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Telescope not focussing

Wiltshiresaint

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Wiltshiresaint

Wiltshiresaint

Posted
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I've got a major problem with my scope and wonder if anyone can help.

It's an Skywatcher ED80 Pro and put simply it doesn't focus any more! If I aim it in daylight at say, a chimney a few hundred yards away the best image I get is a very very indistinct blog - almost just a darkening in the eyepiece, rather than a crisp image of the chimney.

I'm embarrassed to say I haven't used the scope for around a year because of two house moves and a lot of pressure on my time, and it could well be the scope was knocked or otherwise damaged in one of the moves.

Do I have any options other than taking it to a repairer, and if not, can someone advise a good shop that could look at it that's not too far from Devizes in Wiltshire? Does this sound like an expensive problem? The scope cost me around £400 I think and I'm wondering if it'll be better to buy a new one even :)

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GME

GME

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Hi !

It could be that it got a bump during moving and the collimiation of the lence cell has been affected and/or you got moist between the lences that you shuold be able to see if you look at it from the front and down the scope

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glowjet

glowjet

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I Know this may sound stupid but if you look at the telescope objective end and the glass looks to be OK clean and not loose etc, have you checked your ep to see if a dead spider hasn`t curled up inside it, if you havn`t used it for some time? :)

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JamesM

JamesM

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Quick checklist. Eyepiece? is it just one you are using to look through, is it damaged, anything obscuring its light path and have you tried different eyepieces? Diagonal? Has the mirror inside moved, marked or again obscured in anyway? Without either of the above in the scope, when you look through the scope can you see the whole objective glass, nothing blocking the light path? Let me know what you find, I'm not far from you so could always take a look if I'm passing - don't want you missing out on all our clear weather! :)

James

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Wiltshiresaint

Wiltshiresaint

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Thanks guys, I'll make my way through the checklist bit by bit as suggested. I'm almost certain it's not a spider in the eyepiece but I'll try another just in case. Looking down the scope from the aperture it looks clear but it could be moisture I guess.

Thanks for th offer of help, if I get no joy I'll send you a PM James!

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damnut

damnut

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Had the same problem when I used a push fit to sct adapter in my st 120 in order to utilise my 2"sct diag. The adapter pushed the focal plane out so that I could not focus on distant objects.

Removing the adapter fitting push fit diag and ok. So I would also try along with good advice above, stripping your optical path to the minimimum and build up. ie eyepiece first in draw tube, then diag & eypiece.. This may lead you to the root of the problem.

Good Luck

Damian

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Wiltshiresaint

Wiltshiresaint

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Erm, a little embarrassed to post this but in order to help other who may encounter the same issue in the future.

Had a visit from James (JBM1165 on the forum) and we established using his diagonal and eyepiece that my tube was fine. On closer inspection of my diagonal James spotted that I'd put the Barlow lens between the tube and the diagonal instead of between the diagonal and the eyepiece. Doh!! I feel the need to get back to basics :-)

All sorted now, and many many thanks to James for taking the time to come over to Devizes from Bristol. Aside from fixing my problem I also got some very good tips on astonomy in general.

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JamesM

JamesM

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A pleasure to meet you Simon and I'm pleased that you're up and running now! Just have to wait for the weather to behave - now that's a problem none of us can solve! :)

Keep going with the observing and maybe see you at Wiltshire Astro?

James :)

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Leo.A

Leo.A

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I have an 80mm refractor and wouldn't be able to focus on anything at that range with a barlow attached.

It's good you have it sorted and so nice of the members here that they would call in and help you resolve the issue.

I wouldn't expect any visits for my problems, unless anyone is travelling to Sydney, Australia soon

I'll start making a list LOL...............

Never feel silly about these things, it comes from being human and wait till you start ageing a little, it gets worse.

My best ever would be lightning shots, all taken while standing out in a huge electrical storm with my camera mounted on a tripod were extremely disappointing when I realised I hadn't removed the lens cap (after getting inside when it started raining). I didn't have to focus or aim, just set the camera on the tripod and start shooting. At least I didn't waste rolls of film like I used to before digital...

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