Need help setting up my TASCO Telescope

My wife bought me this unit several years ago. It is a TASCO #58T/
302058.

When I first got it, I assembled it and could not figure out how to
view anything through the main telescope.

Tonight, just before dusk, I saw a something very bright high in the
western sky here in Michigan. I got curious and decided to assemble
the TASCO and give it another try.

I got it together and was able to spot the star/planet of whatever in
the crosshairs of the Finderscope and lokced the unit in place but
when I tried to look at it through the telescope, all I saw was white
(I did take off the lense cover) and nothing changed when I moved the
Focus Tube in or out.

I assume I assembled the viewing lenses wrong but I have no idea what
I did wrong.

Does anyone have any Idea what I could have done wrong?

Help!

David (Unencumbered by the thought process)

On Jul 4, 11:10 pm, Hibb wrote:
My wife bought me this unit several years ago. It is a TASCO #58T/
302058.

When I first got it, I assembled it and could not figure out how to
view anything through the main telescope.

Tonight, just before dusk, I saw a something very bright high in the
western sky here in Michigan. I got curious and decided to assemble
the TASCO and give it another try.

I got it together and was able to spot the star/planet of whatever in
the crosshairs of the Finderscope and lokced the unit in place but
when I tried to look at it through the telescope, all I saw was white
(I did take off the lense cover) and nothing changed when I moved the
Focus Tube in or out.

I assume I assembled the viewing lenses wrong but I have no idea what
I did wrong.

Does anyone have any Idea what I could have done wrong?

Help!

David (Unencumbered by the thought process)

It is very hard to know what the problem might be with so little
information.
The Tasco website does not list a scope with the model number you
cite.
So, you might relate what kind of scope you have - refractor,
reflector, catadiaoptric, etc. Also please note the objective
diameter and focal length.

Off hand, it sounds like you tried to start viewing with the maximum
amount of magnification - a typical beginner's mistake. If so, try
viewing first with the lowest power eyepiece - the one with the
largest number (example: 20mm) printed on the lens housing.

The bright object you saw was probably Venus.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Larry G.

Buy a copy of Sky and Telescope. Then give the telescope to a 10 year
old as they are generally smart enough to use one.

Jim Klein
James E. Klein


Engineering Calculations
http://www.ecalculations.com

Engineering Calculations is the home of
the KDP-2 Optical Design Program
for Windows.
1-818-507-5706 (Voice and Fax)
1-818-823-4121

"KDP2, not quite easy enough for a Caveman to use" :-)

On Jul 5, 10:50?am, Jim Klein wrote:
Buy a copy of Sky and Telescope. Then give the telescope to a 10 year
old as they are generally smart enough to use one.

Jim Klein
James E. Klein


Engineering Calculationshttp://www.ecalculations.com

Engineering Calculations is the home of
the KDP-2 Optical Design Program
for Windows.
1-818-507-5706 (Voice and Fax)
1-818-823-4121

"KDP2, not quite easy enough for a Caveman to use" :-)


Does your mommy know you are using the computer?

David,
I'll say like Larry, try the lowest power ep you have, hopefully a 20
or so like he mentioned. Let us know how you did, and that did sound
like Venus.

After a search on Google that seems to be a refractor, a 60mm f/11.7
or so, I saw both red and black models.

I have a small 60mm Tasco refractor, an f/15, it is capable-don't
listen to all the "Trashco" stories-along with a few other small 60mm
telescopes, it does well. You should get some nice moon views, the
planets-Venus, Saturn & Jupiter and some of their moons, double stars,
and a host of other objects in the sky.

If you don't have any books, I'd get at least something like "Turn
Left at Orion", a good book on starhopping, perhaps a night sky atlas.
I use the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky", and
I just saw at Amazon: "The Next Step: Finding and Viewing Messier's
Objects", it gets 5 stars from all 8 reviewers, looks like something I
could use:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/192...641448?ie=UTF8

I enjoyed seeing your post and others from beginners as it takes me
back a few short years ago when I first started into this hobby. I'm
in no way advanced as far as ID'ing objects but have fun none the
less. I haven't been out lately but hopefully will do so tonight or
very soon.

