A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Astronomy and Astrophysics » Amateur Astronomy
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

What can I expect to see with this telescope?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old July 15th 03, 03:03 PM
Dave
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default What can I expect to see with this telescope?

Sorry, in my last post I meant to say: Bushnell 4.5" reflector telescope.
  #2  
Old July 15th 03, 03:35 PM
Chuck Simmons
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default What can I expect to see with this telescope?

Dave wrote:

Hey all,

My wife recent bought me a 4.5" reflactor Bushnell telescope and i'm
just curious as what I should expect to be able to see. I looked at
the moon and it was ok, not as impressive as I thought it would be.


The moon was more or less full last weekend. Did you look at a nearly
full moon? Look at other phases of the moon. The shadows bring out
detail that is very hard to see in a full moon.

Last night, I pointed it what I thought was mars. (15-20degrees east
[to the left ] of the moon. This was about 1am and i'm in Ottawa,
Canada. I used the 20mm lense and honestly couldn't tell if it was
mars or not.


I'm not sure what you were looking at. I have a Chinese 90mm refractor I
take car camping and the planets look as good as I would expect in that
size telescope. A good night will bring out the cloud bands on Jupiter
and the rings of Saturn. The weather has been bad here on weekends
recently so I haven't looked at Mars but it should be obvious.

Now I know what most of you think about these cheap telescopes, so
please, don't go there. What i'm curious to know, is what should I
expect to be able to see with this telescope. I'm not expecting
hubble like pictures but I thought at least i'd be able to see
something nice.

I tried the higher lense and the image was blurry and using the barlow
lense with the 20mm lense gave me the same results.

I'd like to get into this hobby but it will be years before I can
afford a decent telescope. I was just hoping this one would at least
give me something to look at until then.

So what should I be able to see with el'cheapo?


You should be able to see most of the Messier objects along with some
others Messier did not find. :-) The major planets should be reasonable
and interesting.

It would seem to me that you need more beginner information. There are a
number of good books and web pages that can help. Hopefully several
recommendations will be posted. Bushnell is not all that bad. I have a
60mm Bushnell optical tube assembly (OTA) that I bought for some purpose
or another and it happens to be pretty good - nice views of the moon and
planets but quite limited for dim objects.

BTW, my first telescope was one I built 45 years ago using a 4.25"
mirror from Edmund Scientific. All I could afford was Ramsden eyepieces.
The telescope showed me enough that my next was an 8" completed over 40
years ago using instructions from Jean Texereau's fantastic book.

Chuck
--
... The times have been,
That, when the brains were out,
the man would die. ... Macbeth
Chuck Simmons
  #3  
Old July 15th 03, 04:26 PM
Phil Wheeler
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default What can I expect to see with this telescope?

Dave wrote:
Hey all,

My wife recent bought me a 4.5" reflactor Bushnell telescope and i'm
just curious as what I should expect to be able to see. I looked at
the moon and it was ok, not as impressive as I thought it would be.

Last night, I pointed it what I thought was mars. (15-20degrees east
[to the left ] of the moon. This was about 1am and i'm in Ottawa,
Canada. I used the 20mm lense and honestly couldn't tell if it was
mars or not.


Likely it was. Did it show a disk at least?


Now I know what most of you think about these cheap telescopes, so
please, don't go there. What i'm curious to know, is what should I
expect to be able to see with this telescope. I'm not expecting
hubble like pictures but I thought at least i'd be able to see
something nice.


Mars is a difficult target. You need good conditions for any detail to
show with the best of optics. Early morning (e.g., 0400-0530 local
time) seems to be a good time for me to see Mars now. Even so, it takes
practice to really start to see .. and good, stable atmospheres.

Since the moon is available now, try your scope on its terminator where
the sunlight's shadows highlight craters and such. Jupiter will also be
a good target .. but it is not available now.

Phil

  #4  
Old July 15th 03, 05:03 PM
Davoud
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default What can I expect to see with this telescope?

In the earliest days of telescopes, much fine work was done with
'scopes that were far inferior to the one that you have. One can buy at
WalMart a better 'scope than the one with which Galileo discovered
Jupiter's moons. Patience and a steady mount will be rewarded.

Davoud

*****

Dave:

Hey all,

My wife recent bought me a 4.5" reflactor Bushnell telescope and i'm
just curious as what I should expect to be able to see. I looked at
the moon and it was ok, not as impressive as I thought it would be.

