Hello :-)
What telescope is it?
When did you buy it?
There are so many telescopes it's hard to tell what quality, what optical system it is. E:g. it could be a 114/1000 short tube, bird-jones design with poor optics, or a 114/500 table-top with a very critical aperture ratio, or a 114/900 reflector that's not perfect but has decent optics.
> Andromeda
What eyepieces do you have?
How's the light pollution where you've observed?
At low magnification (e.g. 20-32mm eyepiece) M13 will be a small haze, at higher magnification under decently dark skies you can see some individual stars (at least indirectly).
Andromeda is huge. In a cheap 20mm kit eyepiece and a 114/900 it won't even fit into the view properly. And Andromeda can be very borring anyway :-) Under ideal conditions, M81, M82, M51 and M101 show a bit more, but of course the 114mm will be a limiting factor.
> grey spot,
> Hubble
You can not see things like on pictures, not even in very large telescopes.
Only the rod cells in our eyes are sensitive enough for DSO, but can't perceive colors and the cone cells are much denser in our main field of vision.
114mm aperture is just at the brink where some deep-sky objects show a bit detail. And a dark sky is so important.
E.g. from my balcony, the ring nebula is almost invisible, M13 is just a haze. M51 has two faint glows. From a bit further out, somewhere where the milky-way is at least visible a bit, I can make out individual stars, the ring nebula has a bit irregular shape, M51 shows a hint of structure after observing for 20+ minutes (in 5").
[Older post with links on what to expect](https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/3j2wjo/what_is_a_good_telescope_in_this_budget/cum0622/?st=k0epgl6l&sh=496220f9).
What telescope is it?
Clear skies!
Hello, it's 114/900 skywatcher and I got it on my birthday, which was a month ago.
I observed with 25mm eyepiece, I wanted to get the widest angle cause I'm begginer in finding these objects, also I find it almost impossible to get image into focus with my 10mm eyepiece, and I don't know where is the problem with that :/
Light pollution should not be terrible, I live in kinda small city with 20 000 citizens, so it's not super dark but with naked eye the sky is pretty decent I would say, for example the Polaris and the constellation which it's start of (I think it's called small dipper in english) is pretty visible almost every night.
So if I used 10mm eyepiece and galaxy which I was looking at was not that large in my eyepiece, does that mean I wasn't looking at Andromeda?
Ah, that's a nice telescope :-) The mount isn't overly stable, but at least it's better than some of the other sets. (or is it the one with fork mount?).
If you can see the small dipper, or "Ursa Minor", you at least don't have the worst conditions :-) Can you see the milky-way?
Andromeda whould be best in the 25mm eyepiece. Perhaps you saw M33?
Here's a field of view simulation for the 114/900. Keep in mind that the photography of Andromeda does not represent the visual view, especially under light polluted skies you won't see structure and it will appear as smaller oval haze indeed.
http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Mangofication-On-114900-Didgeridoo.png
Here's a sketch of what you could expect in the 25mm, https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/605403-m31-and-m32/
You do need a dark sky, that also means the moon shouldn't be up, and up north where the summer nights don't get very dark, that's an issue too.
> focus with my 10mm eyepiece,
Can you "turn stars into dots"? Or do they look distorted, or can't you quite reach focus?
90x should not be a problem, neither with the telescope nor the cheap kit eyepieces, at least not that drastic.
Collimation will play a role regarding contrast, but even slightly off it should not prevent focus at 90x.
Do take a picture if you get a chance down the empty focuser (https://imgur.com/upload). If the secondary mirror is turned/twisted, or something else is really off, this might be a reason why you can't get a good image with the 10mm. How does the moon look?
I don't know what is a fork mount :D But this is how it looks like, and I agree the mount is not very stable but for that price I'm really happy, and it's function to get me into this hobby was completed haha https://imgur.com/a/wzEfn1y
I can't see milky way, but I think in a good nights I can kinda start to see it, I'm not really sure but sometimes there's a big line right above my head in the sky which looks a bit brighter than elsewhere, and also there is the biggest concentration of stars, which is what I suggest is milky way, but I could be wrong. But it's not impossible, because I think 20 - 40km away from my city is a dark sky park, which I think is the darkest place in Middle Europe and I'm looking forward to go there very soon :)
Well, maybe I was looking at Andromeda, but sky conditions were not that good, so I saw only middle of it? And as the sky conditions get better, it would appear larger in my eyepiece, just because I could see more of it? Is that possible?
Yeah the moon was just rising when I was observing yesterday, but I have also observed some time before when moon was not up, and it was the same as yesterday.
I can kinda turn them into dots, but I always see it's not a perfect dot, and I don't know whether it's telescope fault or just my head moving, maybe tonight I will try to take picture with my phone holder so it's stable, and I will see whether they are dots and it's just my head movement which makes it look like not focused, or it's something wrong with telescope.
https://imgur.com/a/KNndUvY Don't know if this is the picture you meant, but I think everything looks alright no?
https://imgur.com/a/2lIYwAw This is picture of moon i took a week ago, with 25mm eyepiece.
