I received an Orion 120ST Astroview telescope several years ago. Now that I'm retired I finally have a chance to spend some time viewing the night sky. Your series was an excellent stepping off point for me. Thank You !
You're welcome Frederich, so glad my videos helped! I also make regular videos on how to find things in the night sky, and have 4 seasonal playlists of objects I have highlighted over the years to assist people with starhopping to great objects to observe. I hope you'll check those out too!
My wife bought a telescope for my kids. She opened the box and said "I don't get it, fix it". Needless to say your videos are a HUGE help. My kids love it and they want to go out everynight. It has helped to give my family a fun activity where we can learn and be together. I can't thank you enough for all the information.
Thank you so much for putting this 6-part series. This is a great starter-pack for someone who wants to buy a telescope. Gathered a lot of helpful information!
You're very welcome! I make regular videos on how to find things in the night sky too - my most recent ones are the Ghost of Jupiter nebula and three colorful double stars in Leo / Leo Minor.
Thank you for the very kind compliment - I appreciate it. I do have quite a few ideas for some intermediate videos, and perhaps some very basic astrophotography (I'm not very good at that, honestly), but I need to take a break from the shooting / editing / writing for a bit. It was a lot of work putting these ones together.
David, this was one excellent series. Both in terms of the content and presentation. I can't express how much I appreciate this. Really loved the way you end every video with " So we can see whats up!" :) Thank you
Thanks so much for these very helpful videos. Very clear and concise presentation. I am a newbie to stargazing but feel more educated after watching this series.
david I loved watching your films here on UA-cam you have helped me immensely as I take my first steps into the world of stargazing. Thank you for taking the time and effort to post these films.
This series is amazing! A must watch for anybody looking to buy there first telescope. All episodes 1 to 6 are highly informative and have helped me to summarize the best deal for my first decent focusing telescope =D Tyvm David! Champ! Eyes to the skys, Hi^5's!! =D
Thank you so much for the kind compliments. I made these for exactly that reason; to provide a good overview of the basics of what major types of telescopes and equipment is out there, and how to know the basics of using it.
Thank you for this series, as I have been contemplaing a telescope purchase for my nephew and want to get the best "bang for the buck" in optics and this series has made the variables easy to understand and my decision the easier, as well.
Gosh this series was awesome. I hope some day you do an intermediate series for people who may be interested in getting into basic AP or whatever else is considered "intermediate".
It is awesome series of video clips. I watched all of them, short and nice. I like all the formulas (magnification, focal ratio, etc) which make me better understanding of to buy a good telescope. Thanks for the great effort.
Hi again, I wonder whether what is the advantage and disadvantage of SEBEN 1000-114mm telescope according to your knowledge and experience. I will attached the weblink herewith. I already place the order for this telescope. weblink: shop.seben.com/sms/shop/index.php?action=products&jump=8 I am looking forward to your response.
Sisira Kumara Hi there again. I have never used that telescope brand or model before, so I do not have any insight to offer you about it specifically. My apologies. Generally speaking though, a 114 mm aperture mirror is a good starting point, and can gather enough light even in light polluted areas to show quite a lot. The 1000mm focal length will make it challenging to get wider fields of view, but achieving somewhat higher magnifications to view the Moon and planets should not be too difficult. Hope that helps.
Thank you for the comment indeed. I hope to use SEBEN 1000-114EQ to Astrophotography. I hope that I can get better images of far distance stars and planets. Thanks you again for the reply.
Thanks so much for making these, great explanations for all the concepts, easy to understand and enough content to be able to find more in depth information.I have a five year old interested in planets so I bought a 70mm'900mm length refractor to get us started, and now I have a much better understanding about how to use it and have some fun with it :) We're gonna have to watch these a few times to really cement int info!! :)
Excellent video, very informative and helpful. Just bought myself a SkyWatcher 200P and was not 100% sure on how to align the main scope with the finder (first scope I've used in over 20 years). Will definitely be checking out your other videos.
Oh wow thank goodness I found this now, before I missed the alignment of the planets tonight. The information I had gotten last time made me understand and do this differently which probably means I did it wrong. Guess il find out now. Thank you 😊
Thanks blobrana. Yes, in some of my very short focal length reflectors or refractors, I can use a long focal length eyepiece and find objects by aiming the tube in the right direction, then doing a slow "pan and scan." But finderscopes are almost always easier to use for locating objects. I too like a decent 6x30, though recently I find it useful to use a 9x50 in many cases, even on a 90mm refractor.
I have one of those cheap Tasco refractor scopes from the 90s, the FS actually comes all the way out with 3 alignment screws in a 10, 2 and 6 oclock radius in the arm coming out of the scope tube. I wasn't sure if it worked best with the FS held by one end or the other or middle. I really need to get one of those 6x30 ones you mentioned during the vid. Thank you so much for doing these vids. Very informative and love the website.
Nice, short yet detailed explanation videos of the bare basics of telescopes. Kudos! I bought my dad a telescope (Orion XT8i) for Christmas and I will surely have him watch these videos to get up to speed. The one thing I would recommend however is to maybe add a 7th video on lenses&filters that goes into a little more detail on what you might purchase to add to your telescope's power and abilities. Given that most beginner/started scopers will surely point their scope at the moon I deem it essential to point out that a moonfilter is a MUST to get good contrast and clear views (assuming any decently sized aperture).
I hade a hard time with the alignment of my telescopes , and really didn,t understand it to well! This video helped me alot ty very much, a very clear explaination of the subject! A very good website ! ty David.:)
Thank you so much for your series. I watched all 6 parts and you really gave me a much clearer understanding of telescopes then before I started. Your series has helped me tremendously in purchasing my first telescope.
