Any stargazers?

[Younggun]

Got a deal at work for a 5 year bonus thing. Go online and order something from a list of products. Nothing caught my eye so I settled on a Meade Infinity 70mm telescope. Didn't think I'd see much besides blurry moon craters but figured my daughter would like it. I was half right.

It arrived while they were out of town so o put it together and went out to learn how to operate it (gotta look smart in front of the kids later).

Started with the moon as an obvious choice, amazing. Clear and crisp. Maybe not suck a bad deal after all. Got the viewfinder dialed in and played with the different lenses.

Last night I upped the game. Jupiter: had some trouble at first but then had the "aha" moment. I was shaking the telescope while looking through it. Need to sit down. Suddenly Jupiter went from a blurry white dot to a small dot with 2 distinct cloud bands, Ganymede and Europa hovering to the left. Felt kinda like a kid.


Jumped to Saturn next. Had a little trouble locating it due to the moon casting so much light around. Then I caught it and got it focused. Little white ball with a distinct ring around it. Holy hell, way more than I thought I would see.

Overall, it's awesome. Kids got home pretty late last night so we weren't able to go out but we are planning on tonight. Daughter was extremely excited. If I had known what to expect I probably would have dropped the $100 to buy it.


Just what I needed, another hobby.


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[Younggun]

Taken by holding my phone to the eyepiece so they don't do the telescope justice.

Saturn. You can just make out the rings. The blurriness was caused by me shaking the telescope trying to hold the phone.

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[Major Kong]

Very cool.

My father had a kick ass Celestron telescope when I was a kid. Always amazed at what we saw.

Seeing the planets like that does make you feel very small and insignificant.

Kids ought to love it!



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[majormadmax]

I miss my old telescope. We had great rooftop windows in our house in Germany, and given that we lived on the edge of a rural village there wasn't much light noise to deal with.

I would appreciate more details on the telescope you bought!

Cheers! M2

 

[Saltyag2010]

I made a thread last year called astronomy in Texas. This is the last month to see Jupiter. If it's clear you can see Jupiter, Mars and Saturn tonight.

70mm is the diameter. How long is it? What eyepieces do you have?

I highly recommend the seben zoom eyepiece and the seben 4mm eyepiece. I may even get a 2.5mm soon.

Jupiter and moons-

This is with a 10mm eyepiece and I took the picture with a iPhone 5s and a steady hand.

 

[Younggun]

The telescope is a Meade Infinite 70mm. Comes with tripod, red dot viewfinder, 9mm and 26mm lenses as well as a 2X Barlow lens. Max magnification is about 156X IIrC. Any higher would probably no net much gain due to the lesser quality lenses and smaller objective lens.

The tripod is ok, but not super stable. The whole thing is pretty light, good/bad depending on use. Legs are fully adjustable.

Tilt and pivot is similar to a lower end camera tripod. Can be a bit jerky, or too loose. Works well for a beginner though and keeps cost down.

Has a fine elevation adjustment consisting of a rod that connects from the tripod to the telescope. Set it close and tighten the set screw on the tripod, then turn the knurled knob to adjust the tilt. It has a bit of play so it's best to keep a touch of pressure near the viewing lens. Otherwise it will move as soon as you touch it.

Small tray mounts in the tripod to hold extra lenses and caps using 3 wing nuts. It's handy and serves its purpose. Drawback is the it must be removed to collapse the tripod.

It does not come with a carrying case or bag of any kind. The Barlow and 26mm lenses are stored in the small white boxes they came in while the 9mm lenses has a storage "tube" similar to the old 35mm film capsules, only larger and clear.


Focus adjustment: it's ok. Feels a bit course when combining the 9mm and Barlow lenses, it would be nice to have a fine adjustment to really dial it in. It serves it's purpose though and works fine with magnification of 78X and below.

The viewfinder/red dot is basically a $10 air soft quality reflex site. It seems to have held zero with the minor moving I've done but removal would mean setting it again. Only takes a few minutes. Adjustable brightness covers needs from dark skies to daylight.

