clear but not focussed?

[wilso31]

hi guys got my skymax 127 and my first what I thought was clear sky last night .

when looking at objects ie jupiter I can see the moons brightly but jupiter was fuzzy not round . this was at about 19:30 hrs.

when looking at the moon everything was crystal and it was amazing how close you can get.

orion nebula was not that clear but took that down to being just below the moon. I had a dark sky as I was in the peaks burbage rocks near hathersage to be honest.

the scope was in my car all day so should have been cooled enough.

I did also have problems aligning the scope using bright star allignment but this is due to me being a newb with a GOTO

was it due to atmosphere being damp?

or is jupiter getting further?

any help appreciated

Mick

[perkil8r]

I didn't get the scope out last night, partly because I'm a wimp and it was too cold, but because I thought there was quite a fine misting of high cloud. Although it might be clear enough to see the stars with your eyes, it might not have been very good "seeing". If the moon was crystal clear focus wise, I would hazard a guess at the high cloud affecting the seeing. The moon is bright enough to give good viewing even through a bit of cloud so I've found.

[wilso31]

yeah was cold last night especially out in the peaks thanks for reply

[Admiral Crispy]

There are a few things causing the problem.

It could be the atmosphere, as any instabillity can make the planet seem to wobble and seem washed out. Plus high cloud is hard to see and acts like a misty layer which may be more like looking through the bottom of a lake if there is some fast wind as the air and cloud cause ripples.

It could aslo be that your scope has not cooled down sufficiently. It can take an hour in some low temperatures, perhaps more for this weather for the scope to cool properly and show crisp images. Before this, images can look really distorted. If the scope was in your car it may still not have been at the outside temperature, as the temperature in the car may be warmer. I have noticed this with my car.

One other possibility is the collimation of your scope, if you knock it and it becomes slightly out of alignment, then your images will not be as sharp. This may be worth checking after any observation.

Personally, I think it was the seeing, as mine was particularly poor for transparency (high clouds are annoying) but I would still check everything anyway!

[wilso31]

skymax 127 shouldnt need collimating should they? But I suppose it could be its not cooled properly there was alot of dew around that night.

I cant wait to move to my new house so that I can just have it set up a couple of hours before I want to use it

Mick