Pthreat

Hi guys I just wanted to share my moon shots from last night. Equipment used: MEADE LX85 6" MAKSUTOV CASSEGRAN CANNON REBEL T100 No sharp cap, all manual, didnt use the goto system, cable to control the mount with sharp cap has to yet arrive to my country.

It was like you said, I reaaaaaally had to turn that knob! See potato pic of Venus above

Ps: I left the telescope outside for about 3 hours before proceeding to any observation 😀

Yes its a crappy pic I took with my phone sorry for the quality I still havent set my cannon rebel, waiting for that when control cables arrive

Well as someone said above. It was only a matter of reaaaaally turning that knob !!!! This is Venus which was really low but the cool guys Jupiter and Saturn come out waaay to early for me and I have to work 😀 I have a 9mm and a 26mm eye piece this picture I took it with the 9mm eye piece. Which eye pieces could I get that would be great for planet watching? Thanks!

I did but I guess it was lost in the text, Im in Buenos Aires Capital Federal Argentina near Caballito thanks for the links!

Thank you for your reply 😀 Is turbulence also that bad during winter? Im having 8 celsius to 6 celsius at 19:00 pm. Could you explain me or point to an article in which I can understand whats the ideal weather for observing?

Even with the diagonal mirror only? So should I spin that focus knob until the black dot goes away?

Hello guys how are you doing.? Im a total beginner with astronomy, but since 30 something years Ive wanted to have a telescope. As I wanted a telescope which would be ideal for beginners but would allow me to get more into an intermmediate level I bought a Meade LX85 6" Maksutov Cassegrain. Im also planning in getting into astrophotography but this will be something I will do after I get the basics right. Today during the early morning I took the telescope out to do moon gazing, I was able to at least point the tracker to the moon and was very pleased with what I saw, however using the 26mm super plözl multicoated eye piece was dissapointing to say the least. I figured out by my own that I should probably align the tracker during day time with the main tube. So I pointed the main tube to an object far in the distance and then proceeded to align the tracker right on the X spot. I did the alignment by just using the diagonal mirror eye piece since it proved to be simple enough. During this time I was able to observe a black dot during calibration in the middle of the tube and I was a little concerned. I did some research during the afternoon and read in some forums that this black dot in the middle could be related tonthe secondary mirror. I calmed down and proceeded to go outside and use my telescope which was left outside several hours, i had coverrd the main tube with the lids and a I threw in a light jacket over it to keep it out of sight from prying eyes (where I live in Argentina having a telescope is not something common). About 19:05 PM venus was north west so I gave it a shot and pointed the tracker at it. I took a look with the 26mm eye piece however I could only see a difuse blob of what I thought it was venus. This blob was perfectly round, there was no black spot in the middle while using the 26mm eyepiece. I then proceeded to point at antares with the tracker and then took a look again with the 26mm and I saw nothing. I did some more research and read that this problem could be due to need for collimation on my main scope. As you can tell I have handled the telescooe manually without using the GoTO system, the scope didnt come with a regular adapter but with a cigarette lighter adapter, I do have this solved and the 12V 5Amp adapter will arrive tomorrow. Attached I have left some pics from the main scope which I have taken while using the diagonal mirror indoors with my phone (my phone has several cameras so pics might look strange). Questions are basically: Is the black do the secondary mirror or should I collimate the main scope? why I wasnt able to see venus crystal clear witj the 26mm eye piece? Thank you very much for reading thisfar, if you have any questions please let me know and I will reply ASAP.