Hi everyone!
I am looking for a gift for a friend and I do not know anything about telescopes. I only know that it is supposed to be used to observe galaxies (reflecting telescope?). Budget is around $ 900. Can anyone help me choose something good?
This is my first ever telescope. I apologize if I am a complete noob, figuring things out as I go. I recently acquired a older meade reflecting telescope. Did a bunch of research and successfully collimated it. Looked at the moon got a decent view. https://i.imgur.com/H6jHAEq.jpg
What I have is a Meade DS-114 Reflecting Telescope. It's a cheap mostly made of plastic construction from 2000. Even so it's a decent telescope. This webpage was the most detail I could find on this thing. https://www.oocities.org/zososcope/
online manual https://www.meade.com/pub/media/downloads/48/01_DS-114ATmanualfinal.pdf
Anyways I have a few questions.
Q1. It came with a #492 Autostar Hand Controller. Was wondering where I could possibly buy a newer more up-to-date controller that would be compatible with mine. The few I have found are expensive.
Q2. It has a few ports on the tripod stand. I was curious if it is possible to connect it to a computer through the AUX port. I can't find any reliable information about this port and what it is specifically used for. Was hoping to just buy some cable to connect it to a pc.
Q3. And for my last question. I want to replace the focuser with a all metal one. Adjusting the one it currently has is awful. how do I figure out what would be a compatible focuser and where I could even find one.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I eventually plan on buying a newer telescope but for now this old dobsonian is my baby.
https://preview.redd.it/he90wmawxec61.jpg?width=2332&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9151f1d7e39e85b73a98ad44d5ac7aec12a7402
So I've always been into stargazing and have recently gotten my first scope (about six months ago, refracting). Since then I've gotten more into telescopes and decided I'd like to try a reflecting telescope (I've been having issues seeing planets). So I read some suggestions on some other posts and was going to get the Orion funscope Astro dazzle 114mm, but decided to go with the Celestron 21045 114mm. I figured an extra $20 is worth the extra focal length. The other big difference is that it is on an equatorial mount instead of the traditional dobsonian mount (altazimuth?). So I guess my question is, was this a mistake? Will the mount be a problem?
I would really appreciate your help on this one guys/gals. I use to have a 4 inch refractive telescope and it was awesome. My parents just got me my first 10inch reflecting dobsonian telescope (Celestron Sky watcher). We set it up, put all the parts together, took it outside at night, waited a half an hour, pointed it at Jupiter, and all I saw was a big blob. It was not focusing. No matter what I did, it wouldn't focus. Do I need to collimate the primary mirror? I mean, looking I use the view finder and pointed it at Jupiter, and when I look through my eye piece (25mm) all I saw was a big bright blob that would not come to a focus, and the shadow of my secondary mirror with the 4 arms. What's going on? Any help would be appreciated.
My setup: http://i.imgur.com/fqDoTVe.jpg
I've always wondered this about telescope designs that place a mirror in the path of the incoming light (e.g. the Newtonian telescope). Doesn't the mirror (and whatever is being used to hold it in the middle of the telescope) block some of the incoming light from reaching the viewpiece? Would this show up as a black space on the observed image, or is there some way of compensating for it?
Not a physicist, but I think this holds up...probably with a few flaws. Would love to have some knowledgeable folks chime in.
E.g. would require mind blowing technology, there is a possibility of photons being obstructed by some other object, data loss over time, etc.
I think it is an interesting thought experiment. A neat way to think about life after death.
Hi there, I've just received a gift of a disused reflecting telescope. The mirrors are quite dirty, the lower one looking like it's covered in splotches.
I want to clean these mirrors, but of the various methods shown online there seems to be a certain amount of disagreement and discussion in the comment sections as to the correct way to do it - causing the least amount of abrasion to the surface and the least amount of residue/dust on the mirrors by the end.
So, can anyone point me towards a resource that has the correct way to do it? Thanks in advance!
I have a general understanding of the advantages of reflecting telescopes over refracting telescopes, however I want to know more about the details and the history behind them.
From the sources I've read, there are two main reasons why reflectors are used over refractors:
- Its easier to physically construct large reflectors, because its easier to support a mirror compared to a lens, and its easier to make large mirrors compared to large lenses
- Different wavelengths of light refract at different angles (chromatic aberration)
So I'm wondering:
- Are these indeed the two main reasons why reflectors are used over refractors?
- When Newton first made reflectors, was it primarily to solve the chromatic aberration problem and not a problem with the physical construction of large refractors?
- Where did the "problem" of physically constructing large refractor telescopes come from in the first place?
After looking into a lot of information about refractors vs reflectors, the more I think the physical problem of building large refractors isn't really much of a problem at all. Once source even claimed they couldnt make large lenses hundreds of years ago because the glass would distort due to its own weight??
Because if this is theoretically possible, I'm going to do it when I'm mega-rich one day. Maybe the platform would need eyepieces installed to view the image properly but I still feel like this should work.
Hello all, this past summer I received a Newtonian reflecting telescope that my grandfather built. It needs some tlc, and I was hoping I could find some info on where to source parts, mirrors, lenses, etc. It is 5'.5" long and 9.25" diameter. Full of old spiderwebs and looks like the mirror is weathered significantly, as well one of the lenses on the side scope is cracked. Also I'm not positive but it may be missing the eye piece. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
