I have a Meade 60 AZ-S it was my first ever telescope i never have been able to see anything through it ever since i got it i dont know whats wrong with it or is it just not strong enough. i can se mars but it shows up as a star.. what to do?
-scott-
by 
beginingmechanic
ANSWERS: 1
-
A Meade scope is actually a decent one. The issue you have is that it's only a 60 mm aperature. Mars isn't really all that big a planet and even in my 80mm refractor with a 2X barlow and a 10mm eyepiece, I never expect to see more than polar ice, when looking carefully. When using my 6 inch schmidt/newtonian hybrid, with the same optics, it comes out much better and other planet detail shows well. If you are using the eyepieces supplied with the scope, I doubt that they included a barlow. It will bump up whatever eyepiece you're using to 2-3X, depending on the barlow. You should, however, even with that 60 mm and a stock 26 mm eyepiece, see Mars as a planet, not a point of red light. There ought to be a disk. You'll have to wait a while before you get the chance to try it out. Mars isn't visible in the sky (Oct 20/2006). It's comming up with the Sun. A better target right now is Saturn, it's up at around 0300 hrs. You just missed a shot at Jupiter by about 2 weeks, in the early evening sky. So, if you're trying right now to resolve Mars, that will be a big problem. :) It isn't there.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC