Expert: Paul Wagner - 3/16/2009

Question
I have just purchased a celestron astromaster 130 telescope. I set it up as per instructions. However, when I look at the starts they look no bigger than with the naked eye. My basic binoculars work better and show more stars!! am i doing something wrong or do you think the telescope is faulty?? I am really upset as I was so looking forward to getting a telescope but it's just not what I expected and I feel like I have wasted my money. please help!!!
thanks
Lee

Answer
Hi Lee

I have some good news and some bad news.  Let's start with the bad news:  stars are so far away that NO amount of magnificationn will make them seem any bigger from Earth--not even with the biggest telescopes we have.  And I am sorry if you were expecting something else.

Now the good news--there is a TON of stuff in the sky that isn't just individual stars.  Start with the planets--you should be able to see the moons of Jupiter and its cloud belts, the rings of Saturn and some of its moons, and on a good night you'll also see the polar caps of Mars and the crescent shape of Venus as an evening or morning star.  And the Moon will blow you away with its mountains, craters, and plains.

And that's not even the half of it.  You will also see magnificent nebulae (check out the sword of Orion for one of the best) beautiful double stars, as well as star clusters and dim little fuzzies that turn out to be galaxies far away.  

You are seeing fewer stars in your scope because the field of view is so much smaller--you're seeing more of the spaces between the stars--but when you hit a rich region of the sky, it will astonish you!

I would start with a search for the top items on the Messier list--these are roughly 100 top objects for small telescopes, and a website search will help you find them all.  

Paul Wagner