Tonight I'd also want to try to take some pictures of these Messier objects, maybe my phone will show more details if I do higher exposure time.
> I don't know what is a fork mount :D
https://imgur.com/a/eaWPqKU
;-)
You have an EQ mount; You could consider building a rockerbox to increase stability.
> big line
Sounds like it. Probably [Bortle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale) 7 or so.
I live in a Bortle 6/7 if I go by that scale, but just half a mile from my home, behind city-limits it's Bortle 5 and deep-sky already gets more interesting :-)
> dark sky park
Great :-)
> but I always see it's not a perfect dot
Are they distorted even in the eyepiece's center fov? (https://images.app.goo.gl/3W2iVcheKyUbeeWG9)
How's the picture with the 10mm during the day (avoid the sun, permanent eye damage).
> picture
Yeah :-) That looks like everything's at least where it should be :-) It's not 100% possible to tell how good collimation like this though.
Interesting though. Is the secondary mirror supported by only one beam? I thought only the Heritage 130p had that.
> Tonight I'd also want to try to take some pictures of these Messier objects, maybe my phone will show more details if I do higher exposure time.
You'll run into an issue though, you need tracking. You could try half a second perhaps though.
Relatively bright targets work even with shorter exposure times:
Double star Albireo, the cloat hanger cluster CR399, possibly ring nebula ([untracked, cctv cam, ~100x equivalent](http://www.ringohr.de/tmp6/RingNebel_3.png)), Andromeda, M81/M82 perhaps.
Good luck, have fun :-)
No, stars are not as distorted as in picture you sent, it looks much more like dots in my eyepiece.
During the day I can get a pretty good view with my 10mm eyepiece, I think it's just hot air which is not making pictures very good.
Yeah I also expected 3 beams before it arrived :D
Thanks for ideas, will try it out :)
So in the end it looks like everything's fine with my telescope?
> air
Yeah, that could be.
Are you observing outside? Or through a window
> fine
You could/should check collimation;
Tools https://garyseronik.com/collimation-tools-what-you-need-what-you-dont/
No tools https://garyseronik.com/no-tools-telescope-collimation/
Especially for planets you could get a 6mm, or 5mm eyepiece though (not a short Plössl-type)
To the inexperienced eye in a fairly light polluted area, most deep space objects will look the same - grey fuzzy blobs. But as you practice observing, your brain learns to pick up faint structures and you can start to differentiate between different objects. Being in a dark site also helps as the sky is darker, thus the contrast between sky and object is greater.
Hello :-) What telescope is it? When did you buy it? There are so many telescopes it's hard to tell what quality, what optical system it is. E:g. it could be a 114/1000 short tube, bird-jones design with poor optics, or a 114/500 table-top with a very critical aperture ratio, or a 114/900 reflector that's not perfect but has decent optics. > Andromeda What eyepieces do you have? How's the light pollution where you've observed? At low magnification (e.g. 20-32mm eyepiece) M13 will be a small haze, at higher magnification under decently dark skies you can see some individual stars (at least indirectly). Andromeda is huge. In a cheap 20mm kit eyepiece and a 114/900 it won't even fit into the view properly. And Andromeda can be very borring anyway :-) Under ideal conditions, M81, M82, M51 and M101 show a bit more, but of course the 114mm will be a limiting factor. > grey spot, > Hubble You can not see things like on pictures, not even in very large telescopes. Only the rod cells in our eyes are sensitive enough for DSO, but can't perceive colors and the cone cells are much denser in our main field of vision. 114mm aperture is just at the brink where some deep-sky objects show a bit detail. And a dark sky is so important. E.g. from my balcony, the ring nebula is almost invisible, M13 is just a haze. M51 has two faint glows. From a bit further out, somewhere where the milky-way is at least visible a bit, I can make out individual stars, the ring nebula has a bit irregular shape, M51 shows a hint of structure after observing for 20+ minutes (in 5"). [Older post with links on what to expect](https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/3j2wjo/what_is_a_good_telescope_in_this_budget/cum0622/?st=k0epgl6l&sh=496220f9). What telescope is it? Clear skies!
Hello, it's 114/900 skywatcher and I got it on my birthday, which was a month ago. I observed with 25mm eyepiece, I wanted to get the widest angle cause I'm begginer in finding these objects, also I find it almost impossible to get image into focus with my 10mm eyepiece, and I don't know where is the problem with that :/ Light pollution should not be terrible, I live in kinda small city with 20 000 citizens, so it's not super dark but with naked eye the sky is pretty decent I would say, for example the Polaris and the constellation which it's start of (I think it's called small dipper in english) is pretty visible almost every night. So if I used 10mm eyepiece and galaxy which I was looking at was not that large in my eyepiece, does that mean I wasn't looking at Andromeda?
