help....all i see is black

lonepisces · Guest

I just purchased a Bushnell 420 X 3" ALT-AZ Reflector telescope,3" (76mm) newtonian reflector,700mm focal length...during the day i can see thru the scope well., but this evening i took it out to the local lake,lots of stars were out and it was very clear ,but no moon..yet everything i tried i could see nothing..it did not matter if just the small cap was off the end or if both of them were off, all i could see is blackness..what am i doing wrong,is there not enough light or what....would appreciate any help..thank you Confused

opticsplanet.com · Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:42 am Post subject:

Hi

Always start off with the lowest power eyepiece if you are learning how to use a telescope. Low power will give you the widest field of view and will be much easier to line up on a target. Low power will also give you the brightest view and this is important when trying to see faint objects. On your Bushnell, this will be the 30x land eyepiece. To increase magnification, you can use the barlow with this eyepiece to get 90x. This will be enough for pleasing views of most astronomical objects including the planets.

Do not use the 4mm eyepiece for general observing. It gives about 175x which is a bit too much for such a small scope. This eyepiece will be suitable for viewing the moon and other bright objects, but not much more. Needless to say, never use the barlow with this eyepiece. It will deliver a ridiculous amount of magnification for such a small scope.

A good way to improve the performance of the 420x3 is with a 10mm eyepiece such as the Celestron E-Lux, http://www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-telescopes-eyepieces-elux-series.html which will deliver 70x and a quality 2x barlow such as the Meade 126, (the barlow supplied by Bushnell is poor), http://www.opticsplanet.net/meade-barlow-lens-07273.html. This will give you effective magnifications of 60x, 70x, 120x and 140x - a more reasonable range for a 3" scope.

Lastly, be sure your finderscope is correctly adjusted. This will make life much easier when trying to locate objects.
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