Advice for a noob with a newtonian...

[Aenima]

Hi Aenima,

Kidney beaning is when your eye is placed in a certain position relative to the eyepiece such that a large portion of the visible field appears to 'blackout '. Repositioning your eye brings everything back

Hope this helps

Bart

Yes! This sounds like the exact thing I keep seeing, considering other possibilities it seems to be the description that fits.

I keep getting an object in FOV and for no apparent reason it will briefly 'hide' behind an imaginary obstruction, until I reposition my eye - even then it could still occasionally look skewed for a moment.

The problem now is I tried to re-collimate the mirror (I read and researched it, but it was still my first time) and just cant get it right - But I will try to start another post for advice on this subject, meantime i'd like to thank you for your suggestion, I wondered what the cause of kidneybeans is and if all eyepeices did it?

Nice1 Bart thnks alot.

Jay.

[Bart]

hi Jay,

I'm not sure of the physics behind kidney beaning but I do know some eyepieces suffer more than others, even some expensive ones.

When you're looking for new EPs research them here and on other forums and you might find references to whether they suffer or not.

Good luck.

BTW , don't worry about collimation, its tricky at first but becomes easy. However all reflector owners gotta do it, if they want the most from their instrument.

Clear skies.

Bart

[Aenima]

Thanks again, bart. I'm hoping to learn more about collimation as it now seems to be my no 1 concern. The neat and staionary pictures in the books and sites seem to expand into hundreds of different angles and possible misalignments when i look into my own focus hole. Being my first newtonion, I cant help feeling all thumbs and probably making it worse, especially as it came quite well collimated from the box.

I have read and reread some pdf. files from the net and watched the DIY clip from andy's shot glass (which is pretty good, but still different from what i see through my focuser, the basics are there but tiny movements of my eye cause big changes in the image) and have gained a little confidence, but feel a long way off having it sussed out.

How do I go about starting a seperate thread about this issue? And do you think, in general, that SGL and its members would be a good place to be asking questions all the time? As a nooby it is something i consider valuable, a place where skilled and knowledgeable astronomers are willing to teach and advise those just starting out.

Again, many thanks to you and all those who posted replies and welcomes, yours gratefully, Jay.

[Bart]

Jay

You can search the forum for collimation queries and previous replies. If you don't find something that relates to your queries, start your own post in the Beginners section.

Buy a cheshire collimation tool. It makes the job easy.

Visually 'equalize' the primary screws, then work on the secondary first, that's the fiddliest job. Once the secondary is centred under the focusser, get the 3 primary clips just visible in the secondary and then align the cross hair of the cheshire with the centre dot of the primary. It might take you an hour or two the first time, but when you get the idea, its easy.

Yes SGL members will help but even better, get to an astro club and someone will show you the way.

Good luck

Bart

Astro Babys guide I found to be very useful

[Aenima]

Yeah, man, will post a new thread as I need as many fresh ideas and expert tips as i can get. The whole premise is kinda getting out of hand as the more i fiddle the less certain i am about doing it right. I should have just waited till someone helpful like you mentioned kidneys, (thnx btw ,) before I went blundering in. The primary mirror is already marked with a small black ring thank god, and the spider holding the secondary is tight so it doesnt seem like it will have moved out just by carrying the scope outside once or twice. It just seems the more i look at it the harder it seems to put right.

Either way i am immensely grateful for your help,

I'm gonna look at it again now as I want to try to see jupiter again, it's the best thing I've seen through a telescope yet. Quite chuffed with that. Take care & thanks!

Jay

[telesto]

hi and welcome to sgl

[Aenima]

Cheers mate! Nice scope there.

~~~I notice you listed jupiter. What kind of view did you get using the 200mm?

I recently got a 130p explorer.

I used a 10mm ep with 2x barlow and just able to make out the muddy parallel lines running across the disc which confirmed it was jupiter.

Just wodering what kind of planet detail is possible in this kind of range of equipment?

Thanks for the welcome btw.

jay