Soooo dissapointed . . .

I have had a Bauch & Lomb 4.5" Telescope for several years now and
haven't had a chance to use it (had babies right after I bought it).
Well, I was so excited to check out Mars tonight but I just can't
figure out how to use it. I feel so stupid!!! I've got Mars directly
in the crosshairs of the finderscope, and the lowest eyepiece in
(25mm) but when I look through the main telescope I can't see a thing
.. . .just gray fuzz. It's pitch black out, no lights at all. When I
put my hand in front of the main tube I can see it through the
eyepiece . . . quite clearly. A higher powered eyepiece makes it look
farther away. ARG!!!! What am I doing wrong (well, other than putting
my hand in front of the telescope)? I can't believe that I am going
to miss this. I am so mad at myself.

Any advice would be appreciate.

Thanks!
Diana

On 27 Aug 2003 19:55:03 -0700, (screamingchild) typed:

I have had a Bauch & Lomb 4.5" Telescope for several years now and
haven't had a chance to use it (had babies right after I bought it).
Well, I was so excited to check out Mars tonight but I just can't
figure out how to use it. I feel so stupid!!! I've got Mars directly
in the crosshairs of the finderscope, and the lowest eyepiece in
(25mm) but when I look through the main telescope I can't see a thing
. . .just gray fuzz. It's pitch black out, no lights at all. When I
put my hand in front of the main tube I can see it through the
eyepiece . . . quite clearly. A higher powered eyepiece makes it look
farther away. ARG!!!! What am I doing wrong (well, other than putting
my hand in front of the telescope)? I can't believe that I am going
to miss this. I am so mad at myself.

Any advice would be appreciate.

I've had that happen when I got my first telescope years ago.

#1: unless the object is centered in the eye piece, switching to higher
power eye piece would leave you with an empty space.

#2: the higher the power, the faster the object seems to move in the
eyepiece.

#3: always check the focus knob before blaming anything else. Even
changing the eye piece requires you to adjust.
--
All viruses and spams are automatically removed by my ISP before
reaching my inbox.

(screamingchild) wrote in
om:

I have had a Bauch & Lomb 4.5" Telescope for several years now and
haven't had a chance to use it (had babies right after I bought it).
Well, I was so excited to check out Mars tonight but I just can't
figure out how to use it. I feel so stupid!!! I've got Mars directly
in the crosshairs of the finderscope, and the lowest eyepiece in
(25mm) but when I look through the main telescope I can't see a thing
. . .just gray fuzz. It's pitch black out, no lights at all. When I
put my hand in front of the main tube I can see it through the
eyepiece . . . quite clearly. A higher powered eyepiece makes it look
farther away. ARG!!!! What am I doing wrong (well, other than putting
my hand in front of the telescope)? I can't believe that I am going
to miss this. I am so mad at myself.

Any advice would be appreciate.

Thanks!
Diana

Is the finder properly aligned with the scope?


Llanzlan.

When you say higher power do you mean a higher number on the eyepiece eg
25mm ?

As the lower the number the higher the magnification 9mm is higher than 25mm

Depends on the 'seeing' (the state of the atmosphere) on how much
magnification you can get, as it gets fuzzy on bad seeing nights the higher
you go.



Try to align your spotter scope with the main scope during the day by
looking through the main scope (low power eye piece to make it easier) at a
lampost or similar then adjusting the screws that hold the spotter in place
so that you can move the spotter and line them both up so that you can see
the same image in both only the main scope image will be larger.


Hope that helps a little

Stu

On 27 Aug 2003 19:55:03 -0700, (screamingchild)
wrote:

I have had a Bauch & Lomb 4.5" Telescope for several years now and
haven't had a chance to use it (had babies right after I bought it).
Well, I was so excited to check out Mars tonight but I just can't
figure out how to use it. I feel so stupid!!! I've got Mars directly
in the crosshairs of the finderscope, and the lowest eyepiece in
(25mm) but when I look through the main telescope I can't see a thing
I never bother with a finderscope for Mars, just find it with my 40mm
eyepiece, center it, and Put in a lower eyepice, and there it it is

--
---
The two most abundant elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.
Why is the ratio of Hydrogen to Stupidity less in usenet than anywhere else in the universe?

I almost sounds like your focus is way off for some reason. If the focus is
not right, the stars quickly blur and vanish. It is fairly critical. During
the day, focus the scope on something as far away as you can see. Leave this
setting and at night very carefully move the focus control. I do no know if
that scope has a fine and course focus. During the day experiment a little
and see if there is a fine focus. Get a feel for how far you have to move
the control. This can also be thrown off if for some reason you are not
getting the eye peice seated properly.

--
Ted

Remove "spam" from address to email me.


"screamingchild" wrote in message
om...
I have had a Bauch & Lomb 4.5" Telescope for several years now and
haven't had a chance to use it (had babies right after I bought it).
Well, I was so excited to check out Mars tonight but I just can't
figure out how to use it. I feel so stupid!!! I've got Mars directly
in the crosshairs of the finderscope, and the lowest eyepiece in
(25mm) but when I look through the main telescope I can't see a thing
. . .just gray fuzz. It's pitch black out, no lights at all. When I
put my hand in front of the main tube I can see it through the
eyepiece . . . quite clearly. A higher powered eyepiece makes it look
farther away. ARG!!!! What am I doing wrong (well, other than putting
my hand in front of the telescope)? I can't believe that I am going
to miss this. I am so mad at myself.

Any advice would be appreciate.

Thanks!
Diana