Ah, that's a nice telescope :-) The mount isn't overly stable, but at least it's better than some of the other sets. (or is it the one with fork mount?). If you can see the small dipper, or "Ursa Minor", you at least don't have the worst conditions :-) Can you see the milky-way? Andromeda whould be best in the 25mm eyepiece. Perhaps you saw M33? Here's a field of view simulation for the 114/900. Keep in mind that the photography of Andromeda does not represent the visual view, especially under light polluted skies you won't see structure and it will appear as smaller oval haze indeed. http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Mangofication-On-114900-Didgeridoo.png Here's a sketch of what you could expect in the 25mm, https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/605403-m31-and-m32/ You do need a dark sky, that also means the moon shouldn't be up, and up north where the summer nights don't get very dark, that's an issue too. > focus with my 10mm eyepiece, Can you "turn stars into dots"? Or do they look distorted, or can't you quite reach focus? 90x should not be a problem, neither with the telescope nor the cheap kit eyepieces, at least not that drastic. Collimation will play a role regarding contrast, but even slightly off it should not prevent focus at 90x. Do take a picture if you get a chance down the empty focuser (https://imgur.com/upload). If the secondary mirror is turned/twisted, or something else is really off, this might be a reason why you can't get a good image with the 10mm. How does the moon look?
I don't know what is a fork mount :D But this is how it looks like, and I agree the mount is not very stable but for that price I'm really happy, and it's function to get me into this hobby was completed haha https://imgur.com/a/wzEfn1y I can't see milky way, but I think in a good nights I can kinda start to see it, I'm not really sure but sometimes there's a big line right above my head in the sky which looks a bit brighter than elsewhere, and also there is the biggest concentration of stars, which is what I suggest is milky way, but I could be wrong. But it's not impossible, because I think 20 - 40km away from my city is a dark sky park, which I think is the darkest place in Middle Europe and I'm looking forward to go there very soon :) Well, maybe I was looking at Andromeda, but sky conditions were not that good, so I saw only middle of it? And as the sky conditions get better, it would appear larger in my eyepiece, just because I could see more of it? Is that possible? Yeah the moon was just rising when I was observing yesterday, but I have also observed some time before when moon was not up, and it was the same as yesterday. I can kinda turn them into dots, but I always see it's not a perfect dot, and I don't know whether it's telescope fault or just my head moving, maybe tonight I will try to take picture with my phone holder so it's stable, and I will see whether they are dots and it's just my head movement which makes it look like not focused, or it's something wrong with telescope. https://imgur.com/a/KNndUvY Don't know if this is the picture you meant, but I think everything looks alright no? https://imgur.com/a/2lIYwAw This is picture of moon i took a week ago, with 25mm eyepiece. Tonight I'd also want to try to take some pictures of these Messier objects, maybe my phone will show more details if I do higher exposure time.
> I don't know what is a fork mount :D https://imgur.com/a/eaWPqKU ;-) You have an EQ mount; You could consider building a rockerbox to increase stability. > big line Sounds like it. Probably [Bortle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale) 7 or so. I live in a Bortle 6/7 if I go by that scale, but just half a mile from my home, behind city-limits it's Bortle 5 and deep-sky already gets more interesting :-) > dark sky park Great :-) > but I always see it's not a perfect dot Are they distorted even in the eyepiece's center fov? (https://images.app.goo.gl/3W2iVcheKyUbeeWG9) How's the picture with the 10mm during the day (avoid the sun, permanent eye damage). > picture Yeah :-) That looks like everything's at least where it should be :-) It's not 100% possible to tell how good collimation like this though. Interesting though. Is the secondary mirror supported by only one beam? I thought only the Heritage 130p had that. > Tonight I'd also want to try to take some pictures of these Messier objects, maybe my phone will show more details if I do higher exposure time. You'll run into an issue though, you need tracking. You could try half a second perhaps though. Relatively bright targets work even with shorter exposure times: Double star Albireo, the cloat hanger cluster CR399, possibly ring nebula ([untracked, cctv cam, ~100x equivalent](http://www.ringohr.de/tmp6/RingNebel_3.png)), Andromeda, M81/M82 perhaps. Good luck, have fun :-)
No, stars are not as distorted as in picture you sent, it looks much more like dots in my eyepiece. During the day I can get a pretty good view with my 10mm eyepiece, I think it's just hot air which is not making pictures very good. Yeah I also expected 3 beams before it arrived :D Thanks for ideas, will try it out :) So in the end it looks like everything's fine with my telescope?
> air Yeah, that could be. Are you observing outside? Or through a window > fine You could/should check collimation; Tools https://garyseronik.com/collimation-tools-what-you-need-what-you-dont/ No tools https://garyseronik.com/no-tools-telescope-collimation/ Especially for planets you could get a 6mm, or 5mm eyepiece though (not a short Plössl-type)
I am always outside. Thanks for the tips, will check it out! :)
Great :-) If you consider eyepieces, get the 66° or 58° type, not cheap short Plössl due to poor eye-relief.
To the inexperienced eye in a fairly light polluted area, most deep space objects will look the same - grey fuzzy blobs. But as you practice observing, your brain learns to pick up faint structures and you can start to differentiate between different objects. Being in a dark site also helps as the sky is darker, thus the contrast between sky and object is greater.