I've done a little nit picking, but I'm honestly impressed with what I got. I expected a toy and although some pieces feel a bit cheap the telescope itself works very well.

It is adaptable for astrophotography. About $60 for the pieces I need to mount a Canon Eos and get better pictures.

TBH, it's almost the perfect scope to make you feel like you can actually see something, but still want to drop money on the next step up. I've been browsing in the ~$500 price range to see what kind of return on investment I would get.

Looking foreword to a drop in humidity to see how much difference it makes.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...REG&ap=y&c3api=1876,52934714882,&Q=&A=details



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[Younggun]

I made a thread last year called astronomy in Texas. This is the last month to see Jupiter. If it's clear you can see Jupiter, Mars and Saturn tonight.

70mm is the diameter. How long is it? What eyepieces do you have?

I highly recommend the seben zoom eyepiece and the seben 4mm eyepiece. I may even get a 2.5mm soon.

Jupiter and moons-
View attachment 39331
This is with a 10mm eyepiece and I took the picture with a iPhone 5s and a steady hand.

I used a 9mm with the 2X Barlow last night and was able to make out two distinct cloud bands. Io was behind the planet at the time but Ganymede and Europa were clear.

Didn't get a pic because my hand wasn't steady enough, lol. Think the otter box may be causing issues too.


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[Saltyag2010]

Check out the Orion dobs. The 8" is in your price range, 10" will gather more light but you have to have the room for it. Seben is a German company that makes affordable eyepieces and they're on eBay. I love them.

 

[Younggun]

Thanks, I'll check it out!


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[Younggun]

Downloaded the Sky Guide app as well to help locate different objects. $3 but works much better than some free apps I've used in the past.

Also has satellites, the ISS, and other near earth objects in the database.


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[Saltyag2010]

Downloaded the Sky Guide app as well to help locate different objects. $3 but works much better than some free apps I've used in the past.

Also has satellites, the ISS, and other near earth objects in the database.


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I use sky view and it's free and has been working out. Now I can spot most planets with my LASIK eyes pretty easy. I live in town, but the sky is plenty dark for me.

 

[Younggun]

I'm about 5 miles from a small town on one side and a large town on the other.

On s perfect night you can see the faint band of the Milky Way.


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[easy rider]

Now you'll have to get one for the daughter. LOL

 

[oohrah]

Besides planets, you will also be able to see some of the brighter nebula and star clusters. It's great that your kids are excited. I recommend you get a planisphere (whiz wheel with the constellations on it to show what's visible), and with your kids, learn the constellations. Also makes it easier to find things.

Good things right now - M13 in Hercules, M8 and M22 in Sagitarrius. Also check out Albireo (surprise treat).

 

[ussoldier1984]

I would love to get a really nice telescope. I had a cheap one years ago that wasn't the greatest. I just do not know enough about telescopes to know what is good to get.

 

[Major Kong]

I would love to get a really nice telescope. I had a cheap one years ago that wasn't the greatest. I just do not know enough about telescopes to know what is good to get.

After reading this thread I did some research.

Check out telescope.com.

They have a lot of good information for the beginner.

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[Younggun]

I would love to get a really nice telescope. I had a cheap one years ago that wasn't the greatest. I just do not know enough about telescopes to know what is good to get.

I was pretty surprised with what I could get from a cheap one. This was another attempt at photographing Saturn. Took video with my phone and pulled a screen shot. Still not getting good pics.

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[Younggun]

After reading this thread I did some research.

Check out telescope.com.

They have a lot of good information for the beginner.

Sent from a B-52 flying over Russia.

Damn. I want that Orion XT8.

Not sure why. If it looks more fancy it must work better, right? Lol


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[Major Kong]

Damn. I want that Orion XT8.

Not sure why. If it looks more fancy it must work better, right? Lol


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Fancy is always mo betta

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[deemus]

A friend has an electronic scope that has a base that rotates. I want to say he paid around $12K for it . It has a computer program using GPS that dials the scope into the right spot for planets, etc. Its pretty amazing. He has several eyepieces for it. He lives in the boondocks, so the stuff to see is just endless.