Last night, I pointed it what I thought was mars. (15-20degrees east
[to the left ] of the moon. This was about 1am and i'm in Ottawa,
Canada. I used the 20mm lense and honestly couldn't tell if it was
mars or not.

Now I know what most of you think about these cheap telescopes, so
please, don't go there. What i'm curious to know, is what should I
expect to be able to see with this telescope. I'm not expecting
hubble like pictures but I thought at least i'd be able to see
something nice.

I tried the higher lense and the image was blurry and using the barlow
lense with the 20mm lense gave me the same results.

I'd like to get into this hobby but it will be years before I can
afford a decent telescope. I was just hoping this one would at least
give me something to look at until then.

So what should I be able to see with el'cheapo?


--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com
  #5  
Old July 15th 03, 10:52 PM
PrisNo6
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default What can I expect to see with this telescope?

(Dave) wrote in message . com...

My wife recent bought me a 4.5" reflactor Bushnell telescope and i'm
just curious as what I should expect to be able to see. [snip] I'd like to
get into this hobby but it will be years before I can
afford a decent telescope. I was just hoping this one would at least
give me something to look at until then. So what should I be able to see
with el'cheapo?


Presently, there is full Moon and most of the sky is washed out. Few
of objects discussed below will be easily visible (if at all) until
the new Moon later this month. The next "dark sky" window, after the
new Moon, is around July 28. Watch your newspaper or find a lunar
calendar on the web to identify these new-Moon "dark sky" windows.
That's the best time to plan for a backyard astronomy night. If
possible, drive as far away from a city as your (or your wife's)
tolerance for staying up late (or until the next morning) will allow.

In the meantime, concentrate on getting ready for the next dark sky
window by ---

Recently, another in this group recommended the following to me for a
programmed list of objects for beginning backyard astronomers. It's a
kids book, but as a beginning adult observer, I found the list of
programmed objects in the appendix one of the best guides for beginner
wanting a list of thinks to look at:

Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small
Telescope--and How to Find Them
by Guy Consolmagno (Author), Dan M. Davis (Author), Karen Kotash Sepp,
Anne Drogin, Mary Lynn Skirvin
Hardcover: 224 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.85 x 11.14 x 8.86
Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr (Trd); 3nd edition (November 2000)
ISBN: 0521781906

Price: about $25, or borrow it from your local library.

Also download and install the outstanding free planetarium,
star-chart-printing software at:

Carte de Ciel:
http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html

or use the online-sky chart calculator at:

http://www.fourmilab.to/yoursky/

to print view and print star charts.

Good beginner objects (for binoculars, small telescope objects and
medium sized refractors like your 4.5") along the summer galactic
spine (the Milky Way) between Sagittarius through Scutum (from the
horizon to up to about 40 degrees), for a North American summer
observer, include:

M7 Ptolemy's open cluster (a very near open cluster). Between
Scoripus and Sagittarius (the "teapot") at the south horizon in
summer.

M22 Globular cluster (a far but bright globular cluster). It is the
fuzzy ball just north-east of the top star in the "lid" of Sagittarius
"teapot" figure at the south horizon.

-- Large Sagittarius star cloud (8-10 degree naked-eye object in
good dark skies, but very interesting to scan with binoculars). The
Large Sagittarius star cloud is really the bottom of the galactic core
sticking out beneath the dark clouds of the next galactic arm in from
our Orion galactic arm. The Large Sagittarius star cloud sits on top
of the "spout" of the Sagittarus "teapot" and extends up to Lagoon
Nebulae, M8 discussed below, to the north and west. To get an idea of
what to look for, go to and look for the bright patch sitting on top
of the Sagittarius "teapot spout" at:
http://canopus.physik.uni-potsdam.de/~axm/mwpan_vr.html

-- Dark nebulae in the Large Sagittarius cloud area (two tubular
pitch black clouds lead off the Large Sagittarius star cloud, north
west into Ophiuchus.) In good dark skies, you can follow these with
your binoculars. They are pitch black dark clouds surrounding and
obscuring the bright galactic core from our view. They are
distinguishable from the relatively lighter but still "dark"
background by their rich inky-pitch-blackness. To get an idea of what
to look for, go to:
http://www.allthesky.com/constellati.../constell.html (Press
the button "Mark deep sky objects" and look for the dark tubular cloud
labeled the "Pipe Nebulae".)

M8 Lagoon Nebula (it will look tiny in 35mm binoculars, but is
visible. There is a small open cluster right next to it, in your
line-of-sight, but in 3-dimensions, located some distance in front of
the Lagoon.)

