greeting from 2nd days newbie.

For people new to astronomy who want to ask those questions that they were afraid to ask. Receive helpful answers here.
Davegn
Posts: 290
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:12 pm
Favourite scope: 94" Ritchey Chrétien reflector telescope
Location: Ang Mo Kio, Bishan Park
Contact:

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by Davegn »

bern wrote:Hi everyone, I'm so happy with all of your help and I'm able to spot saturn.

Now have another question..

my telescope aperture is 4.5", focal lenght 1000mm and using 10mm lens to view saturn with a size of about 3mm. anyway for me to increase the size of the saturn?

Thanks
The way a telescope work. One way To increase the power you would need to use a shorter eyepiece (ep)
X Mag power = focal length / ep length

E.g.
Your setup with a 10mm ep
1000mm / 10mm = 100x

So if you use a 5mm ep
1000mm / 5mm = 200x

Second way is to use what we call a Barlow

A 2x Barlow with a 10mm ep give you the same as a 5mm ep.

Hope this helps and your able to understand. :mryellow:
Dave Ng
Bishan Park SideWalk Astronomy
http://www.facebook.com/SingaporeSidewalkAstronomy
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

Clifford60 wrote:Use a 2x barlow to get it to 6mm in size or get a 5x tele extender and you have have a 15mm Saturn.

thanks, where can I get these stuff and what the damage like?
User avatar
Gary
Posts: 3790
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 7:06 am
Location: Toa Payoh
Contact:

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by Gary »

bern wrote:Hi everyone, I'm so happy with all of your help and I'm able to spot saturn.

Now have another question..

my telescope aperture is 4.5", focal lenght 1000mm and using 10mm lens to view saturn with a size of about 3mm. anyway for me to increase the size of the saturn?

Thanks
Congrats!!! You just own the telescope for 3 days and manage to learn how to use it and found the planet! Keep up the good work!

Assuming under perfect clear skies, there is a limit how much a telescope can magnify an object before it turns blurry and un-focusable. A very general rule of thumb is 50 times magnification (written as 50x) per inch of aperture for mass-produced average optics. So for your scope : 4.5 inch x 50 = 225x

Since it is very rare we have perfectly clear skies, so the practical useable is most probably lower than the theoretical 225x for your scope. So the smallest focal length eyepiece that is usable for your telescope is about 5mm. To make Saturn slightly bigger, you can use barlow as recommended or a smaller focal length eyepiece smaller than 10mm.

Do some reading up on these terms and factors (borrow Star Ware book from library or get hold of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide) and find out how they influence each other. This will help you understand how to choose a good eyepiece for a certain type of telescope for a certain type of celestal object:

(1) Eye relief
(2) Apparent Field-of-View (AFOV)
(3) True Field-of-View (TFOV)
(4) Eye relief
(5) Exit Pupil
(6) Coma
(7) Astigmatism
(8) Vignetting
(9) On-Axis, Off-Axis sharpness.
(10) Eyepiece Field Stop
(11) Kidney-Bean effect and black outs
(12) Eyepiece performance on fast and slow focal ratio telescopes

Do join some sidewalks/starparties with your scope. You can try out participant's eyepieces on your scope and observe the effects. :)
Last edited by Gary on Wed May 30, 2012 12:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

Gary wrote:
bern wrote:Hi everyone, I'm so happy with all of your help and I'm able to spot saturn.

Now have another question..

my telescope aperture is 4.5", focal lenght 1000mm and using 10mm lens to view saturn with a size of about 3mm. anyway for me to increase the size of the saturn?

Thanks
Congrats!!! You just own the telescope for 3 days and manage to learn how to use it and found the planet! Keep up the good work!

Assuming under perfect clear skies, there is a limit how much a telescope can magnify an object before it turns blurry and un-focusable. A very general rule of thumb is 50 times magnification (written as 50x) per inch of aperture for mass-produced average optics. So for your scope : 4.5 inch x 50 = 225x

Since it is very rare we have perfectly clear skies, so the practical useable is most probably lower than the theoretical 225x for your scope. So the smallest focal length eyepiece that is usable for your telescope is about 5mm. To make Saturn slightly bigger, you can use barlow as recommended or a smaller focal length eyepiece smaller than 10mm.

Do some reading up on these terms and factors (borrow Star Ware book from library) and find out how they influence each other. This will help you understand how to choose a good eyepiece for a certain type of telescope for a certain type of celestal object:

(1) Eye relief
(2) Apparent Field-of-View (AFOV)
(3) True Field-of-View (TFOV)
(4) Eye relief
(5) Exit Pupil
(6) Coma
(7) Astigmatism
(8) Vignetting
(9) On-Axis, Off-Axis sharpness.
(10) Kidney-Bean effect and black outs
(11) Eyepiece performance on fast and slow focal ratio telescopes

Do join some sidewalks/starparties with your scope. You can try out participant's eyepieces on your scope and observe the effects. :)

wow too chim... so can I use a 5mm EP and a 2x barlow together or 10mm with a 3x barlow? which is better?
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

Hi All, I intent to get this kit set any comment?

http://www.astro.com.sg/astro/display_i ... c=59378134
Davegn
Posts: 290
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:12 pm
Favourite scope: 94" Ritchey Chrétien reflector telescope
Location: Ang Mo Kio, Bishan Park
Contact:

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by Davegn »

Hi bern,
Dont rush into making a purchase.
Go for more star parties abd sidewalk session. By then you would know what eps to be going for.
Dave Ng
Bishan Park SideWalk Astronomy
http://www.facebook.com/SingaporeSidewalkAstronomy
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

Davegn wrote:Hi bern,
Dont rush into making a purchase.
Go for more star parties abd sidewalk session. By then you would know what eps to be going for.
cos if just buy a 2x barlow will cost me at least 140 and this whole set at just 140 with gst. so think kind of good buy lor.
User avatar
cloud_cover
Posts: 1170
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 6:08 pm
Favourite scope: 94.5", f/24 Ritchey-Chretien Reflector
Location: Restaurant At the End of the Universe

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by cloud_cover »

http://agenaastro.com/gso-1-25-2x-achro ... -lens.html

I'm using this barlow and it seems fine enough. I actually use it in preference over a Televue Big Barlow. Free shipping to the USA or $6.70 to Singapore (if you have a forwarding address) :)
DON'T PANIC
User avatar
Gary
Posts: 3790
Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 7:06 am
Location: Toa Payoh
Contact:

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by Gary »

bern wrote:cos if just buy a 2x barlow will cost me at least 140 and this whole set at just 140 with gst. so think kind of good buy lor.
Research more into the specifications of the $140 barlow (e.g is it using better multi-coated ED lens? body mainly plastic?...etc) vs the barlow in the whole set. Else you will not be able to objectively conclude whether which is a good or better buy. Best, look through a few of them during sidewalks and see if your eyes can see a difference.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

cloud_cover wrote:http://agenaastro.com/gso-1-25-2x-achro ... -lens.html

I'm using this barlow and it seems fine enough. I actually use it in preference over a Televue Big Barlow. Free shipping to the USA or $6.70 to Singapore (if you have a forwarding address) :)
thanks will look around what poison to add later.

you get all your items here? cheap, good, safe?
Last edited by bern on Wed May 30, 2012 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply