Page 56 - BBC Sky at Night Beginners Guide to Astronomy - 2017 UK

OBSERVING

ACCESSORIES

SO YOU’VE Your telescope is the piece of kit that everyone come with a basic 5x24 fi nder, which means a
GOT A admires. Your friends will look through it and the 24mm lens with 5x magnifi cation. But there
wonders of the Universe will be revealed to them.
are many upgrade options, and even moving up
TELESCOPE: What they probably don’t give a thought to, though, to a 6x30 version will improve things. Avoid a
NOW WE’LL is the variety of accessories that enable the entire fi nderscope where the front lens is narrowed with
SHOW YOU observing process to go as smoothly as it does. an aperture stop. It also needs to have a crosshair
for centring objects in its view.
When we talk about accessories we don’t just
WHICH mean nice toys, either. We’re talking really useful Red-dot and refl ex fi nders are the next step up
ACCESSORIES bits of equipment that will help you get the best out from standard fi nders. Their magnifi cation is zero
– they show the sky as you see it with your eye. The
of your telescope.
ARE GOOD TO most basic red-dot fi nders project a red dot onto
GO WITH IT ESSENTIAL KIT a glass screen. When you look through the fi nder,
First on the list come fi nderscopes – these are the red dot appears among the stars. Just line the
invaluable for fi nding objects. Many smaller scopes dot up by moving the telescope over the object you
56 skyatnightmagazine.com 2012