M21 Open cluster

M24 Small Sagittarius star patch cloud (a hole in a galactic
arm's cloud bank revealing the bright galactic core that is densely
packed with stars).

M28 Globular cluster

-- Scutum star cloud (another hole in the galactic arm's cloud bank
revealing the bright arm inside of the next galactic arm closer to the
Milky Way's core). A photograph, to give you an idea what to look for,
is at:
http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/scutum/ (Press the button
"Mark the Deep Sky Objects". The Scutum star cloud will be marked.)

-- Dark nebulae around the Scutum star cloud (seen at the
southern end of the Scutum star patch cloud.) Look for extraordinarily
inky-black clouds against the bright background of the Scutum star
patch.

To see greatly enlarged pictures (as compared to what you will see in
your binoculars) of the Messier "M" objects discussed above (so you
know what to look for), go to:
http://www.seds.org/messier/data2.html

The following link is to a photographic panorama of the galaxy that
may be of help in getting oriented to the Sagittarius to Scutum to
Aquila to Cygnus night sky:
http://canopus.physik.uni-potsdam.de/~axm/mwpan_vr.html

A few other good beginner objects for binoculars and small scopes,
assuming a summer North American location, include:

Antares alpha Scorpius - a bright red colored star - name means
"rival to Ares" or "rival to Mars", a red colored planet visible in
the southeast after 1 am (A.D. 2003).

Albireo beta Cygnus - a double star that appears bright reddish
yellow.

del eps Ophi delta and epsilon Ophiuchus - two orange stars that make
up the right-hand of Ophiuchus that grasps the body of the Serpent's
head (Serpen Caput).

Arcturus alpha Bootes - a bright golden yellow star - name means
"bear-keeper" referring to Bootes, the herdsperson, herding the bears,
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Vega alpha Lyra - a bright blue-white star - name means "swooping
vulture" in Arabic and refers to an animal killed by Hercules in one
of the "Tweleve Labours of Hercules" Greek myths.

Altair alpha Aquila - a bright white star - name means "eagle" in
Arabic, same as the constellation name, Aquila, in Greek. Another
animal dispatched by the Hercules in the "Tweleve Labours of Hercules"
Greek myth.

16-17 Draco An easy binary to split with large binoculars. Moderately
difficult to "split" with 35mm's binos. The constellation "Draco"
means "dragon." It refers to Ladon, a dragon, and another unfortunate
animal also dispatched by the ever-busy Hercules during one of his
"Tweleve Labours" myths, while stealing apples from earth-goddess
Gaea's apple-tree.

zet-80 UMa zeta Ursa Major and 80 Ursa Major. Zeta Ursa Major is a
named star - "Mizar" which means "horse" in Arabic. These are the
second to last stars in the handle of the Big Dipper. Mizar's
companion, 80 UMa, also is a named star - "Alcor" which means "rider"
in Arabic. These two binary stars are separated by about 11.75
arcmins. (An arcminute is 1/60 of a degree.) It is a good test
object to get a feel for how big things are when seen through your
binoculars.

-- Perseus-Cassiopeia double open-clusters. (Far in the north in
the early morning after 1am.) Good example of two clusters that are
very far away. Compare their size to M7 - also known as Ptolemy's
open cluster, a much closer open cluster.

M13 Great Hercules globular cluster. (Hercules is high in the
northwest.) Compare to the M22 globular cluster in Scorpius.

-- The Milky Way galactic core (south horizon) with the Orion
galactic arm of the Milky Way sweeping over your head to the
north-north-east horizon. Best northern view in the galaxy!

M31 Andromeda Galaxy (rises over the north east horizon after 1:00
am.) A fuzzy ball in 35mm's binos, but still light from a fuzzy ball
that left our closet neighbor galaxy, 4 1/2 million years ago, when
some lemurs in Africa got the idea to evolve into homo sapiens.

Various parts of the Milky Way galaxy are visible during each of the
four seasons. Currently, the Milky Way between Sagittarius (south
horizon) to Cygnus (overhead) to Cassiopeia (north-northeast horizon)
is visible.

The book _Left Turn at Orion_ has good explanation of learning how to
determine the field-of-view for your scope using various eyepieces
(low, middle and high) that probably came with your scope.

One of your first tasks as a beginner is to learn "how big", "how
bright" and "where" things are in the night sky. A typical field of
view through the eyepiece for a 4" scope with the mid-power eyepiece,
is, I believe, about 1 to 1 1/2 degrees. This is how much of the sky,
in degrees, that you see when you look through your scope. It is
useful number to know. You can relate that field-of-view size to the
angular distances between stars on your star chart.