+Pinballpete007 I am glad these videos helped! I'll be making some "How to find great objects in the night sky" videos again soon - I hope you'll consider subscribing to this channel and checking those out.
Thank you, Mr. Fuller. These presentations are MOST helpful and MUCH appreciated. Through the years, friends involved with government have told me that: for every person who bothers to make contact (with a rep's office) and express an opinion - by phone, letter, email, etc. - it can be safely assumed (there are actual, established formulae for figuring these trends) that several more WOULD have done so (provided they hadn't been busy, thoughtless, lazy, retarded, etc., etc.). In short - what I am saying is that, "These presentations are MOST helpful and MUCH appreciated!" THANK you, David, for being so deliberately GENEROUS with the information you share with your public. I often look to you for answers. I LOVE astronomy - but I lean on you for a lot of direction (as do the majority of your viewers who simply haven't found the time to say as much). Given my schedule, and lacking this easily accessible guidance, I know I would not have pursued using my telescope to the point I have. I have to laugh a bit when I watch the credits floating by at the end of your videos. It underscores the truth, that - if you really believe in something, you will do whatever it takes to achieve that. At least in that determination, you and I have something in common. Bottom line, though: THANK YOU (from me and a whole CHORUS of silent people).
Dave Merrick That is incredibly kind, generous and thoughtful of you Dave. Thank you so much for the wonderful compliments you took the time to write here; they are very much appreciated. Clear and dark skies!
In these videos Mr Fuller has packed a wealth of incredibly useful information in the simplest language possible. I really did not notice the credits, but after reading the comment above I went back to the video. ...and had a laugh too! My respects and a big thank you
Hi Ray, I'm not sure I entirely understand your first question, so I'll do my best. I would say start with the finderscope centered in both rings of the mount, and then leave one set of thumbscrews alone, and only adjust the other - say, the ones closer to the finderscope eyepiece. This reduces the confusion of which screw to turn to get things aligned, as you will only have to deal with three instead of six. Starting at top/bottom doesn't really matter. I hope I answered that for you...?
Ha! Not a problem; constructive criticism is always well-received by me. I did seriously consider discussing exit pupil, but decided against it because I felt it was one-step too far for beginners. That's really more of an intermediate step as far as understanding how to observe; I just wanted to cover the very basics that most beginners tend to ask as initial questions, or would benefit from understanding from starting out. :-)
I do have some ideas for some intermediate videos, but I probably won't do much for astrophotography (mostly because I'm not very good at it). Problem is, they take A LOT of extra time to make, and I have to do them in-between making my regular weekly videos. I usually wind up making these 'extra' ones while on vacation. The more people who sponsor and donate to my efforts the more I can work to make these extra ones. I do have three more I'll be uploading soon though.
Thank you for these videos, you have helped me to understand things that many people have explained in writing but I couldn't get a grasp of what was written; I learn better when shown or when someone explains in person... it's something to do with my dyslexia. Do you still make videos?
Great series of vids, thank you! It might be a good idea, though, to point out to STAY AWAY FROM THE SUN while using the telescope during daytime. It never hurts to remind it, especially to newby :)
Jim, I certainly prefer optical finders myself, given the light pollution around me and most places I go to observe. But many manufacturers are opting to include RDF's on new/beginner scopes. I tend to think this is a small step in the right direction, given how bad most 5x24 finders were. It's not a perfect solution; a 6x30 correct-image finder on every new scope would be my preference, but that would cost more than an RDF too.
Hi Debi - if it is difficult for you to bend over to look through the finder, you may want to look for what is called a "right angle finder." This let you look down into the finder eyepiece much like a star diagonal allows in a refractor telescope. I don't know anything about the ioptron twinstar, so I can't recommend anything specific. Try asking in the beginner sections of one of the online astronomy forums. Very helpful folks in those sites.
Hello! Awesome video, i just bought a Saxon 767AZ telescope! And i'm fairly happy, tho i have a huge issue.. The finder scope is just showing white/dark at night or darker objects things
Hi David, Your series is really good for an armature like me, it helped me to understand the basics very well. Kudos to you for making understanding such an easy job. I am planning to buy Celestron SkyProdigy 6 as my first telescope. I want to observe deep space with good quality view. Can you please suggest me on same, weather with this telescope will I be able to view deep space and with what combination of Eye piece. Thanks.
Good advice. Or, use the force, Look....through a very low magnification eyepiece. I sometimes can use a 40mm with a 'fast' telescope to locate very dim objects. But a fan of the 6 x 30 myself.
Ty very much for this video , i,m just starting out with astromony, i hade just got a telescope, and eyepieces,and when i looked up for the first time,the stars where like diamonds, it was breath taking ! I got a star blast 4.5 telescope from orion, for starting out! a good telescope , and starting eyepiece set with the filters! i am having a little trouble with using the star chat !the directions have me confused!
