Expert: Paul Wagner - 12/1/2009

Question
Greetings,

I have a Jason model 323 yellow piece of equipment along with a Hollywood Gemini 2806 tripod that I inherited from my father and we would like to look at the stars, do I need more equipment or do I try to put this equipment on the tripod? So far it's not working.

Thank you.

Georgina


Answer
Hi Georgina

I am not sure I can answer your question without knowing more, but I am going to try.  The tripod may or may not work with that telescope, but I wouldn't worry about the tripod first. If you can get it to hold the telescope still, then you are in luck.  If not, just lean the scope on something stable so that you can point it in the right direction.  

First, I would take the telescope out into the evening sky and look at the moon.  The moon is the easiest thing, because it is so bright that you will not have to worry about finding it in the scope.  And it is near full now, so it will be really bright!

1.  Point the telescope at the moon (if you have trouble with this, look at the shadow that the moon casts on the ground---that will help you align the scope at the moon) and look through the eyepiece.  

2.  There should be an eyepiece with lens in the focuser tube. If there is no eyepiece, the telescope won't work.  If you find more than one eyepiece, use the one with the biggest number on it--this will give you the widest field of view, which will help you find things.

3.  The eyepiece should show you the moon.  You may have to turn the focusing knob to get it into focus, but you should see the moon.

If you get that far, drop me another note, and we can start talking about finding some of the other stuff in the sky.  If you don't have an eyepiece, then you can often find the on ebay pretty cheaply.

This telescope is not a great scientific instrument--it's more of a toy.  But it should show you some craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter---and enough dim fuzzy nebulae to make you wish you had a better scope!

Hope that helps

Paul Wagner