The angular distances in the night sky can be estimated using your
fingers and hands:

Table of angular distance estimates:

width of index nail at arm's length: 1 degree
1st-2nd knuckles of clenched fist at arm's length: 3 degrees
2nd-4th knuckles of clenched fist at arm's length: 5 degrees
1st-4th knuckles of clenched fist at arm's length: 8 degrees
span of open hand at arm's length: 18 degrees
two clenched fists, end-to-end, at arm's length: 30 degrees

Adapted from Sedwigk's Amateur Astronomer's Handbook at p. 522.

Again, presently, there is full Moon and most of the sky is washed
out. Few of above objects will be easily visible (if at all) until
the new Moon later around July 28.

In the meantime, concentrate on locating the above objects on your
start charts, or through an online star chart like:

http://www.fourmilab.to/yoursky/

which will allow you to print a horizon star chart for your city.

The "Your Sky" site also includes point-and-click features to print
star charts to find all of the Messier "M" objects and the named-stars
mentioned above:

http://www.fourmilab.to/yoursky/cata...atalogues.html

Enjoy - Kurt
  #6  
Old July 17th 03, 12:18 AM
Al Arduengo
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default What can I expect to see with this telescope?

(Dave) writes:

Hey all,

My wife recent bought me a 4.5" reflactor Bushnell telescope and i'm
just curious as what I should expect to be able to see. I looked at
the moon and it was ok, not as impressive as I thought it would be.

Last night, I pointed it what I thought was mars. (15-20degrees east
[to the left ] of the moon. This was about 1am and i'm in Ottawa,
Canada. I used the 20mm lense and honestly couldn't tell if it was
mars or not.

Now I know what most of you think about these cheap telescopes, so
please, don't go there. What i'm curious to know, is what should I
expect to be able to see with this telescope. I'm not expecting
hubble like pictures but I thought at least i'd be able to see
something nice.

I tried the higher lense and the image was blurry and using the barlow
lense with the 20mm lense gave me the same results.

I'd like to get into this hobby but it will be years before I can
afford a decent telescope. I was just hoping this one would at least
give me something to look at until then.

So what should I be able to see with el'cheapo?

Thanks


Many folks will suggest things that look nice for you to start with but
it is also important that you understand what you see. If you know
nothing about astronomy except the Hubble pics you see on tv, you will
be disappointed for sure. But, if you get a good book like "Turn Left at
Orion", "Backyard Astronomy", "Seeing in the Dark" or "Celestial
Delights", you can develop a sense of the sheer magnitude of the objects
that your 4.5" can see (which are many!). When you look upon M13 and
gaze at it while at the same time understanding *what* you are looking
at as well as how far it is away and how many stars there are, it can be
breathtaking. Wait until M42 is visible during good hours again. I
always stare at that for a while even now. Likely you will have that
one object you remember for years and will always be your favorite. M42
and M31 are those for me.

The point I am trying to make is that amateur astronomy is not something
that you can appreciate immediately just by looking through a
telescope. You will appreciate it much more and the love will last much
longer if you allow yourself to read some books, browse the endless
wealth of web pages and study the sky naked eye for a while until you
can name a few constellations, stars etc with no aids.

When you are ready to start perusing the heavens with your scope, don't
use the high magnification eyepieces. Use the longest focal length one
you have (at least 20mm, preferrably 35-40mm) to really appreciate the
beautiful objects out there. And when you find something in the field
of view, look at it for a long time - take it in. The longer you look
the more you will begin to see. If you really fall in love with the sky,
all the time away from home, expensive equipment etc will come in due
time. Trust me.... I along with most other folks here have experienced
it.

Good luck, happy reading, and Clear Dark Skies to you!

Regards,
-Al A.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
World's Single Largest Telescope Mirror Moves To The LBT Ron Baalke Technology 0 November 11th 03 09:16 AM
World's Single Largest Telescope Mirror Moves To The LBT Ron Baalke Astronomy Misc 6 November 5th 03 10:27 PM
Lowell Observatory and Discovery Communications Announce Partnership To Build Innovative Telescope Technology Ron Baalke Astronomy Misc 0 October 16th 03 06:17 PM
Lowell Observatory and Discovery Communications Announce Partnership To Build Innovative Telescope Technology Ron Baalke Technology 0 October 16th 03 06:17 PM
World's Largest Astronomical CCD Camera Installed On Palomar Observatory Telescope Ron Baalke Science 0 July 29th 03 08:54 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:06 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.