Can anyone explain what I am doing wrong?

[liechtenstein]

 A while back, I bought a Meade 50 AZ-P, mostly because I'm 15 and wasn't sure if I would be into it too much and  it was cheap. I could only see the moon with the 25 and 12.5mm eyepiece (there was not really much of a change in magnification when I did that and adding the barlow or the other eyepiece made the view too blurry). Every time I tried to look at any of the planets, like Venus or Jupiter, all I would get was a pale yellow circle that had, what seemed to me little micro-organisms on it. So I figured it was the telescope, since it was cheap and all. I just bought a Celestron Powerseeker 127eq, figuring I would be able to actually see the planets. I took it out for the first time last night, pointed it at Mars, and ended up with the same pale yellow-white circle with little amoeba-looking things, the same as the other more cheaper telescope. (Both telescopes worked fine for terrestrial viewing.) Since the failure happened with both, I figured it was not the telescope doing something wrong, but me. I would really like to be able to see the planets and stuff and not a useless pale circle so if you can maybe tell me what I might be doing wrong, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. 

[Alien 13]

Hi and welcome to SGL from your description it does sound like the focus is way off when viewing the sky even a planet will initially look like a tiny spec of light with the 25mm eyepiece.

Alan

[rwilkey]

Hi there, are you sure you are bringing it to focus, it is harder at night-time than in the daytime. Also, use your lowest power (25mm) to start off with.

[alanjgreen]

the comment about microorganisms sounds like you were completely out of focus and looking at a reflection of your eye - the micro organisms may be what we know as "floaters" in your eye!

* did you try racking the focuser knob all the way from one end to the other - going through the full focus range?

start with your 25mm eyepiece in the scope and try to get focus

* planets will be VERY SMALL circle in a 25mm eyepiece

once you get focus in the 25mm, move to the 12.5 etc (best to make sure the "planet" is in the field of view of the low power eyepiece before moving to higher power.

HTH

Alan

[alanjgreen]

Looks like great minds think alike!

[liechtenstein]

Wow, thanks for replying so quickly. I will try all your suggestions tonight and get back here. Thank you very much.

[Grotemobile]

Hi and welcome to SGL from your description it does sound like the focus is way off when viewing the sky even a planet will initially look like a tiny spec of light with the 25mm eyepiece.

 

Alan

 

Focusing in daytime & at night is totally different.

You have got to take it very very slow when doing it

at night.

Steve

[astronymonkey]

Id agree with the focus issue. When the scope is out of focus you will see a circle that looks like its boiling. These are the air thermals in the tube and in the boundry layer of air right next to the optics (like a heat shimmer above a warm road) these refract the light and tend to ease off as the scope cools to an ambient temparature.

As previously mentioned a 25mm eyepiece should give a small circle as this will be  40x magnification in your scope but should be better in the 12.5mm.

cheers

[ronin]

To repeat many earlier bits, drop the 25mm in and locate and focus on whatever planet, get it centered thenchange to the 10mm and refocus. The eyepieces are not parfocal so you will need to adjust focus at any eyepiece change.

Next, what eyepieces do you have, I guess just the standard 10mm and 25mm

I presume the 127 is a Mak of 1500mm focal length and with 10mm eyepiece that is 150x. Mars will be a small red disk at that.

To see "detail" you seem to need 250x and I don't think the 127 will go that high and deliver a meaningful image to the eye, I would say 180-200x maximum. And that means additional eyepieces.

Better is to do the locating and viewing with Saturn, the 10mm eyepiece at 150x should be good on that. I suppose Jupiter is a bit too low at present, but is it is visible give it a try.

By the way Mars is very small, Mars when it is at it's closest to the Earth is still smaller then Jupiter when at it's furthest.

[dannybgoode]

I have a pretty good idea what is going wrong as I have just had exactly the same problem with my new Skywatcher 150P.  Best I could get was a smallish disc of light covering about 1/2 to 1/3 of the ep with the 'bacteria' effect and having read this post earlier I was scratching my head.

Turns out that on the focussing assembly there is both a 2" focussing tube AND a 2" to 1.25" adapter.  I removed the larger of the two assemblies i.e. the 2" focussing tube and then reattached just the adapter and Bob's your proverbial all is good (well apart from some collimation issues but hey that can be sorted...

[Cornelius Varley]

To repeat many earlier bits, drop the 25mm in and locate and focus on whatever planet, get it centered thenchange to the 10mm and refocus. The eyepieces are not parfocal so you will need to adjust focus at any eyepiece change.

Next, what eyepieces do you have, I guess just the standard 10mm and 25mm

I presume the 127 is a Mak of 1500mm focal length and with 10mm eyepiece that is 150x. Mars will be a small red disk at that.

To see "detail" you seem to need 250x and I don't think the 127 will go that high and deliver a meaningful image to the eye, I would say 180-200x maximum. And that means additional eyepieces.

Better is to do the locating and viewing with Saturn, the 10mm eyepiece at 150x should be good on that. I suppose Jupiter is a bit too low at present, but is it is visible give it a try.

By the way Mars is very small, Mars when it is at it's closest to the Earth is still smaller then Jupiter when at it's furthest.

The telescope is a Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ not the 127 Mak.

[itmo]

You might want to aim your scope at jupiter before you try mars. Mars IS a yellow blob most of the time  because of it's size, relatively low contrast and weather. Jupiter is easier to focus to and actually has some relatively high contrast surface features. Also saturn is quite close , so if you can, take a look at it , you should be able to atleast distinguish the rings.

[liechtenstein]

Went out last night and everything worked perfectly. Thanks for the help.