New lens

[jbeeton8]

Hey people, just became a new member here and im hoping people can help me.. i have always been interested in astronomy and recently got a telescope, i sort of can get it working but i can only see the moon cause its big enough to find and i cant really get that close to it anyway.i am hoping someone can point me in the right direction to get stronger lenses for a tasco galaxsee telescope or maybe i am doing something wrong.. the lenses i got with the telescope are MA10mm long eye relief, MA 20mm wide angle and a SR4mm i have no idea what each one does.. so if someone could please maybe help me by explaining what each lens will do or maybe i do need stronger lenses to get closer..

thankyou all

jason b

[Radar]

Hi Jason,

Welcome to the site.

There are a few tasco galaxsee models on the market. There are these types (refractors) -

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MAYAF2H8L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

And these (reflectors) -

http://www.fixya.com/Brands/Images/T/Tasco/177x150/20785652.JPG

In my opinion the second one is better because it has a wider aperture which means it lets in more light. This enables you to see fainter objects.

With the eyepieces, the lower the number, the higher the power. This means that you can get closer to objects such as the moon. But image quality deteriorates when you use higher power eyepieces. If I were in your shoes I would be using the 20mm most of the time and occasionally the 10mm. The 4mm would be better suited for terrestial work.

If the atmosphere is unstable (when stars twinkle), then the 10mm and 4mm eyepieces will definitely not yield good images.

Do you have the star pointer setup on the scope to find objects with? You want to get that working to make things easier.

As far as what other eyepieces to buy, at this stage I'll wait to see exactly what type of Tasco you have.

I'm not sure what you've seen with this telescope yet, but tonight once the sun sets, look straight up and see that bright star? That's Jupiter, put your telescope on that and see if you can see any of it's moons or cloud bands. Start with the 20mm and then maybe go to the 10mm.

Hope this helps.

Ray

[poppasmurf]

Hi Jason, I've been using the tasco 114500 for about 2 years. Radar is right on about eyepieces, I use 20mm all the time depending on seeing conditions I sometimes add 2x barlow for better magnification. Although a cheap scope there is still plenty too see like bright nebula etc. Like myself you may want too get better quality EP's when funds allow.

Regards Shane

[Tenacious Del]

ditto to what the guys said. those high power eyepieces are to hard to use.

[rmcpb]

More info needed about the type and size of scope in question. then we can really start helping you and spending your money :smile: