Common Mistakes To Avoid 

You have become my main mentor for this hobby. Mainly because of your focus on visual astronomy. I really have no interest at all in astro photography. I don't want to bring gadgets with me to the telescope, it becomes a distraction. I can't even have headphones on and listen to music. I just want the pure recreation and awe of looking through the eyepiece.

A few nights ago, i saw the bee-hive cluster for the first time. In my 15x70 binoculars. My jaw dropped, it's awesome. My new favourite object. Seeing the hidden is extremely exciting. Knowledge of where they are is very rewarding. 🌙

The expectations section really hit home for me. I showed my fiancee the orion nebula at bortle 5 a cpuple months ago, and shes like "it just looks like some haze in space!" I remember seeing it for MY first time and being blown away.

Another set of great tips for the up and coming astronomers :) Keep on making these man. The beginners and intermediates out there will use these a lot.

Another great video, Jason. I think mobile phone astrophotography is very underrated. There's no reason why you can't use standard astrophotography techniques (like stacking) with a mobile phone. I managed to get a recognisable image of comet ZTF (the green one) with just a mobile phone .... no telescope, no binos, but just a bit of know-how.

One of the coolest things I have observed with a cheap hobby telescope is of a 747 passing across a full moon - a near dead center punch right thought the middle of moon. The plane was 60 miles out of LAX on approach, at probably 10.000 to 15,000 feet, and lite-up like a Christmas tree - one in million life times and my eyes only saw. The vortices coming off the wing tips after its passing were incredible in the atmosphere with the back-drop of a full moon. Get out there! You never know what you are going to see.

Regarding the cleaning of optics, I don't think you mentioned it but you did imply it: don't blow air with your mouth onto the optics to clean them, but use instead a tool like Jason is showing, or even one of those manually-operated pumps for inflating/deflating stuff. Cheap and fairly accessible in the large supermarkets.

Great video as always. I've had an interest in astronomy for 40 years, and when I started out, I made every one of these mistakes. Wish I'd had a mentor like Jason back then.

Im starting out on my astronomy journey and just found your channel a few hours ago. Im subscribed and binge watching your content, excellent stuff!

I totally agree with the Expectation section, my daughter and I viewed Venus on our first ever night out with the telescope, we knew that Venus is the easiest planet to see, but it still blew our minds 🤩

I decided I wanted something simple for watching birds and the next comet and when I saw a big discount on the Celestron 70mm travel scope I ordered it. I also ordered an Svbony 2x barlow and their 10mm plossil in case mine is no good. I have a Svbony 90 degree diagonal mirror in my cart but decided to wait. I may get a 4.5 inch reflector in the future to monitor satellites passing over but I`m not sure how much I`d use one. I would prefer a larger refractor probably.

Solid information thanks Jason 👍

Another great vid.

Really appreciate these basics!

Thanks to you re-igniting my interest in astronomy with your channel about 14 months ago, I now have a TS Photon 6" reflector with lovely optics and a nice crayford focuser which was a steal from FLO at £266 delivered, a mint Skywatcher 127 Maksutov which I bought secondhand with quite a few accessories for £200 and I am expecting the imminent delivery of a Dwarf Lab ll. I like my visual observing, despite living under Bortle 7 skies, but I think the Dwarf Lab scope will be a great addition.

Let me add one more mistake that I think is very easy to fall into, especially when someone start up... *May the collimation of your reflector not become your ordeal.* Jason already talked about in at least a couple of videos from a while back. For a reflector to not give good vision, it has to be very out of collimation, and a great out of collimation is not so easy to happen, unless the tube has been transported a lot, for years and without too many precautions. The difference between a precise alignment of the optics and a slight misalignment our eye (and more if you are a beginner) will not perceive when observing the sky. I'm always talking about visual observation, not astrophotography. On the other hand, we must be aware that in most of the tubes that hobbyists use, unless we own a high-end reflector, an exact alignment is practically impossible to achieve, due to the multiple mechanical mini-clearances and displacements respect the optical axis in the focuser and in mirrors cells. And today, low focal Newton reflectors are a trend, which are precisely more laborious to collimate than higher focal ones, because they do not present a concentric pattern of reflections (due to the offset they require) and because their tolerances to relieve an imprecise alignment are much smaller. That is why it is easy for the beginner, who undertakes the task of collimating as a challenge, to arm himself with lasers, chesires and other gadgets (some can be very expensive) with the claim that all of them will validate an exquisite alignment, even before begin to observe with the telescope... and fail in the attempt, to the point of becoming obsessed, trying it once and again. I suggest doing it the other way around. Observe with your newly purchased tube first, enjoy it and don't mess with anything: if you bought it in a trustworthy house, it will probably have come up with reasonably good collimation. Then, over time, if you notice that the visualization has worsened, or you check with the typical cap with its little central hole, or with the chesire eyepiece, it has become misaligned, then it is time to realign the elements by following some good tutorial from the many on the internet.

Thank you! Your videos are always interesting. I wish I saw it a year ago before I decided to clean my mirrors when I was absolutely new to astronomy. In fact the problem was just bad collimation. But thanks to all the mistakes I really learned about how telescopes work.

great video - as always! Especially what you said about expectation management

Your tips and tricks are treasure!

another great video Jason brilliant stuff

Great video Jason. Some useful information

That's why I love my 100 ED binoculars, as they are ready to be used anytime, winters and summers alike. No cooling issues (neither collimation) Views on the Moon and planets are already stunning with these, even at x80 mag !

Thanks again!

A lot of people think that astrophotography needs fancy, expensive equipment, but in reality it's not necessary. I am starting doing astrophotography with just my mirrorless camera and a standard tripod. An untracked setup can also result in good image

I was really waiting for a new video. Nice job.

You maybe have no idea how much you have helped me in the short time I've been doing this. I have always been fascinated by light. In a bit of fortune, I ran across someone selling an old scope, It was beat up, with no markings other than a center-line piece of tape across the tube. It had a Meade finder scope attached, with a 6 mm crosshair eyepiece in it and a pilar type mount. 7 1/2 inch aperture. I gladly paid the man $50 US for the whole thing. That was around 6 weeks ago, and i added another smaller Newtonian a week later, as the mounting screws for the secondary mirror had been broken. I've been making a new set by hand, it's taking a while lol. I also discovered I can use my DSLR to take some amazing images just by themselves. So thank you for all the effort you out into these videos, it has been well worth it to me.

I am brand new in the astronomy hobby. Everyone told me to buy a Dobsonian telescope and they said larger aperture is better. So, I bought a 10" Dobsonian. I am elderly and feeble and could not carry it out into the back yard. Big mistake. So, I gave it to a young, strong friend of mine who only had a 60mm achromatic refractor with a mount he made from a coat hanger. He was pleased. I was out a grand. Then, I bought the largest telescope and largest mount I could lift, a Celestron 150mm/750 focal length Newtonian reflector with a CG-4 mount. It just arrived and I am trying to learn to use it. Am now ready to make my next big mistake when buying a camera.

Thanks!

Thank you so much! You helped me a lot with my new telescope!

Everything you said here was so perfect. By the way, I have a Meade SCT 10" that I bought new in 2001. I have not yet cleaned the corrector plate. At this point it could probably use it and I'm in the process of learning how before I open it up. But the main thing is I don't notice a poor image while viewing through it. You were spot on about telling people to be very careful when considering if they need to clean theirs or not. Keep the great videos coming!

One cherished moments from my childhood was my father showing me Saturn. And now I’m trying g to share that experience with my daughters. Thanks for your videos. I really appreciate now the challenge it was for him to show me.

I can't explain it but your energy just brings a smile to my face. Love the channel👍🏻

Yes,was guilty on the eye piece lens care. thanks for catching me early .thanks for all the other info I now practice. Collimation .understanding using EQ mount ,balance etc etc was very helpful.

Hi Jason. After searching high and low on RU-vid I came across your channel. We own a Celestron Nexstar 8SE and we just feel that we're not maximising it's potential. Having discovered your channel you have made a big difference to our amateur astronomy. Thank you kindly.

I love that the time it takes to cool down the telescope and the time it takes to adjust your eyes are very similar.

Tack!

thanks!

I just got my 1st telescope set up and waiting for Scottish weather to be good with me xD Thank you for all the content kind sir. It's being extremely helpful.

Great vid! My biggest problem is the expectation part. I think everything u look at kinda looks the same everytime. A bright light. Saturn was cool thou.

A smart man learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

Thanks

Awesome videos buddy. Got my very first telescope a Celestron Evo6 2 days ago and have been so fortunate to have got outside twice and have a look. Not even had time to set up all the gizmos yet. Had some amazing views of Saturn and Jupiter so far. One thing I have struggled with is trying to take any kind of usable imagery on my iPhone through the eyepiece to share with family/friends. Any tips or pointers? Tempted to try and pick up a smartphone mount for it but I'm guessing there may be techniques that might help. All the best from down south in Kent 😜 Dan.

I am impressed! you have come over in this vid as super confident & positive, a lovely change? I think you were getting a bit wishy washy? (can't say more than that) but it's great, well done that man!

Danke!

