After some advice

[staryeyes]

Just after a bit of advice really. I recently sold my skywatcher 130M on fleabay to fund a refractor. The scope sold no problem and was delivered today, i packed it really well and made sure there was plenty of padding etc in the box. Ive now had a message from the buyer that reads:

Hi Mark

The telescope arrived today and I've set it up for the first viewing. I went for the moon as an easy start. I set it up as best I could and couldn't get an image of the moon at all. After lots of tweeking around I took a peek inside and saw a large oval light reflected on the side wall about half way down. It looks like the mirror is very long way out of alignment. Is this normal, and can it be adjusted back again? I didn't touch anything down there so can only assume it moved in transit. That movement looks excessive though.

The mesage goes on to say that the box looked a little beaten up etc, can the mirror really have moved that much or is the scope just not pointed in the right direction?

If anyone had any ideas i would be most grateful

Thanks

Mark.

[brantuk]

If the box is beaten up bad and the mirror is all over the place it sounds like it's been dropped or banged somehow. I would look into what insurance you had on the package in case the scope is damaged at all.

The mirror is held in place on three springs with collimation screws and locking screws - it's unlikely to have moved so far without a serious bang. Sorry to bear bad news

[staryeyes]

Thanks brantuk, doesnt sound to good then , the buyer seems reasonable, i will pass on the info to him and hopefully we can sort it out so its useable again

Thanks

Mark.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

See if you can get some photo's of the secondary+holder. Also, regardless of the oval of light, ask him if the secondary looks as though it'd bounce the light into the focuser or does the angle look way off?

[staryeyes]

Thanks Jimmy, i never thought about the secondary being the issue, makes sense though, i shall message him and see what he says, and like you say, ask for some pics

Thanks

Mark.

[brantuk]

If it's just the secondary then it should be easy enough to adjust back so long as the spider isn't bent. I got the impression it's the primary that's been dislodged. As Jimmy says - a photo or two would be useful - ask if the buyer can email a couple for you to post up here - we'd be in a better position to advise - all may not be lost

[staryeyes]

Thanks brantuk, i have asked for a couple of pics so i will probably get them tomorrow and will get them up on here for you experts to take a look at