Hey! Nice video series, it helped me a lot when I started stargazing with my telescope. You should do more of these 'tutorial' videos, if you find the time. I wanted to ask, how do you take pictures with you telescope? I have a AC 90/1000 EQ-2, and about half a dozen of EPs that I use to star (or Planet, or moon) gaze. For me to take good pictures of celestial bodies, I use an 1,25' to T2 adapter, and then use a T2 to NX adapter(because I have a Samsung NX camera). within these adapters I can place an EP, but not all of them. Actually only my 25mm Plössel EP, as all the other ones are either too fat, or have a too small apparent field of view. I am planning on spending a few nights Jupiter gazing in the coming weeks, as we are pulling up to it. The 25mm EP just does not deliver enough magnification. I could use a Barlow Lens to compensate, but I only have a long (pretty cheap, as it came with my telescope) 2x Barlow. This pushes my optics further from the centre of mass of my telescope, and seems to put a lot of torque on my telescope. But even IF that would help with the magnification, I would still have the problem of getting Jupiter into the field of view long enough to take a few pictures. As jupiter is moving rather fast at this magnification (yes yes, its the earth's rotation, I mean relatively) Getting it in frame long enough, having to use a faster shutter speed would probably make the image too dark. What would you recommend would be the best way for me to improve my setup? Getting a motor for my telescope could help with it, but I am afraid of investing in a motor and then having it shake so much that the image will be blurry. I don't have/don't use rubber pads for my tripod. When I was Jupiter gazing about a year ago, I used a 6mm Plössel and a LE 5mm, and I could already see vibrations from people that were walking around me. Keeping still helps, but would a motor not create vibrations? I imagine that the high end mounts don't vibrate at all, but as I am on a budget, it seems unlikely. The Astro-equipment online store of my choice offers mounts like the Skywatcher NEQ-3 Pro SynScan, that would set me back around 500€. thats far more expensive than my scope itself. And cheaper motor only solutions that would only cost around 40€ seem very flimsy. Would upgrading to a better scope do the trick? I did have my eye on a Reflector for some time, and it has the option of a GoTo motor for a fee. It seems to be more price effective. But in normal use I am perfectly happy with manually adjusting my EQ mount. Thank you for any input in advance, and keep your lights pointed down, and your eyes on the sky :)
Strolling around in the online store, I came across SWA, UWA, and XWA EP's, If I find one with the right dimensions to fit in my adapters, it might solve the magnification problem.
I've had my Meade Infinity 102 refractory telescope with red dot finder for 3 weeks and could not get it to find anything in the sky. I have tried to find out how to align the finder with the telescope itself to no avail...until now. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Tomorrow I go out in the daylight to find something I can point my red dot at to align my telescope with. That was the missing piece I had been searching for.
Eyes on the Sky I was able to align the red dot finder and I am enjoying the big lights in the sky every clear night. Hopefully, I learn more, I will be able to move on to the dimmer star clusters eventually. Anyway, I wanted you to know I'm doing great!
The problem I have with red dot finders is since I have astigmatism the dot is looks scattered for me. I have a go to telescope and I’m looking for a different finder. Might try the the magnified version with a cross hair.
Either way you'll want to wear corrective lenses for your eyes. The stars and bright planets won't be pinpoints either (ust like the red dot) if you're astigmatic.
Question about aligning a magnifing FS. Is it better when aligning it to have it sitting in the middle of the arm that holds it away from the 'scope, near the eyepiece end or near the front where the lens is? Should you start aligning with the bottom screw first and work around or start with the top screws and work down?
I bought a 60 AZ refractor celestron telescope online . I used the finder to spot the star but when I saw it in lens I could not see anything. I have just started astronomy and do not know much.
David, I'm new to astronomy and just bought my first telescope. Although my questions may be a bit silly, I am having trouble with the red dot finder... and the manual is a bit vague. 1) Both eyes open or one eye closed?! The manual instructs both eyes to be open while aligning the finderscope and material I've found online agrees--taking it so far as recommending both eyes open while looking through the main tube as well. However, for me, trying to do this while aligning the finderscope has proven different if not impossible due to the imperfections of human vision. For instance, vision doubles, red dots lose focus, etc. 2) Where, exactly, should you position yourself for looking through the finderscope? A serious flaw seems to come up with the red dot technique; the object which is being used to align moves drastically relative to the eye given even the slightest movements (more so when using a star to align, as suggested in the manual, than terrestrial alignment). Even when I try to align my eye to the circumference of the red dot scope tube, it is still unclear from what distance my eye should be to the finderscope. I am trying not to over complicate things, but this is by far the thing which has given me the most trouble. Also, it is nearly impossible to use the telescope without the finder aligned. Thanks
Hi Will, What telescope do you have? The red dot finders I have used - both some generic ones, and ones from Orion telescopes - I think I use mostly by closing my left eye, and sighting with my right eye. I tend to position my eye about 3 to 4 inches or so behind the red dot finder. When I can see the red dot and a bit of sky around it, I am in the proper position to be able to move the telescope and find a target. The red dot should not appear to move with respect to the background even if your head changes position slightly. It should follow objects in the sky as you move the scope - if it doesn't do this, I wonder if there is a flaw in the finder design.
couple years late, but what the hay. i use a red dot sight for paintball (recently got into astronomy) and i've noticed that to use an RDS, you have to focus your eye on the target in the distance, not on the glass aperture of the sight. doing so will make it out of focus and blurry
I don't have much astrophotography equipment. I did a little bit back in the "old days" of film astrophotography, and spent a lot of money and didn't get much. I get a few shots here and there using a camera at the eyepiece of very bright objects, and the occasional "piggyback" shots, but I honestly know very little about advanced "through the telescope" astrophotography. That is one area I don't know much about... sorry!
Ok I went to replace the finder scope and didn't know there was washers on the inside of the tube assembly holding the mount on.. I got them out ok but don't have a clue how to get the washers back in. Do I need a special tool to reach inside? It is a refractor telescope by the way.
I'm using an Orion 9x50 right-angle correct image finder with an EZ Finder II (RDF that came with my scope) stuck to it using double-sided tape. The whole solution cost less than $100. The RDF lets me find bright stars really quickly, and then I can star hop with the 9x50, and the correct-image makes it much easier to use in conjunction with my sky atlas. Personally, I find that a good finder scope is a necessity for finding galaxies and Messier objects that aren't naked-eye visible.
