My Telescope |
This is an image of my current telescope. It is a Celestron Nexstar 5.
It uses mirrors to reflect the light internally several times, this allows it to be compact in size but still give large
magnifications. The optical design is known as Schmidt-Casselgrain after the people who designed it. It has a computer
built-in which has a database of hundreds of the brightest objects in the heavens. Each time the scope is set up if it
is aligned by pointing at two different known places in the sky (ie. bright stars) it can then automatically "GOTO" other
objects. This is very convenient, especially when the sky is very light polluted and it is difficult to see very many
stars with the naked eye. The disadvantage is the extra cost. For the same money a much larger telescope could be
purchased that would give better views. |
Eyepieces |
The telescope alone is not very useful without eyepieces. Different eyepieces give different magnifications. The formula
for figuring out the magnification is quite simple, the magnification is given by the focal length of the telescope divided
by the focal length of the eyepiece. For example, my Nexstar 5 has a focal length of 1250mm. The eyepiece that came with
it is a 25mm eyepiece. 1250 / 25 = 50 so when I am using the Nexstar eyepiece the magnification is 50 times. |
Computerized Control |
I'm using my Palm to control my telescope. There is a great program by Andreas Hofer called
Planetarium that includes control plug-ins for the Nexstar and the
Meade Autostar model telescopes. It also makes a really handy pocket guide to the sky. |