VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Administrator (Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty)|DATE|1362582263|CONTENT|[blockquote]Further OT: Rev Dr, did you ever sort out your telescope focussing problem? Do you have any more pics to share with us? I have some spare cash burning a hole in my pocket at the moment, although Mrs Ironduck may not share this opinion, and was thinking of buying a telescope. What sort have you got? Would you recommend it?[/blockquote]

Most things I've tried seem to make things worse. Not knowing very much about these things, I never knew that the viewfinder on an SLR is actually made of frosted glass. When you stick an ordinary lens on, it focuses the image onto this and the image appears clear and bright. When you stick a telescope on, you mostly just see the frosted glass of the viewfinder. I've got no idea why - possibly due to the typically much lower f number of a telescope, but I could be wrong. Will try out some of the suggested solutions given [url=http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/FOCUS/METHODS.HTM]here[/url].

My telescope is about 20 years old and isn't made any more, although the company is still in the telescope business. [url=http://www.doerrfoto.de/Produkte/Article.aspx?productline=34&articlegroup=35]http://www.doerrfoto.de/Produkte/Article.aspx?productline=34&articlegroup=35[/url]

I'm sure you'll get much better advice from someone who knows what they're talking about, but there are various things to consider.

- Aperture obviously. You're looking for light collecting power, so the bigger the mirror the better. Ignore all claims about magnification. Almost any telescope can get any magnification you want. 

- You'll need some decent eyepieces to go with it - plossls seem to be popular choices. Your telescope will come with some eyepieces - do a google to find out if they're any good.

- Portability. If you live in a severely light polluted area, like me, you might want to drive out to the country to observe.

- Goto mounts. I really wish I had one of those.

- I've found a red dot finder easier to use than a finderscope. This focuses a red dot at infinity and makes manual finding of objects relatively easy.

- Camera wise, Canon seems to be the brand of choice. I only got a Pentax because we already have loads of Pentax lenses. Being able to keep the mirror up or having a remote or computer control looks like it would be pretty handy, or maybe look into mirrorless cameras as someone (you?) suggested last time.

You might want to visit your local astronomy club and try out some of their equipment. There's usually a lot of stuff they can show you and you can decide first hand what's best for you.

You'll also be amazed what you can see with a cheap pair of 10x50 binoculars and a tripod.

The great thing about this hobby is that it can consume as much money as you want to throw at it.|IP-ADDRESS|94.168.119.214|MODERATIONFLAG|
