Telescopes

Archive for January, 2010

Our NorthStar telescopes offer the amateur astronomer state-of-the-art computer-driven location and tracking capability with simple push-button control. With a built-in data base of 20 000 celestial objects you simply call up your target on the hand-held control module enter a simple go to

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The Celestron AstroMaster 76EQ telescope is a Newtonian reflector telescope with 76mm of aperture for great views of the Moon, planets, star clusters, bright nebulae, galaxies and more!The sturdy CG-2 equatorial mount will allow you to follow the movements of objects as they cross the sky and includes slow motion controls on both axis.The new Celestron 76mm AstroMaster telescope provides correctly oriented images and is well suited to both terrestrial and celestial viewing.Includes permanently mounted Star Pointer finderscope, two eyepieces, pre-assembled tripod, “The Sky – Level 1″ software and Two-Year Celestron Warranty.Special price reduction! Scope out the new lower price at OPT.

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The Astronomy version of the popular Orion Short Tube 80A refractor telescope has a larger finderscope and a classic star diagonal to optimize your views of the heavens.The ShortTube 80 now comes with fully multi-coated optics, but delivers the same wide-field views that made the classic Orion Short Tube 80A telescope famous.Store and carry your Orion telescope in style with the included soft, padded carry case.PS: If you like the idea of a larger finder but want to do terrestrial viewing as well as astronomy, all you have to do is add a 45degree or 90degree Erect Image Prism to your system and you are ready to rock, no matter which direction you’re looking!

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MEADE 114EQ-ASTR / 04066 114MM A-SERIES EQUATORIAL REFLECTOR telescope APERTURE 114MM (4.5) FOCAL LENGTH, FOCAL RATIO 1000M F/8.8;RACK & PINION FOCUSER; EQUATORIAL MOUNT WITH SLOW-MOTION CONTROLS;  SETTING CIRCLES;  LATITUDE CONTROL WITH SCALE;  TWO 1.25″ EYEPIECES MA9MM, MA25MM; RED-DOT VIEWFINDER

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The DS-2130ATS-LNT is a fully GoTo telescope. Its onboard computer knows the night sky. After a short alignment procedure, your telescope will be ready to take you on a tour of the universe. You will see more objects in one night than Galileo saw in a lifetime. See planets like Saturn and Jupiter, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies and more.

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I have a Bushnell telescope.. model 78-4678, and I can’t figure out how to work it.. If you look in the eyepiece its just all black.. and so I can’t figure out what is wrong.. Anyone able to tell me or tell me about a site that can explain how to work it?

Make sure you don’t have a lens cap blocking the other end. Try aiming at distant objects, not close ones. It may be that it is focussed for eyes that have a different tolerance than yours, so trying working the focus knob. Failing to accomplish anything, I suggest you contact the nearest planetarium or science center and ask for help. If they can’t help, they should know members of a local astronomy club who can.

i want to view the planets jovian and terrestial in the summer thats when i have been told they would be visible. how strong should the eye piece magnification should be? could someone please tell me…

For planetary viewing you”ll want to use a medium to high power, unfortunately the atmosphere is rarely stable enough to get away with magnifications over 200x. I have gotten some great views of Jupiter and Saturn at around 150x

to figure the power of a telescope/eyepiece combination you take your telescope’s focal length over the eyepiece’s focal length. But since you’re wanting to know what eyepiece you should get you need to divide you telescope’s focal length by the power you’re wanting, for example let’s say your scope has a focal length of 700mm and you’re wanting an eyepiece to give you 150x magnification, you’d take 700/15 which gives you 4.6. It’s pretty unlikely that you’ll get a number that exactly matches an available eyepiece’s focal length, so just get the closest match you can find.. If you get one that has a slightly lower focal length you’ll have a bit more power and if you go with a larger one you’ll have a bit less power.

Anybody know the size of the Orion SkyQuest XT6 telescope? If you dont can you even compare it to something as big as it? Also whats the weight of it.

The tube is a little under 4 feet long. On its mount it would be a little under 5 feet.

The weight, according to Orion’s website (did you think of reading all the available info from the company website?) is 34.4 lbs total. The tube alone weighs 13.5 lbs.

And can i see the andromeda galaxy? But i mostly want to see an asteroid.

Nobody can see "the asteroid belt" as a discrete object because the asteroids are all so far apart that they appear as individual points of light scattered across a huge expanse of sky. But you certainly can see individual asteroids in any telescope, including an LX90. Currently there are three asteroids brighter than tenth magnitude in the sky: 2 Pallas, 4, Vesta, and 9 Metis. You can see the Andromeda Galaxy with your unaided eye from a dark site, so certainly you can see it with an LX90.

An observer is using a telescope to resolve a binary star with a separation of 0.40 arcseconds using a filter which passes light at 5000 A. What is the minimum size telescope needed to resolve the binary?

Steps would be much appreciated.

The Raleigh Criterion for angular resolution is probably the limiting factor here.

sin(theta)=1.22*(wavelength)/(diameter of aperture)
Rerranging:
Diameter=1.22*(wavelength)/(sin(theta))
=1.22*(5000e-10 m)/(sin(1.94e-6 radians))
=.31 meters in diameter