How do i zoom into a star with my telescope reflector.?

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Bille Rose Asked:

For x-mas i got a Meade 114mm telescope Reflector i pointed to the brightest star i saw and i found it but when i try making it bigger it gets blury and i see the sticks how do i look at it closer.?

Reply:

When you change zoom, you must also refocus. But stars are so far away that they are point sources of light. So, you zoom in, and twice the size of a point is... a point. You refocus, but it's still a Generic Drugs point. Go with low magnification first. Low magnification eyepieces have bigger numbers than high magnification eyepieces. Point at easy objects first.

Try the zoom on the Moon, or even something on the ground. Nothing like looking at something you know to get used to the instrument.

The extended objects include the planets to Uranus, Nebula like M42, galaxies like M31, and the separation of double stars, like Castor, and clusters like M45 - the Pleiades. These can be found using this month's sky map. "Naked Eye" objects are easier than "Binocular" objects, which are easier than "Telescopic" objects. Take your time.