First night and a few problems

[kbp]

I decided to buy the Celestron Nexstar 127 and last night was the first time I used it. I had a few problems and would appreciate some advice:

1. When looking at Jupiter and Venus, they looked like black discs surrounded by light (a bit like a fried egg, although perfectly round). Is this right? I thought I'd see more colour, which was disappointing. I used a 25mm lense and then switched to 9mm (the ones that came in the box).

2. I had problems aligning the finder with the scope (seemed to be always out). When using the goto align setup I centered the star in the eyepiece, but apart from my first attempt it failed each time. On the first attempt it said it was successful, and moved towards Jupitor and Venus when asked, but was quite a way out (I set the longitude and latitude, and I thought it was level).

3. I noticed a blotch in the view, a bit like a tiny shrivelled leaf, but couldn't see anything on the lenses. I did have a dew shield on, but do you think it was dew? When I came in and looked through the scope in the light I couldn't see any marks or dust. I did use a fine brush and lense cloth to doubly make sure.

4. The Meade connector cable between the battery and scope seemed a bit loose at the scope end and when I moved the cable it cut out - I lost power several times. Maybe I should return the lead?

Advice very much appreciated.

Karen

[perkil8r]

From first impressions, it sounds like the same thing you see when you are way out of focus. Did you try adjusting focus? When mine is way out I see a bright ring with a black centre. As for the tracking, I don't know much about the computerised scopes, does it need polar aligning maybe?

As for the finder alignment. Go outside during daylight. Pick an object half a mile or more away and get it in the finder. Then look through the eyepiece and see if it is in view. If not move the scope untill you can see it in the eye piece then lock the mount in place and adjust the finder scope untill it's in the middle, check to make sure it's still in the centre of the eyepiece on the main scope, if not then repeat untill both are lined up. Then when you next use the scope it should be pretty close, although moving the scope indoors and back out may knock it off a bit but it should still be close. Pick a bright recognisable star, centre it in the finder and check as above, and it should be a lot better for you.

[tom33pr]

Karen,

Don't worry - it is never smooth the first night.

1) 'Black discs sorrounded by light' definitely sounds wrong. You should see the planets fine with this scope. Don't be expecting any colouring though...

It may sound silly but did you work the focuser? Sometimes it just may need a gentle tweak to get the focus right.

2) When performing the star alignmet always make sure you use the lowest power eyepiece (I noticed you have the 25mm - it will be perfect for it). Make sure the first star is right in the center of it, then slew to the second star (as quickly as possile) and get it right in the center again. It has to work, sure. One mroe thing to take a note of - I remember my SW GOTO would ask for the exact time except it was to be provided in the US format - I'm pretty sure it is the case with your scope too...

Good luck and I'm sure you will be fine in no time.

[Tinker1947]

Make sure its pointing North, and level, once you get the focusing sorted use a low power EP to find and center the first Star, then switch to a high power EP to recenter, change back to the low power for the next star, ect ect. Just takes a bit of practice the focusing needs to be done slowly or you will pass the focus point without noticing.

[kbp]

I did use the focuser, but the planets still looked like dark blotches. Do you think its broken

Why make sure I start with North? And do I look for the first alignment star in the North?

I will have another go with the finder scope, and in the daytime. But my scope isn't terrestrial so tht means I can't align it with the eye piece?

Do you think the mark I kept seeing was internal damage?

& the connector, that can't be normal?

Thanks for the help.

Karen

[Cornelius Varley]

Meade power connector 2.5mm diameter, Celestron/Skywatcher power connector 2.1mm diameter. The connector will be loose and will give intermitant power loss.

Peter

[Tinker1947]

You should be able to focus on distance objects in daylight, get this sorted then we can move on....

[perkil8r]

For aligning, (I've just read the instructions online) go to page 15, the bottom of and try the 2 star alignment, it might be a bit more accurate. Don't forget too, that the date and time need to be entered into the handset. The date will be in american format not british, IE, 1st of feb in the uk is 01/02 but in USA it's back to front so it 02/01. This will make a difference as to where it thinks the stars should be.

[Tinker1947]

If in doubt read the manual....

[Bigeye]

Set the date, time and location then use the 3 object alignment but try and keep all 3 as far away from eachother as possible and centre each object in the scopes EP and it should be fine.

It might be worth looking at the moon and testing the focus using that as you cant really get it wrong, also you can check how accurate your red dot is.

[kbp]

Thank you I feel less anxious. In response to Tinker I went out and set the scope up but not believing I would see anything through the scope - but eventually after quite a few attempts I did and aligned the finder with scope on a telegraph pole a mile away - thats such a relief. Maybe my problem last night was that I was extremely out of focus.

I did read the manual and I went through all the steps for the goto just as it said. Bigeye suggested using 3 objects as far as possible away from each other - last night all my objects were in the south west. So tonight I'll try that.

I think I'll have to ring the shop who sold me the cable, but before I do I'd best make sure this is the only problem.

In the sunlight I can still see marks on the front of the scope. I tried using my lens cloth and fine brush, but they don't seem to budge. Cleaning solution next.

At least you've helped me sort out the finder and focus. We'll see what happens tonight.

Karen