Thank for your Explanation :D great Job you done, i am new to Teleskops, i buyed a few Weeks ago an Firsrt Light AR 102/1000m with EQ Mount, i love it, it is so comfortable to follow the Sun or Moon, i hope i can see in the nearer Future Saturn, Jupiter and Mars :) Best regards from Germany :)

Evening and night time is when trees release a lot of their pollen. Leaving an optical tube open to the night air invites residue and moisture inside of the tube which, in time, will mean a disassembly and cleaning of what are meant to be pristine surfaces. See National Center for Biotechnology Information: "Pollen Nightmare..." dated May 10, 2016.

Hi Jason,Great Video Again,Im Usually Out For The Night When I Go..Gonna Snow Again Tomorrow😂,and still Havent Seen The Sky Since Christmas🤨🙏🏻❤️✨🔭🌏Clear Skies

Hello there :) thanks again for great tips. One question - is there a chance for better video quality? At least Full HD? That would be great!

Love my EQ, but I too didn't know how to align it properly...once done, it's WAAAAY easier to use and then follow planets/stars. And yes, astrophotography is NOT the same as astronomy, it frankly requires different equipment. My newtonian is great for seeing the stars, but it's horrible for anything other than cellphone pics of planets (and actually, videos are way better, just a little difficult to keep the auto focus program from screwing up some shots). But that's fine...astronomy with the naked eye has it's own value.

@small optics hi I have the F70076 telescope could you do a demonstration on how to use the telescope and what kind of mount it has

If you didn’t know already svbony have upgraded their redline with the sv154 15mm eye pice it has an adjustable eye cup

Thanks very much for these tips etc. Learning a lot. BUT....I'm having a really hard time locating things in my viewfinder. Just can't seem to line up properly (and I don't mean line up with the view through the telescope because I've already aligned viewfinder with view through the eyepiece. I think it just doesn't give me a sufficiently large field of view to make me sure that the star I'm looking at is the one I want to be looking at. Any tips?

Hi, are you a fan of long focal length refractors? I have a 5" 1200mm bresser and I love it.

The astro cams seem crazy expensive. And for few megapixels. For $100-200 you can get an lgv30+ which has an awesome 16mp camera. Or one of the other good cell phone cams from the last 5 years. Im gluing a camera ring to a rigid phone case instead of the mounting clamps (theyre a huge headache). I even looked up the sensor boards used inside those astro cams, for the 20mp version direct from sony your spending thousands..thats crazy. Cell phone with a 64mp can be had new for less money. (Dont buy into pixel brand, terrible camera). For the night vision we used to use green led's on our bikes. It works with your rods and cones better at night. Takes 15mins to adjust but then your set and have a strong light source that wont ruin your night vision. Dont go for red light that is meant for blocking blue (daylight) from screens. Green is the one you want.

So question, for the night vision part why not just where an eyepatch over the eye you use for looking through the telescope. That way your night vision is preserved if you ever need to use your phone or some other light source pops up

Hello i just bought my first telescope/ a 76700 how good does it do in a bortle 5 city? And what filter should i use with it

Could you point me in the right direction for you cell phone tips video. I didn’t see it in the library. Using my cell phone back in October for some Milky Way pics has been what’s gotten me back into the hobby but I’d like to see if I could get some deep sky pics.

I got a funny little telescope that is really big. I bought it from someone else and there were a few things missing, like there was no covering for the telescope ao i literally just bought shower hair caps and i put those on it when im not using it 😂

Good evening or night. When I left my telescope outside it for 10 minutes to get adjusted to the temperatures the telescope accumulated a high amount of condensation on the lenses, this happened because I live close to the coast, do you have any tips or suggestions to keep this from happening? If so please respond.

Which telescope should i buy for beginner my budget is $600-800 thanks

Which is the best budget telescope for deep space astrophotography?

Do you still rate the svbony redline are they your main ones I had major issues with my dust blower with it blowing white spec’s everywhere even after clenching it

Brother I need a advice from you

Hey bro, do u know how to find ton 618? Cannot find anything on how to find this hole, thanks

Hey Jason I was wondering if you have ever tried an electronic eyepiece that comes with a monitor, like the Revolution Imager for example... that particular eyepiece is pretty expensive but there are cheaper versions... I'm wondering if they are worth messing with... I'm strictly a viewer and don't want to get into taking pictures, but if these things do what they claim to do, which is suspect, then I think they could be pretty cool... thanks!!

I'm a noob but your dust cover makes me cringe. I made a cover for my Dobsonian because I want to keep the scope as dust free as possible, it just covers the top half but I also put a shower cap on the rear so spiders can't get in and spin a web in the tube, it's a single use shower cap that you get in hotels. Obviously removed during use as it has to cool. My thinking is it will be as clean as possible for the longest time. I also make sure all covers are on eyepieces unless being used. Am I being over cautious? Is that even possible?

"Love the dark" ???? most of us have neighbours who love seachlights and with modern technology they turn on at random times

Have a drink on me.

Thanks!

No, we can´t thank you enough...thanks and greets from Germany

Thanks