Hillsdale

For anyone interested in an update, I took the scope outside and followed several pieces of advice that you all gave. I was able to successfully align the finder scope and the eyepiece to a distant building and get it in focus through my 32mm eyepiece. So now I know the scope works, and if I have trouble seeing an object at night, it must be a focus or brightness issue. As I understand it, my 230p should be able to see some fairly distant objects, so it must just be fine tuning my focusing skills now. Any advice for some good first objects to try to find other than the moon? I'm in New York for spatial reference. Thanks again for all the assistance.

Yes, I am fully extending it. I did notice that it has that first stop and then you need to extend further to full extension.

So I've just been experimenting indoors to try to figure things out. If I stand about 6-8" away from the 32mm eyepiece, I can see a little circle that is clearly in focus. I can put my hand on top of the optical tube and see my hand through the eyepiece very clearly (yes, I know the scope is not meant to see things anywhere near that close, but I'm just trying to see if the setup is right). So I think the mirrors are fine and it's just a focus issue. The problem is when I get close to the eyepiece, it just loses all focus. Last night there were some very bright stars out (no moon, though), and no matter what eyepiece I used and no matter how much I turned the focuser knobs in either direction, all I got was blur. It didn't even look like I was seeing the sky, no sign of stars whatsoever. So I'm still at a loss, but at least I'm pretty sure it's not a mirror issue. Any ideas?

Wow, thank you everyone for the quick replies. Some responses: Yes, the focuser does move up and down when I turn the knobs, but it makes no difference. All I see is a hazy blur. No sign of anything in the sky. I've posted a photo. If I look straight into the focuser tube with no eyepiece, I see my own reflection, which I think suggests that the mirrors are working properly. I think this might be the issue, but no combination I try helps. The focuser tube is 2", but the supplied eyepieces are all 1.25", so Skywatcher provides an adapter. The adapter can go straight into the focuser tube, or there is another 2" piece that can go into the focuser tube and the 1.25" adapter can then go into that. Not sure what the right setup is. I'm using my largest diameter eyepiece (32mm), but I get the same view of nothingness no matter what eyepiece I use. I've attached a photo of all the pieces as well as the focuser tube. Thank you all for your help. Right now, the telescope is just a piece of furniture... hopefully you'll be able to guide me to actually seeing the night sky!

Hi all, I'm brand new to stargazing. I've got a Skywatcher 14" GoTo Dobsonian. I was pretty sure I set everything up correctly, but clearly I haven't. I can see just fine through the finder scope. But when I look into the eyepiece, I don't see a thing. Just a solid blur. I'm pretty sure there must be something wrong with the mirror alignment, but I really don't know where to begin. Please help! Happy to send photos of anything that might help.