beginners problems-help!

Shazzie,

Basically what the guys said. I always start at my lowest power eyepiece, center the object and then gradually work up through the powers of eyepieces until the magnification gets too high and Either the object becomes too fuzzy to see properly (too hard to focus) or until the object is too dark. I a little practice will get you used to just what magnifications are best obn each type of object. For now go with 'low is best' and forget about the 4mm and barlow lens for the moment. Concentrate on the 25mm and the 12mm.

Heres another little tip for the ETX. When you first do the alignment and then the first goto the object will almost always be slightly off center. At that point carefully adjust the legs of the tripod until the object is centered. once you do this all your subsequent gotos should place the object slap bang in the middle of the eyepiece. This makes it a lot easier to change eyepieces without losing the object.

Just to get you going heres a very quick list of *some* of the best objects to see this time of year.

M45 - The Pleiades Start Cluster.
M43 - The Great Orion Nebula
Saturn
Comet Macholz
M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy (Early in the evening)

Also dont forget the 'Guided tour' option on the ETX that can be fun and surprising.

Most of all dont be afraid to come and ask your fellow amateur astronomers for help. Thats what were all here for. Even the most experienced amateurs were raw beginners once.

Have fun:)

Dave.

I know these are stupid questions but I'd really appreciate someone's advice if they had the patience Thanks a mil
Shazzie

The single most important tip here:

The only stupid question is the question that isn't asked!

Hi Shazzie,
Its a pity we havent had a clear night on a recent Friday or Saturday for an observing session, I've planned to bring along the ETX and go over it with you on such an occasion.
I'll be giving a talk in the next meeting about astrophotography, I'll be using the ETX70, barlow and webcam as a demo so you'll be able to see the effects the guys are talking about on a screen.
See you in the meeting next Wednesday (12th Jan).

Hello all,
I have question that I hope you won't mind answering. What kind of connection would I have to use to be able to control the etx 70 with my laptop, I bought starry night pro from England after someone recommended it on the site and what an excellent price it was. I presumed it would be a simple phone cable that would allow me to make a connection, but no joy. Any ideas??????

Cheers

Seán

Hey Dave, is that your finder scope on the wee tripod next to the bigger 4" refractor in the foreground??

:lol: :lol:

Seanie.

more like the "I'm too lazy to carry the monster out and set it up" scope.