - all 4 of them! however jupiter
itself looked a bright ball - no disearnable detail :O(

over to you sir :O)



"Colin Dawson" wrote in message
...
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