Hi! I'm new at stargazing and I bought a "Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ MD". This morning, my dad and I tried to look at Jupiter. We could see it aligned through the finderscope, but when we looked through the eyepiece, we saw nothing. It took us a long time to find it using only the eyepiece, since using the finderscope didn't work. We saw it well using a 13mm eyepiece, but we wanted to see it closer. We attached a 6mm eyepiece with the barlow lens and we could see nothing. We couldn't even find Jupiter using that eyepiece. We could see it well using a 13mm eyepiece and we centered it in the eyepiece view, but when it came to attach the 6mm and barlow lens eyepiece, we couldn't even find it. ;( What did we do wrong?
+Natalia S. Hi - first, you have to be sure that the finderscope is aligned with the main telescope. Do it during the day as this video demonstrates. Next, when you used a barlow and a higher magnification eyepiece, remember that you are vastly narrowing your field of view. Try going from the 13mm eyepiece, centering Jupiter, then the 6mm without a barlow. Then recenter before adding the barlow. You may also have to stay slightly "ahead" of the Earth's rotation - look for which way the planet moves, and turn your slow motion controls to account for this while you add the barlow and refocus. Make sure your mount is properly aligned too - I have a video on how to align an equatorial mount as well, in case you don't know how to do that: ua-cam.com/video/plx6XXDgf2E/v-deo.html Hope that helps!
+Natalia S. Eyes on the Sky has it right. At lower magnifications, there's a wider area of the sky in view which may show the target object. but when you switch to higher power, the area seen drastically decreases in width (aperture), and if the object isn't very close to the center of the view, it may end up outside the (narrower) field. Also, like he says, the time it takes for changing eyepieces may allow the object to drift out of view as the earth constantly rotates. You want to get familiar with how to work the slow-motion controls to keep the object in view, and use them to move the scope "ahead" just before changing eyepieces. Another thing is to avoid coming into contact with the finderscope once it is aligned with the main scope. Even some of the better finders have enough looseness in their mounting to move out of alignment if touched, bumped, or handled.The cheaper ones are even more sensitive. Go to the observing site, set up the scope and do the leveling, finder alignment, and collimation by daylight, then do the polar alignment when you can see the north star. As you may imagine, this can take some time, so get out early to get a head start on the procedures. If both you & your dad are really just beginning to use a scope, set it up indoors and study everything about it for a while. Then you'll be familiar with all the parts and how they work, and it'll be a lot easier than doing all this for the first time or two when it's dark. With a Newtonian reflector like yours, another problem you may encounter is a misalignment of the mirrors inside the optical tube. Correcting this is known as collimating the scope. There are expensive laser collimators out there, and some affordable ones, but you can learn how to do a basic internal collimation without using any special equipment. I haven't looked, but I'm certain you'd find several UA-cam videos on how to collimate a reflector without a collimator. Get a red flashlight or put red cellophane over a regular one, or borrow my dirty trick and illuminate your viewing site with the tail lights of your vehicle as needed.. Red light doesn't ruin your dark-adapted vision. You need at least 15-45 minutes of darkness for your eyes to fully dark-adapt. You want to avoid looking at any artificial light during your observing sessions, so that you don't have to wait all over again. Distant artificial lights that appear dim at first can seem annoyingly bright after your vision has adapted. Bring a good stool or chair so you can observe while seated and thus avoid doing the "monkey squat". Have fun! Clear skies!
SOOO Hard to spot and center stuff with a finder not working.. It's a 5 x 24 finder tho, what can i do to fix it/where can i buy a cheap better one, all i need is some like naked eye or abit zoom so i can point and then observe, nothing special, i'm new and i only wanna observe stars/planets/moon right now! Please answer, and thanks again.
I love this series! You are helping new generations of Astronomy Enthusiasts and Astronomers!
I received an Orion 120ST Astroview telescope several years ago. Now that I'm retired I finally have a chance to spend some time viewing the night sky. Your series was an excellent stepping off point for me. Thank You !
You're welcome Frederich, so glad my videos helped! I also make regular videos on how to find things in the night sky, and have 4 seasonal playlists of objects I have highlighted over the years to assist people with starhopping to great objects to observe. I hope you'll check those out too!
My wife bought a telescope for my kids. She opened the box and said "I don't get it, fix it". Needless to say your videos are a HUGE help. My kids love it and they want to go out everynight. It has helped to give my family a fun activity where we can learn and be together. I can't thank you enough for all the information.
Glad to help - check out my channel for videos on where to find things in the night sky too.
Thank you so much for putting this 6-part series. This is a great starter-pack for someone who wants to buy a telescope. Gathered a lot of helpful information!
You're very welcome! I make regular videos on how to find things in the night sky too - my most recent ones are the Ghost of Jupiter nebula and three colorful double stars in Leo / Leo Minor.
Thank you for the very kind compliment - I appreciate it. I do have quite a few ideas for some intermediate videos, and perhaps some very basic astrophotography (I'm not very good at that, honestly), but I need to take a break from the shooting / editing / writing for a bit. It was a lot of work putting these ones together.
Thank you for the nice comment and for watching. Glad to help. :-)
Thanks David for the awesome telescope video series . Great job
You're welcome, my pleasure. I really appreciate the kind compliment - thank you so much!
You're welcome, and I appreciate the kind words.
This was the most informative series for beginners, that i have found on you tube. Thank you Fuller
You're welcome - I hope to have more up soon. Just have to find the time!
David, this was one excellent series. Both in terms of the content and presentation. I can't express how much I appreciate this.
Really loved the way you end every video with " So we can see whats up!" :)
Thank you
I'm delighted! What a great series of films about telescopic gear. Thanks. Very useful. Wish you good luck with your channel!
Thanks so much for these very helpful videos. Very clear and concise presentation. I am a newbie to stargazing but feel more educated after watching this series.
david I loved watching your films here on UA-cam you have helped me immensely as I take my first steps into the world of stargazing. Thank you for taking the time and effort to post these films.