Keep us posted...

ko

On Jul 5, 1:18?pm, ko57 wrote:
David,
I'll say like Larry, try the lowest power ep you have, hopefully a 20
or so like he mentioned. Let us know how you did, and that did sound
like Venus.

After a search on Google that seems to be a refractor, a 60mm f/11.7
or so, I saw both red and black models.

I have a small 60mm Tasco refractor, an f/15, it is capable-don't
listen to all the "Trashco" stories-along with a few other small 60mm
telescopes, it does well. You should get some nice moon views, the
planets-Venus, Saturn & Jupiter and some of their moons, double stars,
and a host of other objects in the sky.

If you don't have any books, I'd get at least something like "Turn
Left at Orion", a good book on starhopping, perhaps a night sky atlas.
I use the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky", and
I just saw at Amazon: "The Next Step: Finding and Viewing Messier's
Objects", it gets 5 stars from all 8 reviewers, looks like something I
could use:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/192...rvi_4/103-6022...

I enjoyed seeing your post and others from beginners as it takes me
back a few short years ago when I first started into this hobby. I'm
in no way advanced as far as ID'ing objects but have fun none the
less. I haven't been out lately but hopefully will do so tonight or
very soon.

Keep us posted...

ko

Thanks Larry G and KO.

I played with it some more today and figured some things out. I was
able to view Venus. It was a blurry blob tho. I did not expect it to
be much more than that.

I think this one is a 525X scope when using the 3X extender with 4mm
lens. I started out with the 25mm lens tonight and once I got that to
work I moved up to the 12.5mm and then tried the 4mm but I did not get
to the 1.5X erecting eyepiece or the 3X Barlow before the "skeeters"
started eating me up.

There was no moon tonight so I think I might have better luck
practicing viewing the moon since it is closer and brighter. It was
also a little hazy with some light clouds tonight so it was not the
best viewing conditions.

I am wondering if I am missing a piece tho. I used the Diagonal viewer
but the Lenses don't seem to fit in the viewer very good. The place
where the lens inserts into the diagonal viewer is much bigger so the
lens fits in very loose.

Also, I need to figure out how to align the finderscope with the main
scope. They are not even close at this point.

It looks like my wife bought this for me around 1998 since there was a
calender of astronomical events for 1998 and 1999 in the box.

Thanks, David

Hibb wrote:

Thanks Larry G and KO.

I played with it some more today and figured some things out. I was
able to view Venus. It was a blurry blob tho. I did not expect it to
be much more than that.

I think this one is a 525X scope when using the 3X extender with 4mm
lens. I started out with the 25mm lens tonight and once I got that to
work I moved up to the 12.5mm and then tried the 4mm but I did not get
to the 1.5X erecting eyepiece or the 3X Barlow before the "skeeters"
started eating me up.

Hello, there, and what I've seen on the Web agrees with the previous
poster who suggested that this Tasco 58T/302058 has an aperture of 60mm
and a focal length of 700mm.

Now we come to some basics, which previous remarks may have suggested,
about the advantages of eyepieces with lower powers, or longer focal
lengths.

A basic caution is that while a 60mm scope like this literally _can_
provide a magnification like 525X with the right combination of
eyepiece and Barlow or other devices, the _useful_ magnification is
much lower. A usual guideline is that the useful maximum is around
2X the aperture in millimeters; so here we take 60mm and multiply
by 2 for a useful maximum of somewhere around 120X.

This is why telescopes advertised by power, and especially advertised
for powers far beyond the useful range for the scope's aperture, have
negative reputations -- although the scope might be quite useful as
long as the magnification is kept in a reasonable range. The utility
can vary, as with any scope, depending on the quality of the optics
and also the stability of the mount -- but choosing a power within
the useful range of the aperture is a key to success.

An important point is that you can calculate magnification by taking
the focal length of your telescope, evidently 700mm, and dividing
by the focal length of eyepiece.

