Telescope...?

Question

I have a Galileo FS-80 telescope, can you tell me what you can or can't see with it? I've recently see a very small oval/circle type figure that if rainbow colored. Can you tell me what it is?
Thanks : )

Answer 1

What you can see depends not only on the size and type of telescope you have, but on how dark your skies are.

The FS-80, if I'm looking at the right telescope, is a 3.14" reflector. In my 4.5" Reflector, with a barlow lens on a fairly clear night, I can see the Ring Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, the rings around Saturn, most star clusters, the Orion Nebula, some other nebulas, Jupiter and it's moons but not quite any cloud features, Mars with limited surface features depending on the weather on both planets. I can also see sunspots on the sun with the use of a solar filter and then the moon of course.

Some stars will appear rainbowy like a disco light if they're fairly bright and there's a lot of atmospheric turbulance.
You should be able to see most of that, however, things will be dimmer and will not magnify as efficiently.

Answer 2

Hi. Make sure you know how to focus first. When a star is in focus it it a pinpoint, even the very bright stars. The telescope make things look larger and brighter but stars will always be points of light. Practice focusing on the moon. It's really pretty right now. The planets Jupiter and Saturn are also good objects to view. In the winter look for the Orion Nebula. Double stars are cool to find and observe, such as the "double double" in Lyra. As your eye gets trained you will see fainter and more detailed structure. Have a blast!

Answer 3

I concur. It is generally easier to practice with more common objects (i.e. the Sun-don't burn out your corona, the Moon, planets, etc.). As you become more familiar with your telescope, your eyes will become more able to pick out smaller objects. Another cool thing that would help you is to join a local astronomy club or get some books from the library.

Answer 4

Probably the rainbow "object" is more likely a bad lense or eyepiece than something real.