This series is amazing! A must watch for anybody looking to buy there first telescope. All episodes 1 to 6 are highly informative and have helped me to summarize the best deal for my first decent focusing telescope =D Tyvm David! Champ! Eyes to the skys, Hi^5's!! =D
Thank you so much for the kind compliments. I made these for exactly that reason; to provide a good overview of the basics of what major types of telescopes and equipment is out there, and how to know the basics of using it.
Thank you for this series, as I have been contemplaing a telescope purchase for my nephew and want to get the best "bang for the buck" in optics and this series has made the variables easy to understand and my decision the easier, as well.
Glad it helped!
That's such a nice compliment! Thank you so much for sharing that John. Looking forward to hearing more from you as you do more stargazing.
Great series. Must for every new shopper of telescopes
Natarajan Ganesan thank you!
Thank you for all the great information. I'm very grateful.
Thanks for the nice compliment - I've got some more in the works; I just need the time to get them done!
Wonderful to hear - thanks so much for the nice comment.
Great series, thanks David for providing this very useful information!
Just finished watching all 6 in this series. I really enjoyed it. Thanks!
Gosh this series was awesome. I hope some day you do an intermediate series for people who may be interested in getting into basic AP or whatever else is considered "intermediate".
It is awesome series of video clips. I watched all of them, short and nice. I like all the formulas (magnification, focal ratio, etc) which make me better understanding of to buy a good telescope. Thanks for the great effort.
Thank you; much appreciated.
Hi again, I wonder whether what is the advantage and disadvantage of SEBEN 1000-114mm telescope according to your knowledge and experience. I will attached the weblink herewith. I already place the order for this telescope.
weblink: shop.seben.com/sms/shop/index.php?action=products&jump=8
I am looking forward to your response.
Sisira Kumara Hi there again. I have never used that telescope brand or model before, so I do not have any insight to offer you about it specifically. My apologies. Generally speaking though, a 114 mm aperture mirror is a good starting point, and can gather enough light even in light polluted areas to show quite a lot. The 1000mm focal length will make it challenging to get wider fields of view, but achieving somewhat higher magnifications to view the Moon and planets should not be too difficult. Hope that helps.
Thank you for the comment indeed. I hope to use SEBEN 1000-114EQ to Astrophotography. I hope that I can get better images of far distance stars and planets. Thanks you again for the reply.
David, these videos are excellent, you are a great presenter.
YeahItsThatBad Thank you!
Thanks so much for making these, great explanations for all the concepts, easy to understand and enough content to be able to find more in depth information.I have a five year old interested in planets so I bought a 70mm'900mm length refractor to get us started, and now I have a much better understanding about how to use it and have some fun with it :)
We're gonna have to watch these a few times to really cement int info!! :)
Thank you for these videos with Telescope Basics. Very helpful for beginners like me how to get started to watch the night sky.
Outstanding series of videos for someone like me looking to buy a decent telescope. Many Thanks. And now I am off to buy my first setup.
Great videos, very informative. I just watched all 6 on the basics 👍
Kev Purdy thank you!
Excellent video, very informative and helpful. Just bought myself a SkyWatcher 200P and was not 100% sure on how to align the main scope with the finder (first scope I've used in over 20 years). Will definitely be checking out your other videos.
A very informative series. Highly appreciated!
Oh wow thank goodness I found this now, before I missed the alignment of the planets tonight. The information I had gotten last time made me understand and do this differently which probably means I did it wrong. Guess il find out now. Thank you 😊
Glad it was helpful!
just getting started , beginner , thank you for the hard work, you make easy to understand directions easy to understand :)
Glad to help!
Hi David, amazing series you have set up ! And the weekly "sky digest" is also great. Thanks from all of us beginners ;)
Very helpful series of articles for newbies like myself and sons. One thing we struggle(d) with is jargon. Thanks again for cutting through it.
Thanks so much! My pleasure to share what I can so more people can know how to see/find things in the night sky.
another great episode!
Very good series, made many concepts much easier to understand, thanks.
Thanks blobrana. Yes, in some of my very short focal length reflectors or refractors, I can use a long focal length eyepiece and find objects by aiming the tube in the right direction, then doing a slow "pan and scan." But finderscopes are almost always easier to use for locating objects. I too like a decent 6x30, though recently I find it useful to use a 9x50 in many cases, even on a 90mm refractor.
Thanks so much for these videos! Learned quite bit and will refer to these whenever I need a refresher. Also, appreciate those light jokes :).!
I have one of those cheap Tasco refractor scopes from the 90s, the FS actually comes all the way out with 3 alignment screws in a 10, 2 and 6 oclock radius in the arm coming out of the scope tube. I wasn't sure if it worked best with the FS held by one end or the other or middle. I really need to get one of those 6x30 ones you mentioned during the vid. Thank you so much for doing these vids. Very informative and love the website.
Nice, short yet detailed explanation videos of the bare basics of telescopes. Kudos!
I bought my dad a telescope (Orion XT8i) for Christmas and I will surely have him watch these videos to get up to speed.
The one thing I would recommend however is to maybe add a 7th video on lenses&filters that goes into a little more detail on what you might purchase to add to your telescope's power and abilities. Given that most beginner/started scopers will surely point their scope at the moon I deem it essential to point out that a moonfilter is a MUST to get good contrast and clear views (assuming any decently sized aperture).
ayporos I've got plans to make more videos. Filters is one of them. :-)
I hade a hard time with the alignment of my telescopes , and really didn,t understand it to well! This video helped me alot ty very much, a very clear explaination of the subject! A very good website ! ty David.:)
Thanks for the help mate... my new Infinity 90 just arrived today so my daughters and i are pumped to see 'what's up'. New sub here.
Thanks for these videos - I'm waiting for my first telescope to arrive....very helpful
Thank you these videos have been very educational and have helped me in determining what to get
Thank you so much for your series. I watched all 6 parts and you really gave me a much clearer understanding of telescopes then before I started. Your series has helped me tremendously in purchasing my first telescope.
+Pinballpete007 I am glad these videos helped! I'll be making some "How to find great objects in the night sky" videos again soon - I hope you'll consider subscribing to this channel and checking those out.
Eyes on the Sky Thanks again and yes I just subscribed to your channel :-)
Thank you, Mr. Fuller. These presentations are MOST helpful and MUCH appreciated.
Through the years, friends involved with government have told me that: for every person who bothers to make contact (with a rep's office) and express an opinion - by phone, letter, email, etc. - it can be safely assumed (there are actual, established formulae for figuring these trends) that several more WOULD have done so (provided they hadn't been busy, thoughtless, lazy, retarded, etc., etc.). In short - what I am saying is that, "These presentations are MOST helpful and MUCH appreciated!" THANK you, David, for being so deliberately GENEROUS with the information you share with your public. I often look to you for answers. I LOVE astronomy - but I lean on you for a lot of direction (as do the majority of your viewers who simply haven't found the time to say as much). Given my schedule, and lacking this easily accessible guidance, I know I would not have pursued using my telescope to the point I have. I have to laugh a bit when I watch the credits floating by at the end of your videos. It underscores the truth, that - if you really believe in something, you will do whatever it takes to achieve that. At least in that determination, you and I have something in common. Bottom line, though: THANK YOU (from me and a whole CHORUS of silent people).
Dave Merrick That is incredibly kind, generous and thoughtful of you Dave. Thank you so much for the wonderful compliments you took the time to write here; they are very much appreciated. Clear and dark skies!
In these videos Mr Fuller has packed a wealth of incredibly useful information in the simplest language possible. I really did not notice the credits, but after reading the comment above I went back to the video. ...and had a laugh too! My respects and a big thank you
Great series, thanks again David, have a great Sunday and wishing you Clear Skies!
Hi Ray, I'm not sure I entirely understand your first question, so I'll do my best. I would say start with the finderscope centered in both rings of the mount, and then leave one set of thumbscrews alone, and only adjust the other - say, the ones closer to the finderscope eyepiece. This reduces the confusion of which screw to turn to get things aligned, as you will only have to deal with three instead of six. Starting at top/bottom doesn't really matter. I hope I answered that for you...?
Thank you, I enjoyed your series and learned quite a bit. Im looking into telescopes for my children's enjoyment.
I watched the whole series. Thank you. I think I learned a little. Wish me luck, I hope to join the stargazers soon.
Ha! Not a problem; constructive criticism is always well-received by me. I did seriously consider discussing exit pupil, but decided against it because I felt it was one-step too far for beginners. That's really more of an intermediate step as far as understanding how to observe; I just wanted to cover the very basics that most beginners tend to ask as initial questions, or would benefit from understanding from starting out. :-)
I do have some ideas for some intermediate videos, but I probably won't do much for astrophotography (mostly because I'm not very good at it). Problem is, they take A LOT of extra time to make, and I have to do them in-between making my regular weekly videos. I usually wind up making these 'extra' ones while on vacation. The more people who sponsor and donate to my efforts the more I can work to make these extra ones. I do have three more I'll be uploading soon though.
You excellent series of videos really help newbies like me. Thank you very much!
Keep up the good work. These videos are very informative.
Thank you very much; glad it helped!
Thank you for these videos, you have helped me to understand things that many people have explained in writing but I couldn't get a grasp of what was written; I learn better when shown or when someone explains in person... it's something to do with my dyslexia.
Do you still make videos?
I do still make video. About every week or two, I release a new one about how to find objects in the night sky.
Great series, thank you so much, really helped make sense of some the questions I had
Sir, Great series. Please suggest some simple tricks for taking photographs with telescope and camera. Thanks.
Yay I know how to center my finder! Last night I managed to get Sirius, Jupiter and its moons. The pictures should be up on my google plus soon
Thanks a lot. Understood the basics now
Great series of vids, thank you! It might be a good idea, though, to point out to STAY AWAY FROM THE SUN while using the telescope during daytime. It never hurts to remind it, especially to newby :)
Thanks David
Jim, I certainly prefer optical finders myself, given the light pollution around me and most places I go to observe. But many manufacturers are opting to include RDF's on new/beginner scopes. I tend to think this is a small step in the right direction, given how bad most 5x24 finders were. It's not a perfect solution; a 6x30 correct-image finder on every new scope would be my preference, but that would cost more than an RDF too.
Hi Debi - if it is difficult for you to bend over to look through the finder, you may want to look for what is called a "right angle finder." This let you look down into the finder eyepiece much like a star diagonal allows in a refractor telescope. I don't know anything about the ioptron twinstar, so I can't recommend anything specific. Try asking in the beginner sections of one of the online astronomy forums. Very helpful folks in those sites.
That's a great solution; use what works for you! Very cool.
Those were very informative liked these videos
Glad to hear!
Hello! Awesome video, i just bought a Saxon 767AZ telescope! And i'm fairly happy, tho i have a huge issue.. The finder scope is just showing white/dark at night or darker objects things
Thanks so much; that's very kind of you to say.
This was incredibly helpful. Thank you.
I have some other ideas of videos on the way - it's just a matter of finding time to put them all together. Clear and dark skies!
Hi David,
Your series is really good for an armature like me, it helped me to understand the basics very well. Kudos to you for making understanding such an easy job.
I am planning to buy Celestron SkyProdigy 6 as my first telescope. I want to observe deep space with good quality view. Can you please suggest me on same, weather with this telescope will I be able to view deep space and with what combination of Eye piece.