How about 25mm, which people have wisely recommended? That's 28X,
which could be really nice for viewing objects beyond our Solar System
like bright star clusters; lower powers mean a wider field. Many
valuable observations were made in the 17th and 18th centuries with
telescopes at around this power or a bit lower.

At 12.5mm, or half the focal length for the eyepiece, you'll get
twice the power: 700 divided by 12.5mm or 56X, still well within
the reasonable range of the scope.

If we take 120X as the likely useful limit for this scope, then
this would be produced by a 5.83mm eyepiece. The 25mm plus the
3X Barlow would yield 84X, which might be nice for lunar or
planetary viewing, assuming that the Barlow is of reasonable
quality.

It follows that a 4mm eyepiece at 175X is likely a bit beyond
the useful range, and apt to exceed the available resolution of
the scope so that you actually see less detail rather than more
in comparison to the highest magnification within the useful
range -- although, if it were going to be useful (or not too
counterproductive), the Moon might best withstand it.

A combination of the 12.5mm eyepiece plus a 2X Barlow, if the
latter type of Barlow were available for your eyepiece and
scope, would yield the equivalent of a 6.25mm eyepiece, or
a magnification of 112 -- which I'd guess might be close to
the useful maximum, and of interest for lunar and planetary
viewing.

However, given the eyepieces and lens I've seen mentioned,
I might guess that the following could be useful:

25mm 28X
12.5mm 56X
25mm + 3X Barlow 84X

There was no moon tonight so I think I might have better luck
practicing viewing the moon since it is closer and brighter. It was
also a little hazy with some light clouds tonight so it was not the
best viewing conditions.

Just a note that while the Moon is, of course, a natural attraction
to see what a telescope can do, trying that 25mm eyepiece on a moonless
sky, especially in an area with less light pollution, might be quite
impressive. If you look into the Messier objects, you'll find that some
are quite bright and cover a rather large area of the sky, which is
where lower magnifications with a wider field can be really nice. In
this season, something like M7 or M8 in the southern sky could be really
beautiful -- and in winter, of course, there are the Pleiades, also known
as M45, and the Great Nebula in Orion or M42, to mention some favorites.

[...]


It looks like my wife bought this for me around 1998 since there was a
calender of astronomical events for 1998 and 1999 in the box.

Please let me just say that it's a delight when a telescope actually gets
used. Galileo used around 30X for some of his discoveries, and I hope
that you find the scope both exciting and educational, with the help of
more experienced people here also.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter

On Jul 5, 10:46 pm, Hibb wrote:
On Jul 5, 1:18?pm, ko57 wrote:





David,
I'll say like Larry, try the lowest power ep you have, hopefully a 20
or so like he mentioned. Let us know how you did, and that did sound
like Venus.

After a search on Google that seems to be a refractor, a 60mm f/11.7
or so, I saw both red and black models.

I have a small 60mm Tasco refractor, an f/15, it is capable-don't
listen to all the "Trashco" stories-along with a few other small 60mm
telescopes, it does well. You should get some nice moon views, the
planets-Venus, Saturn & Jupiter and some of their moons, double stars,
and a host of other objects in the sky.

If you don't have any books, I'd get at least something like "Turn
Left at Orion", a good book on starhopping, perhaps a night sky atlas.
I use the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky", and
I just saw at Amazon: "The Next Step: Finding and Viewing Messier's
Objects", it gets 5 stars from all 8 reviewers, looks like something I
could use:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/192...rvi_4/103-6022...

I enjoyed seeing your post and others from beginners as it takes me
back a few short years ago when I first started into this hobby. I'm
in no way advanced as far as ID'ing objects but have fun none the
less. I haven't been out lately but hopefully will do so tonight or
very soon.

Keep us posted...

ko

Thanks Larry G and KO.

I played with it some more today and figured some things out. I was
able to view Venus. It was a blurry blob tho. I did not expect it to
be much more than that.

I think this one is a 525X scope when using the 3X extender with 4mm
lens. I started out with the 25mm lens tonight and once I got that to
work I moved up to the 12.5mm and then tried the 4mm but I did not get
to the 1.5X erecting eyepiece or the 3X Barlow before the "skeeters"
started eating me up.

