Help! New owner of Meade DS-2130AT telescope?

Question

I purchased my 12 year old son a Meade DS-2130AT goto telescope for Christmas.

We saw the moon with the craters & it was nice but I thought we'd be able to see it bigger with a 130mm 5" aperture. I put on the smaller eyepiece & it was larger but blurry... so therefore the smaller image is all we'll expect to see?

Also, we can't seem to find anything but the moon.

The goto isn't working right. It finds 2 stars & says it's ready. You enter Saturn, etc & it goes to something but we can't see anything. One time it said "check mount" and I don't really know what that means. We were suppose to tighten somthing but I can't figure out what.

The star charts are SO confusing and neither of us can figure anything out. I've been to a variety of websites & the telescope came with a starrynite software but it really doesn't show you much and doesn't come with a tutorial.

I wish there were classes on these things as I feel we are totally at a loss as to what to do.

Any advice??

Answer 1

The "smaller" eyepiece was a shorter focal length..probably around 9mm, and thus high powered. As you have found out, higher power eyepieces often produces fuzzy images. Typically these eyepieces are reserved for planetary viewing and you have to do it on a very calm night after the telescope has cooled sufficiently.

Most viewing is done with the lower powered lenses (longer focal length). You have two options to see a larger view of the moon. You can buy a 2x barlow (a good one, don't skimp on this) and use it with the lower powered eyepiece and see if you get a better image, or you can buy an eyepiece somewhere between the low powered one and high powered one.

A 5" telescope is somewhat small but you will still be able to see a lot with it, including the rings around Saturn. It may just be that Saturn wasn't up yet when you went to look for it. You may want to try pointing the telescope manually for now. It will help you learn the sky a little more.

First, make sure the view finder is properly aligned with the telescope and they are pointing at the same thing. If they aren't, follow these steps...

1. Point the telescope at an easy to find, yet distant ground based object using a low powered eyepiece.

2. Looking through the viewfinder, use any two of the three adjustment screws on the viewfinder braket to get the viewfinder pointing at the same place on the same object. You may turn the third screw if you have to.

3. Fine tune it by using a higher powered eyepiece and repeating the above steps.

Okay, now that's done, put the low powered eyepiece back in and try pointing it at a bright starand focusing it. When looking through the view finder, a lot of people find it helpful to have both eyes opened believe it or not.

Now that's done, your first order of business is to find the orion nebula.

Find the constellation Orion. It's in the southern portion of the sky, to the east shortly after sunset. You will see three bright stars in a row which make up his belt. On the left side of his belt you will see his sword and towards the tip of the sword you will see a fuzzyish area which looks like it has little stars in it. Point the telescope here, this is where the nebula (M 43) is.

http://www.cosmicdoorway.com/images/reference/constellations/Orion_constellation_map.png

You can use the slow motion knobs in the telescope to make adjustments to the position as needed.

If you don't know the constellations, learn them. I would also get a copy of Sky Atlas 2000 and a pair of 7x50 binoculars.

You can find the Andromeda galaxy by first finding the constellation Cassiopeia. It's in the northern portion of the sky upwards a bit shortly after sunset. It kind of looks like a W, or an M depending on how you look at it...

http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/Wingmakers/Cassiopeia%20Star.jpg

You won't see all those little background stars. The bright orange star at the top of the triangle points in the direction of the Andromeda galaxy. It's proper name is Schedar but it's designation is alpha cassiopeiae. It also points in the direction of the constellation Andromeda.

You can find the Andromeda galaxy first by using binoculars and going across from Schedar towards Andromeda, or, you can start at the star in Andromeda known as Mirach, travel a short distance to the star above it called mu Andromedae, and then a short distance to the upper left of that one to nu Andromedae and the Andromeda galaxy is a blurry ball just slightly above that.

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/AList/Andromeda.jpg
Tilt your head to the right when looking at this to get an idea of what you will see. Schedar is in the direction of the imaginary line from Mirach, passing the "Andromeda Nebula"...they used to think it was a nebula because you can't see detail in it without a camera.