Thanks.
your videos are very good, thanks.
just getting started, thanks for your videos!
Glad they help!
Great explanation
Good advice.
Or, use the force, Look....through a very low magnification eyepiece. I sometimes can use a 40mm with a 'fast' telescope to locate very dim objects. But a fan of the 6 x 30 myself.
a million thanks
Ty very much for this video , i,m just starting out with astromony, i hade just got a telescope, and eyepieces,and when i looked up for the first time,the stars where like diamonds, it was breath taking ! I got a star blast 4.5 telescope from orion, for starting out! a good telescope , and starting eyepiece set with the filters! i am having a little trouble with using the star chat !the directions have me confused!
Thank you for the awesome info!
Hey! Nice video series, it helped me a lot when I started stargazing with my telescope. You should do more of these 'tutorial' videos, if you find the time. I wanted to ask, how do you take pictures with you telescope?
I have a AC 90/1000 EQ-2, and about half a dozen of EPs that I use to star (or Planet, or moon) gaze. For me to take good pictures of celestial bodies, I use an 1,25' to T2 adapter, and then use a T2 to NX adapter(because I have a Samsung NX camera). within these adapters I can place an EP, but not all of them. Actually only my 25mm Plössel EP, as all the other ones are either too fat, or have a too small apparent field of view. I am planning on spending a few nights Jupiter gazing in the coming weeks, as we are pulling up to it. The 25mm EP just does not deliver enough magnification. I could use a Barlow Lens to compensate, but I only have a long (pretty cheap, as it came with my telescope) 2x Barlow. This pushes my optics further from the centre of mass of my telescope, and seems to put a lot of torque on my telescope. But even IF that would help with the magnification, I would still have the problem of getting Jupiter into the field of view long enough to take a few pictures. As jupiter is moving rather fast at this magnification (yes yes, its the earth's rotation, I mean relatively) Getting it in frame long enough, having to use a faster shutter speed would probably make the image too dark. What would you recommend would be the best way for me to improve my setup? Getting a motor for my telescope could help with it, but I am afraid of investing in a motor and then having it shake so much that the image will be blurry. I don't have/don't use rubber pads for my tripod. When I was Jupiter gazing about a year ago, I used a 6mm Plössel and a LE 5mm, and I could already see vibrations from people that were walking around me. Keeping still helps, but would a motor not create vibrations? I imagine that the high end mounts don't vibrate at all, but as I am on a budget, it seems unlikely. The Astro-equipment online store of my choice offers mounts like the Skywatcher NEQ-3 Pro SynScan, that would set me back around 500€. thats far more expensive than my scope itself. And cheaper motor only solutions that would only cost around 40€ seem very flimsy. Would upgrading to a better scope do the trick? I did have my eye on a Reflector for some time, and it has the option of a GoTo motor for a fee. It seems to be more price effective. But in normal use I am perfectly happy with manually adjusting my EQ mount.
Thank you for any input in advance,
and keep your lights pointed down, and your eyes on the sky :)
Strolling around in the online store, I came across SWA, UWA, and XWA EP's, If I find one with the right dimensions to fit in my adapters, it might solve the magnification problem.
great series
learned a lot
I've had my Meade Infinity 102 refractory telescope with red dot finder for 3 weeks and could not get it to find anything in the sky. I have tried to find out how to align the finder with the telescope itself to no avail...until now. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Tomorrow I go out in the daylight to find something I can point my red dot at to align my telescope with. That was the missing piece I had been searching for.
Dawn B. You're welcome Dawn! It is always wonderful to read success stories when people are able to make use of their telescopes more fully. :-)
Eyes on the Sky I was able to align the red dot finder and I am enjoying the big lights in the sky every clear night. Hopefully, I learn more, I will be able to move on to the dimmer star clusters eventually. Anyway, I wanted you to know I'm doing great!
Dawn B. Great to read this, Dawn!
Cheers bud I shall try it, the red dot scope isn't aligned at moment. Thanks for advice.
Thanks! I learned so much more about my telescope, make some more!
The problem I have with red dot finders is since I have astigmatism the dot is looks scattered for me. I have a go to telescope and I’m looking for a different finder. Might try the the magnified version with a cross hair.
Either way you'll want to wear corrective lenses for your eyes. The stars and bright planets won't be pinpoints either (ust like the red dot) if you're astigmatic.
Thanks man. I will buy my first telescope after 1 hour 😁
Question about aligning a magnifing FS. Is it better when aligning it to have it sitting in the middle of the arm that holds it away from the 'scope, near the eyepiece end or near the front where the lens is? Should you start aligning with the bottom screw first and work around or start with the top screws and work down?
This helps a lot. Thank you!
Thanks
I bought a 60 AZ refractor celestron telescope online . I used the finder to spot the star but when I saw it in lens I could not see anything.
I have just started astronomy and do not know much.
David, I'm new to astronomy and just bought my first telescope. Although my questions may be a bit silly, I am having trouble with the red dot finder... and the manual is a bit vague.
1) Both eyes open or one eye closed?! The manual instructs both eyes to be open while aligning the finderscope and material I've found online agrees--taking it so far as recommending both eyes open while looking through the main tube as well. However, for me, trying to do this while aligning the finderscope has proven different if not impossible due to the imperfections of human vision. For instance, vision doubles, red dots lose focus, etc.
2) Where, exactly, should you position yourself for looking through the finderscope? A serious flaw seems to come up with the red dot technique; the object which is being used to align moves drastically relative to the eye given even the slightest movements (more so when using a star to align, as suggested in the manual, than terrestrial alignment). Even when I try to align my eye to the circumference of the red dot scope tube, it is still unclear from what distance my eye should be to the finderscope.