There was no moon tonight so I think I might have better luck
practicing viewing the moon since it is closer and brighter. It was
also a little hazy with some light clouds tonight so it was not the
best viewing conditions.

I am wondering if I am missing a piece tho. I used the Diagonal viewer
but the Lenses don't seem to fit in the viewer very good. The place
where the lens inserts into the diagonal viewer is much bigger so the
lens fits in very loose.

Also, I need to figure out how to align the finderscope with the main
scope. They are not even close at this point.

It looks like my wife bought this for me around 1998 since there was a
calender of astronomical events for 1998 and 1999 in the box.

Thanks, David- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -



To align the finderscope with the scope -- use a fixed, immovable
terrestrial object and do it during the day. Find an object that's a
few miles away -- a TV or radio broadcast tower, a cell tower, a
unique tree on a ridgeline, some unmistakable object that's a few
miles away. Then -- use your lowest power eyepiece -- that's the one
with the largest number, 25mm -- and center the distant object in the
main scope. This will take some time, just be patient. THEN -- be
very careful not to bump the scope -- and fiddle with the adjustment
knobs on the finderscope to pull it into alignment. This whole
process will take some time -- plan at least half an hour -- because
you'll bump the main scope out of alignment, then you'll have to find
the object again, then fiddle with the finder, etc., etc., etc.


Don't try to push that scope to maximum magnification. In another
post, someone told you the focal length of the scope -- I don't recall
what it is. Magnification = focal length of scope/focal length of
eyepiece. So -- if the scope focal length is 800mm, with a 25mm
eyepiece, the magnification is 800/25 = 32X. A focal length of 900mm
with the 25mm eyepiece = 900/25=36X, etc., etc.

Maximum mag is approximately 50 X scope aperture in inches. So -- a
60mm scope is approx 2.5 inches. 2.5 X 50 = 125X -- which means that
125X is about the best you'll do with this scope.

125X is perfectly fine for planets -- Venus -- which you have already
located -- goes through phases like the moon -- it becomes full and
round, then slowly becomes a crescent. You should be able to clearly
see the crescent shape at something like 40X.

Try to locate Jupiter -- after about 10:00 pm local time, look in the
southern sky, about 30 degrees above the horizon -- Jupiter is the
brightest object there -- it may be slightly SE or SW depending on the
time. Start with lowest power. You'll see Jupiter -- a big ball --
and four little, tiny dots of light around Jupiter -- these are
Jupiter's four Galilean moons. Their position relative to Jupiter
will change every day as they orbit around Jupiter.

The Tasco scope is not a top-quality scope but if it's what you have,
it's what you have. Use it and ignore the self-appointed purists who
turn up their noses at it.

G a z . wrote:

David,

You will need to set up your telescope during the day, in order to get
better result at night!

Hi, David, Gaz, and all.

To this advice and the method described, I might just add a standard caution
found in manuals that if you do align the finder scope with the telescope
during the day, you must be very careful NOT TO POINT EITHER MAIN TELESCOPE
OR FINDER SCOPE AT OR ANYWHERE NEAR THE SUN.

This is vital both for the protection of your vision, which can be
permanently damaged by even the briefest exposure to the Sun through an
optical aid like a telescope, finder, or binoculars; and to avoid the
possibility of damage to the optics or having the concentrated rays of
the Sun start a fire.

I realize that this is such a familiar caution that it might almost go
without saying, but thought it might not hurt to mention it.

So when you have got a bit of time to spare (during the day), use the main
scope and find a land mark of some kind, a building, telephone mast, TV
transmitter or a water tower.

Once you have located a landmark with your main telescope, then using the
finder scope (attached to your telescope), locate the same landmark!

Make sure that the two scopes are correctly aligned, for example:

The top of the building (in the centre of your telescope view).

Then just adjust the finder scope until the red dot/cross hairs are centred
on the same thing.

All being well, you should then be able to use the finder scope to find
something and then be able to view it with your scope.

Best Wishes,

Gaz.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter

On Jul 6, 4:01?am, Margo Schulter wrote:
Hibb wrote:
Thanks Larry G and KO.