Goodluck, and be patient.

Answer 2

Sorry about your troubles, it can be like that sometimes.

Both the moon and the planets look better on nights when the stars twinkle less, this is called good seeing.

You should wait until the moon is as high as you can, that way it's less blurry.

And as for the star charts, they're a circle with north, south, east and west around them right?

Hold the chart over your head while lying on your back (make sure it's the right time, month and latitude) Then turn it around until the directions match the real world. Now, imagine the entire circle growing until it's the size of the sky. The circle is the horizon and the middle is overhead.

Just imagine everything much bigger and all the stars will be in the right places.


And do go to a local astronomy club, they could be your 'class' for you.

Answer 3

What you going through is pretty common with new telescopes and inexperienced scope users. Also, with "smaller' eyepieces focusing is a lot harder and you have to work at it. To top it off the eyepieces that come with telescopes are usually pretty low quality and the images you see with them are not too great. Good eyepieces cost $200 to $300 each. It really is sad that the first scope most people can afford usually kills off their interest in using a scope. Most communities have amateur astronomy clubs... if you interested enough, go visit one - the members are usually tickled to death to help out newcomers plus they have nice scopes that they will be glad to let you look through. Take your scope and see how it works with a quality eyepiece. Good luck!

Answer 4

Hello

Keep in mind I'm not really an astronomer but here is my two cents. I looked up your scope and it looks like a decent entry level scope. I can imagine your probably didn't think the price was entry level but its a good deal. My understanding from reading online is that it takes a fairly large scope to get much more than fuzzy images of jupiter. I could be wrong about that. You might actually be getting jupiter in your sights but mistaking it for a star.

It is a good rule of thumb that the higher the magnification the more blurry the image. You are getting the 80% that you can buy for 20% of the money. Getting another 10 or 15% quality can really set you back. Some of the factors that come into play are vibration, lense coatings, lense shape (aberration) etc. Merely touching the eye piece to look into it or focus can throw things off when you are at high magnifications.

Related to your scope you can try the meade website and customer service.
http://www.meade.com/support/downloads.html
[phone] (U.S.A. Only)
[phone]

Here is more on star charts
http://www.aboutastronomy.net/starcharts.htm

Here is what you can do improve your viewing. . .

Make sure you have good viewing conditions. The sky might look clear to you but a small amount of haze at higher altitudes will through things off. Cold winter nights are good for this. Also deserts and of course mountain tops.

Purchase a new eyepiece. The smallest one that is included with the scope is often not the best quality.


for more about telescopes themselves and viewing limitations search for


These filters can improve viewing as can the barlow.
http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/K3E9QLQM36C79MW96V1UF13JC0/product_id/KIT4199

I would not recommend these pads $$ but you could make your own from some automotive floor mats or something if nothing else helps.

http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/6DFJ1DXV9W3V9JA0MEDA3065B4/product_id/895
Sight in the scope and let it go to it



Here are some astronomy related websites. You and your son can have fun looking them over and learning things together.

http://skytonight.com/howto/basics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/home/index.html
http://www.backyard-astro.com/

You might not have known this but you can probably get decent images of galaxies with your scope. Try looking up these objects . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Messier_objects


Another fun thing you can do is use some of the sky maps you will find in these links for the two of you to locate constellations without the scope. Then when you try to find the messier objects first try to find them with your own eyes, then use the scope to get a better view. Try to imagine how your view of the sky will change as seasons pass, or if you were in south america or australia.

moon maps - some of these are high res and can be printed

http://images.google.com/images?q=map+of+the+moon&num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=opera&rls=en&hs=fvS&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

also
http://www.oarval.org/MoonMapen.htm
http://www.lunarrepublic.com/atlas/index.shtml

best of all
Google interactive moon map - try finding craters in this map then with your scope. Then try to find out how wide the crater is and relate that to the size of your state.

http://moon.google.com/

posters

http://www.amaps.com/new_mars_poster.htm

Most importantly stay light hearted and have fun!

I hope you find this helpful and don't forget to rate me.