problems with telescope

[louise91]

hi i just purchased a telescope for the 1st time and it is a jessops ta800x80. when viewing a star through the eyepieces all i can see is a black cross with a circle in the middle on the star but when viewing the moon i dont get this.how come i cant see stars without the cross on it? does anyone know how to solve this problem? could u help me please with this as i tryed everything i can and it dont work many thanks louise.

[ScubaMike]

Sounds like focus Louise,

Try taking the focus through the entire travel range, you should see the circle grow smaller, then larger,

The focus point with be between these points.

If you still cannot get foucus (if it starts to grow smaller, but doesn't acually get to a point), it may be that you need extension tubes.

Alternatively, you may need to collimate your telescope.

[stev74]

Yeah it sounds like a focus issue, each time you put in a different EP(eyepiece) in the focuser you need to adjust the focus.... Make sure you start with your lowest power EP (the one with the highest number) and work your way down through the focal lengths. Practising on the moon is a great way to start, if you see that 'cross' you need to adjust the focuser in or out to achieve good focus... If that makes sense?

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk

[malc-c]

Louise, do a search of the forum. There was a post a few days ago where the chap had the same thing. He returned the scope to Jessops (as did lots of other people judging by the comments in his post) for a refund.