I am trying not to over complicate things, but this is by far the thing which has given me the most trouble. Also, it is nearly impossible to use the telescope without the finder aligned.
Thanks
Hi Will,
What telescope do you have? The red dot finders I have used - both some generic ones, and ones from Orion telescopes - I think I use mostly by closing my left eye, and sighting with my right eye. I tend to position my eye about 3 to 4 inches or so behind the red dot finder. When I can see the red dot and a bit of sky around it, I am in the proper position to be able to move the telescope and find a target. The red dot should not appear to move with respect to the background even if your head changes position slightly. It should follow objects in the sky as you move the scope - if it doesn't do this, I wonder if there is a flaw in the finder design.
couple years late, but what the hay. i use a red dot sight for paintball (recently got into astronomy) and i've noticed that to use an RDS, you have to focus your eye on the target in the distance, not on the glass aperture of the sight. doing so will make it out of focus and blurry
I don't have much astrophotography equipment. I did a little bit back in the "old days" of film astrophotography, and spent a lot of money and didn't get much. I get a few shots here and there using a camera at the eyepiece of very bright objects, and the occasional "piggyback" shots, but I honestly know very little about advanced "through the telescope" astrophotography. That is one area I don't know much about... sorry!
Great Video!!!
Ok I went to replace the finder scope and didn't know there was washers on the inside of the tube assembly holding the mount on.. I got them out ok but don't have a clue how to get the washers back in. Do I need a special tool to reach inside? It is a refractor telescope by the way.
I'm using an Orion 9x50 right-angle correct image finder with an EZ Finder II (RDF that came with my scope) stuck to it using double-sided tape. The whole solution cost less than $100. The RDF lets me find bright stars really quickly, and then I can star hop with the 9x50, and the correct-image makes it much easier to use in conjunction with my sky atlas. Personally, I find that a good finder scope is a necessity for finding galaxies and Messier objects that aren't naked-eye visible.
Jason V rrrrrrrrrrrrreeefggxrrrdddfffddrddddrrerereeeerrrrreeeeeeeeeeereeeeeeee
Hi! I'm new at stargazing and I bought a "Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ MD". This morning, my dad and I tried to look at Jupiter. We could see it aligned through the finderscope, but when we looked through the eyepiece, we saw nothing. It took us a long time to find it using only the eyepiece, since using the finderscope didn't work. We saw it well using a 13mm eyepiece, but we wanted to see it closer. We attached a 6mm eyepiece with the barlow lens and we could see nothing. We couldn't even find Jupiter using that eyepiece. We could see it well using a 13mm eyepiece and we centered it in the eyepiece view, but when it came to attach the 6mm and barlow lens eyepiece, we couldn't even find it. ;( What did we do wrong?
+Natalia S. Hi - first, you have to be sure that the finderscope is aligned with the main telescope. Do it during the day as this video demonstrates. Next, when you used a barlow and a higher magnification eyepiece, remember that you are vastly narrowing your field of view. Try going from the 13mm eyepiece, centering Jupiter, then the 6mm without a barlow. Then recenter before adding the barlow. You may also have to stay slightly "ahead" of the Earth's rotation - look for which way the planet moves, and turn your slow motion controls to account for this while you add the barlow and refocus. Make sure your mount is properly aligned too - I have a video on how to align an equatorial mount as well, in case you don't know how to do that: ua-cam.com/video/plx6XXDgf2E/v-deo.html Hope that helps!
+Natalia S. Eyes on the Sky has it right. At lower magnifications, there's a wider area of the sky in view which may show the target object. but when you switch to higher power, the area seen drastically decreases in width (aperture), and if the object isn't very close to the center of the view, it may end up outside the (narrower) field.
Also, like he says, the time it takes for changing eyepieces may allow the object to drift out of view as the earth constantly rotates. You want to get familiar with how to work the slow-motion controls to keep the object in view, and use them to move the scope "ahead" just before changing eyepieces. Another thing is to avoid coming into contact with the finderscope once it is aligned with the main scope. Even some of the better finders have enough looseness in their mounting to move out of alignment if touched, bumped, or handled.The cheaper ones are even more sensitive.
Go to the observing site, set up the scope and do the leveling, finder alignment, and collimation by daylight, then do the polar alignment when you can see the north star. As you may imagine, this can take some time, so get out early to get a head start on the procedures. If both you & your dad are really just beginning to use a scope, set it up indoors and study everything about it for a while. Then you'll be familiar with all the parts and how they work, and it'll be a lot easier than doing all this for the first time or two when it's dark.
With a Newtonian reflector like yours, another problem you may encounter is a misalignment of the mirrors inside the optical tube. Correcting this is known as collimating the scope. There are expensive laser collimators out there, and some affordable ones, but you can learn how to do a basic internal collimation without using any special equipment. I haven't looked, but I'm certain you'd find several UA-cam videos on how to collimate a reflector without a collimator.
Get a red flashlight or put red cellophane over a regular one, or borrow my dirty trick and illuminate your viewing site with the tail lights of your vehicle as needed.. Red light doesn't ruin your dark-adapted vision. You need at least 15-45 minutes of darkness for your eyes to fully dark-adapt. You want to avoid looking at any artificial light during your observing sessions, so that you don't have to wait all over again. Distant artificial lights that appear dim at first can seem annoyingly bright after your vision has adapted. Bring a good stool or chair so you can observe while seated and thus avoid doing the "monkey squat". Have fun! Clear skies!
SOOO Hard to spot and center stuff with a finder not working.. It's a 5 x 24 finder tho, what can i do to fix it/where can i buy a cheap better one, all i need is some like naked eye or abit zoom so i can point and then observe, nothing special, i'm new and i only wanna observe stars/planets/moon right now! Please answer, and thanks again.