I need help with my telescope???

Question

I have a Brand new Tasco(40-114675) Telescope But... The directions suck. This is what i am stuck on-
1.Insert Diagonal into the focus tube???
2.Insert eyespeice into diagonal???
and
3.Insert Barlow into the focus tube Insert eyes peice into open end of barlow and secure???
I dont know what the star pointer is either there is no red dot i am also having trouble with Focusing cause when i look through it, All is see is pitch Black and (the little caps off) please Help thanks

Answer 1

The focus tube is the opening in the top part of the telescope, it should be at a 90° angle of the main telescope tube and it should have a little screw that tightens the eyepiece or the diagonal. . The eye piece is a little tube that has a lens on one side it should have an inscription on the side, a number in mm. Choose the one with the biggest number (26?) The smaller the number the higher the magnification. The Barlow should look more like a camera filter (but transparent) and I wouldn't use it since it is your first time and you need to practice first. A Barlow increases magnification but decreases brightness so start with the basics. The diagonal is a tube that has an elbow bent at 90° with a mirror (or prism) inside it, but you don't need that either unless it is uncomfortable to look through without it. To start always point the telescope to a land target a least 100 yards away, with the eyepiece in place focus then look to the sky. The red dot pointer looks like a small bracketed tube that goes at the 12 o'clock position of the scope at the very front. Hope it helped. . .

Answer 2

You may have gotten the wrong instructions. If your telescope is a reflector like this one - http://www.opticsplanet.net/picture-1-tasco-900x114-luminova.html - it doesn't use a star diagonal, but has a permanently mounted diagonal mirror inside the tube. In that case, there is no diagonal to insert.

To start with, try setting it up in the daytime and aiming at a distant tree or other object. Begin with the lowest power eyepiece, which probably has a 20 or 25 on it. Put it in the focuser tube (the short tube coming out of the side at the top of the telescope) and adjust the focus knob until what you're pointed at comes into focus. Everything will be turned around but that won't matter for astronomy. If you have a finder scope as shown in the link, it won't have a red dot, just crosshairs. Adjust the aim of the finder scope until it is centered on the same thing as the main telescope. Then you can use the finder scope to help aim (though some of Tasco's finder scopes are pretty dim, and some people have better luck just sighting along the tube)

For most observing, you will probably find the two lower power eyepieces (25 and 12.5mm ?) work best. Start with your lowest power, it's easier to find things that way. Then step up the magnification and see what difference that makes. There is such a thing as too much magnification. The 4mm eyepieces and 3x barlows that come with these scopes give too much magnification for most purposes and are generally not much use.

If there's an astronomy club in your area, get in touch with them. Someone in the club will be glad to help you get started. Good luck and clear skies.

Answer 3

Sorry, but it's not just the directions that are crappy.

Forget the diagonal. It just flips things so they aren't upside down.

This is what you need to do.

1. Put in the 25mm eyepiece without the barlow.
2. With the cap off, point the telescope at a large, distant ground based object.

3. Look through the eyepiece and focus slowly until you have a clear image.
4. Look through the view finder and adjust it using the adjustment screws until it's pointed at the exact same thing. Turn only two of those screws on the thing that holds the view finder until you have to turn the third.

5. Put in a higher powered eyepiece, like the 12.5mm eyepiece, and repeat.

6.Put the 25mm eyepiece back in.
7. Point the telescope at the moon, or a bright star or planet. Make sure you can see it in the view finder.

8. When it's in the view finder, look through the eyepiece. You may have to adjust the telescope a little to get the image in the eyepiece because the Earth moves the image out of the field of view.

9. Slowly focus until you get a clear view.


3x for a barlow is too powerful in my opinion. It will make your lowest powered eyepiece, the 25mm, act like a 9mm, which is almost always too powerful to give you a good view and is only useful for planets on super clear nights.

Answer 4

Yeow! The diagonal is not premounted? Ouch, collimation problems right there. Does the diagonal only go in exactly one way? The 45 degree mirror has to point toward the opposite (rear) of the scope. The alignment of the diagonal has to be pretty precise, otherwise you will see nothing but black. Do not insert the Barlow yet, just insert the lowest-magnification eyepiece (the one with the highest numbered focal length, like "25mm"). Maybe do this during the day while pointing toward some distant object like a mountain, or early in the morning toward the moon. Get the object in focus, and check to make sure that the finder scope points exactly at the same thing. If the center of the object in each view doesn't match, adjust the finder scope screws until they do match. Get sharpest focus, leave the focus there, then try to get a view of crescent Venus in the West just after sundown. If you get a good view of it, go for Saturn, which right now is a little right of and below Venus. It will be tiny but the rings should be visible, Then go for Jupiter by swinging almost all the way around to the left, (toward Southeast, up about 45 degrees), it's the next brightest thing in the sky after Venus.

Feel free to email me, I can help you with your 5-inch Newtonian reflector. Your scope is particularly challenging to get set up correctly.

Answer 5

You didn't state whether your 'scope is a refractor or a reflector. But from what info you 've given, I'm assuming it's a refractor. So now I will try to help you identify the parts that you mentioned.
Diagonal : Proper name- Star Diagonal, is a 45 degree or 90 degree lens. What it does is turn everything "right-side-up" , but does not correct left-to-right appearances. It will fit into the small end of your 'scope only one way, (You can't put it in backwards.)
Eyepiece : A short (About 1 inch long) lens goes into the star diagonal, and can be adjusted to whatever angle is comfortable for you to view through the 'scope.
Barlow lens : A miniature telescope, about 3 or 4 inches long which you probably won't need to use. What it does is double the apparent image in size, but in doing so reduces the effective light that the primary lens has collected in the first place. If you wish to use the barlow, it must be inserted into the diagonal before the eyepiece.
Hope this helps you. Clear skies, and happy star gazing.

Answer 6

Look, people will tell you that it's a child's toy, and in comparison to telescopes some of us have used or built, it is. But it is far better than the naked eye. I would say if you are thinking about a telescope that size, you might consider a pair of binoculars. I don't know what price range you are talking about, but you should be able to find some decent second-hand ones with at least 50 mm lenses for the same price. Check it out on e-bay some time. I have seen lots of them there.

Answer 7

Tasco 40-114675