I played with it some more today and figured some things out. I was
able to view Venus. It was a blurry blob tho. I did not expect it to
be much more than that.

I think this one is a 525X scope when using the 3X extender with 4mm
lens. I started out with the 25mm lens tonight and once I got that to
work I moved up to the 12.5mm and then tried the 4mm but I did not get
to the 1.5X erecting eyepiece or the 3X Barlow before the "skeeters"
started eating me up.

Hello, there, and what I've seen on the Web agrees with the previous
poster who suggested that this Tasco 58T/302058 has an aperture of 60mm
and a focal length of 700mm.

That seems to be the scope I have.



Now we come to some basics, which previous remarks may have suggested,
about the advantages of eyepieces with lower powers, or longer focal
lengths.

A basic caution is that while a 60mm scope like this literally _can_
provide a magnification like 525X with the right combination of
eyepiece and Barlow or other devices, the _useful_ magnification is
much lower. A usual guideline is that the useful maximum is around
2X the aperture in millimeters; so here we take 60mm and multiply
by 2 for a useful maximum of somewhere around 120X.

This is why telescopes advertised by power, and especially advertised
for powers far beyond the useful range for the scope's aperture, have
negative reputations -- although the scope might be quite useful as
long as the magnification is kept in a reasonable range. The utility
can vary, as with any scope, depending on the quality of the optics
and also the stability of the mount -- but choosing a power within
the useful range of the aperture is a key to success.

An important point is that you can calculate magnification by taking
the focal length of your telescope, evidently 700mm, and dividing
by the focal length of eyepiece.

How about 25mm, which people have wisely recommended? That's 28X,
which could be really nice for viewing objects beyond our Solar System
like bright star clusters; lower powers mean a wider field. Many
valuable observations were made in the 17th and 18th centuries with
telescopes at around this power or a bit lower.

At 12.5mm, or half the focal length for the eyepiece, you'll get
twice the power: 700 divided by 12.5mm or 56X, still well within
the reasonable range of the scope.

If we take 120X as the likely useful limit for this scope, then
this would be produced by a 5.83mm eyepiece. The 25mm plus the
3X Barlow would yield 84X, which might be nice for lunar or
planetary viewing, assuming that the Barlow is of reasonable
quality.

It follows that a 4mm eyepiece at 175X is likely a bit beyond
the useful range, and apt to exceed the available resolution of
the scope so that you actually see less detail rather than more
in comparison to the highest magnification within the useful
range -- although, if it were going to be useful (or not too
counterproductive), the Moon might best withstand it.

A combination of the 12.5mm eyepiece plus a 2X Barlow, if the
latter type of Barlow were available for your eyepiece and
scope, would yield the equivalent of a 6.25mm eyepiece, or
a magnification of 112 -- which I'd guess might be close to
the useful maximum, and of interest for lunar and planetary
viewing.

However, given the eyepieces and lens I've seen mentioned,
I might guess that the following could be useful:

25mm 28X
12.5mm 56X
25mm + 3X Barlow 84X





There was no moon tonight so I think I might have better luck
practicing viewing the moon since it is closer and brighter. It was
also a little hazy with some light clouds tonight so it was not the
best viewing conditions.

Just a note that while the Moon is, of course, a natural attraction
to see what a telescope can do, trying that 25mm eyepiece on a moonless
sky, especially in an area with less light pollution, might be quite
impressive. If you look into the Messier objects, you'll find that some
are quite bright and cover a rather large area of the sky, which is
where lower magnifications with a wider field can be really nice. In
this season, something like M7 or M8 in the southern sky could be really
beautiful -- and in winter, of course, there are the Pleiades, also known
as M45, and the Great Nebula in Orion or M42, to mention some favorites.

[...]



It looks like my wife bought this for me around 1998 since there was a
calender of astronomical events for 1998 and 1999 in the box.

Please let me just say that it's a delight when a telescope actually gets
used. Galileo used around 30X for some of his discoveries, and I hope
that you find the scope both exciting and educational, with the help of
more experienced people here also.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter


Thank you for your help.

David