34 replies to this topic

[chocobo]

Sorry, I'm an ignoramus Chocobo! But still, interesting views from your latitude I would think. The Milky Way must be almost straight above you and Orion visible most of the year. I wonder if you are far enough south to see the Magellanic clouds and the Jewel Box cluster from your backyard?

 

https://skyandtelesc...hemisphere-sky/

I've read that planets are good seeing from this latitude and that the atmosphere in these parts are less hazy due to we are near the sea also.  Here is a website of a guy who does planetary AP a few degrees south of my location.  I think he is around 8 degrees N.  http://astro.christone.net/

 

I like the angles he gets on Saturn.

 

Regards.

[rxbg]

Hi guys. my first post here. just picked up the starsense exp dx 120 as well. i was going to get the ES16 eyepiece, but it costs over $170. am i doing something wrong? because up until last night i had only used the included 25mm eyepiece and had not gotten much more magnification that binoculars for seeing Mars. it was still just a little dot. -that in fact lost its redness! then i realized that the 10 mm eyepiece would magnify more. so i put it in, but this dummy cannot tell a difference at all. same size. same resolution to my eyes. what am i missing here? i spent 300 on a good telescope just to be able to see the same as the naked eye basically? unless i am a complete moron and am doing something wrong i can't for the life of me see what the fuss is about. so before i spend over half as much as i did on the telescope itself for a simple eyepiece i need to know that i am at least going to be able to see the icecaps on mars or something. is that even possible with this telescope?

I'm using 1.25 inch eyepieces exclusively. My favorite eyepiece on this refractor is the mid-range ES 16mm, It is powerful enough to see easy double stars and faint galaxies, and wide enough to catch large objects like clusters. Sometimes, on a clear night, I use a Meade 5.5mm UWA on the moon or comets, and the Celestron 32mm Ploessl but the 16mm stays on most of the time.

 

One eyepiece that I never use on the DX 102AZ is Celestron's 8-24mm zoom. I like it a lot on my Z8 but on this refractor it looks dim and muted somehow.

 

In short, a mid-range eyepiece is a good addition to this telescope. If you get a high magnification piece <8mm, I recommend one with a wide field of view because by the time you focus and the mount stops vibrating (2-4 seconds) your target will be almost out of view on an eyepiece with a narrow field of view.

[strattao]

I got the DX 102AZ and an 8in GSO dob for Christmas.
I love this thing. The app and software is awesome for what it does. I took my wife and daughter to observe, both their first time out ever. They were able to quickly find so many objects that it took me a while to try and hunt with the dob that I was getting jealous!
I think the DX 102AZ is the perfect grab and go scope. I’ve found I do just that for a quick observing before going to bed if the conditions are right. Easy to use, great views for the price. I highly recommend getting the vibration pads. Really makes a difference!

[rxbg]

strattao- can you tell me what it was that they found with the scope and what lenses they were using?

I got the DX 102AZ and an 8in GSO dob for Christmas.
I love this thing. The app and software is awesome for what it does. I took my wife and daughter to observe, both their first time out ever. They were able to quickly find so many objects that it took me a while to try and hunt with the dob that I was getting jealous!
I think the DX 102AZ is the perfect grab and go scope. I’ve found I do just that for a quick observing before going to bed if the conditions are right. Easy to use, great views for the price. I highly recommend getting the vibration pads. Really makes a difference!

[GOLGO13]

Hi guys. my first post here. just picked up the starsense exp dx 120 as well. i was going to get the ES16 eyepiece, but it costs over $170. am i doing something wrong? because up until last night i had only used the included 25mm eyepiece and had not gotten much more magnification that binoculars for seeing Mars. it was still just a little dot. -that in fact lost its redness! then i realized that the 10 mm eyepiece would magnify more. so i put it in, but this dummy cannot tell a difference at all. same size. same resolution to my eyes. what am i missing here? i spent 300 on a good telescope just to be able to see the same as the naked eye basically? unless i am a complete moron and am doing something wrong i can't for the life of me see what the fuss is about. so before i spend over half as much as i did on the telescope itself for a simple eyepiece i need to know that i am at least going to be able to see the icecaps on mars or something. is that even possible with this telescope?

Don't worry, you are not doing anything wrong. Mars is a tough object and you are at too low a magnification. Your 25mm is 26x and your 10mm is 66x. Mars would need quite a bit more magnification to show much. I suggest holding off on the ES16 (though it is a very nice eyepiece). I'd suggest either a 2x Barlow or a 5mm eyepiece. That would be 132x and probably about the max you would generally want to use in that scope.

 

132x would be pretty good for Saturn and Jupiter. It will still be a bit low magnification for Mars. My personal opinion is Mars is best at 200-250x and that would require a larger aperture telescope in my opinion. Something like an 8 inch dob. An 8 to 10 inch dob would be a nice compliment to your current 4 inch refractor. 

 

The best thing about that telescope is providing a wide field of view. It's not quite as good for high power planetary observing. But it will still do just fine on Saturn and Jupiter with a 5mm eyepiece. And of course the Moon is quite good also.

 

No one telescope is great for everything, but the scope you got is pretty nice and you will just need to learn what the limitations are for it. Your 25mm is a very nice low power and your 10mm a nice medium power. I'd suggest a 5mm with a 60 degree field of view or more (since it's not a tracking telescope). There are many budget options. This one would be ideal in my opinion: https://www.astronom...gm-dual-ed.html .... those eyepieces perform much better than their price. A real bargain.

[GOLGO13]

I do want to point out that even a very small telescope can observe mars OK under the right conditions. I had a ETX 70 when I first started (70mm refractor F5). I was able to observe the ice caps and surface details with that scope. However, it was when Mars was very close to us and the conditions outside were steady. The ice cap at that time (I think around 2005) was pretty large. It's currently pretty small last time I checked.

[rxbg]

thank you golgo. such a nice and informative post. i really appreciate your taking the time to help!

Don't worry, you are not doing anything wrong. Mars is a tough object and you are at too low a magnification. Your 25mm is 26x and your 10mm is 66x. Mars would need quite a bit more magnification to show much. I suggest holding off on the ES16 (though it is a very nice eyepiece). I'd suggest either a 2x Barlow or a 5mm eyepiece. That would be 132x and probably about the max you would generally want to use in that scope.

 

132x would be pretty good for Saturn and Jupiter. It will still be a bit low magnification for Mars. My personal opinion is Mars is best at 200-250x and that would require a larger aperture telescope in my opinion. Something like an 8 inch dob. An 8 to 10 inch dob would be a nice compliment to your current 4 inch refractor. 

 

The best thing about that telescope is providing a wide field of view. It's not quite as good for high power planetary observing. But it will still do just fine on Saturn and Jupiter with a 5mm eyepiece. And of course the Moon is quite good also.

 

No one telescope is great for everything, but the scope you got is pretty nice and you will just need to learn what the limitations are for it. Your 25mm is a very nice low power and your 10mm a nice medium power. I'd suggest a 5mm with a 60 degree field of view or more (since it's not a tracking telescope). There are many budget options. This one would be ideal in my opinion: https://www.astronom...gm-dual-ed.html .... those eyepieces perform much better than their price. A real bargain.

[GOLGO13]

I was probably being a bit conservative with my opinions on max magnification with that scope. On a very steady night 200x could be possible. Depending on how the optics are. It's an achromat, so that could impact things a bit at high power. I still think the 5mm would be best in most situations. And Mars could still show some things at 132x.

[strattao]

strattao- can you tell me what it was that they found with the scope and what lenses they were using?

They just used the 25mm eyepiece that came with the scope.

I don't remember all of the things they were able to see, but my wife said everything was awesome.

Mars, Beehive Cluster, a couple Messier objects, and double clusters, Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, Some double stars, etc. All in all I think they looked at about 20-25 different objects in the time it took me to get my dob setup and look at a couple things.

Not that speed is the key or anything, I just wanted to highlight how quickly they could find stuff.

 

Every few minutes I'd hear another "whoa, cool - check that out!" There was no way I could keep up

[Jim Haley]

Consider Celestron vibration pads. Make sure they are the name brand ones. They have worked in every situation I've thrown at them. And they are pretty cheap. Like an instant mount upgrade.

Perhaps just set it up In the grass instead of on concrete?