Cant hit jupiter with the scope.

[Mentalmackem]

Hey all.

So tonight is mega clear so i figured i go try find jupiter. but no matter what i did i could not get that giant ball of gas in my eye scope.

Everything i have done suggests my red dot celestron finder (that u get with the scope) is collimated and lined up with the scope.

My scope is Celestron astromaster 76mm EQ and jupiter is clear as day getting awesome views with the naked eye but the scope doesnt wana play ball tonight.

Any advice?

Thanks

Gary

[dtr42]

are you sure your red dot and scope are aligned . you put the dot on jupiter and a 25mm ep in your scope and if alined it should be clearly visible .can you line your scope on a distant street light? then see if your finder is set to the same spot?

[dweller25]

Either .....

1. The finder is not aligned with the scope or ..

2. Jupiter was in the eyepiece but VERY out of focus or ..

3. You had the lens cap on - LOL - just joking

[Mentalmackem]

well the street light and the red dot line up just checked, got a quick glimpse of jupiter but wasnt there very long.

[JamesF]

It does move across the field of view reasonably quickly.

James

[Mentalmackem]

It does move across the field of view reasonably quickly.

James

Ye no kidding i only tried to put the other eyepeice in and it was gone again

[JamesF]

Hmmm. Well, I don't think it should move quite that fast. You probably only need to wobble it by a very small amount to move off the target though. Are you locking the clutches on the mount once you can see it in the eyepiece?

James

[brantuk]

When you look through the 25mm eyepiece - the planet looks dead central but the tiniest error means it's not. The moment you change to a higher power like a 10mm eyepiece you are narrowing the field quite considerably and if the first lens wasn't aligned dead on, the planet can appear to disappear.

To align accurately do it in daylight on a very distant object like a church spire or pylon tip - or very small object a good mile or two away. First get it dead central in the scope using the 25mm eyepiece and dead center of the finder simultaneously. Now switch eyepieces to the 10mm - you'll see it isn't dead central (though it still is central in the finder). Now adjust the scope and finder to fine tune your alignment - (dead center in both).

Your finder and scope should now be aligned accurate enough to find objects millions of light years away - and planets will be a walk in the park

[Mentalmackem]

Hmmm. Well, I don't think it should move quite that fast. You probably only need to wobble it by a very small amount to move off the target though. Are you locking the clutches on the mount once you can see it in the eyepiece?

James

yes im still geting used to the EQ mount, when i turn the locking nuts to hold posistion it always knocks the scope up a few mm's its a nightmare

[AstroTux]

Just a quick one, but the Red Dot Finders on Celestron 'scopes are notorious. I know because I own one!! Some people get on with them, others don't.

I found that to start with it was easier to look along the 'scope than use the RDF. If you can get along with it -fine. If not you should probably look at replacing it with either a green laser pen on a holder ( as I did originally - but cannot use at star parties ) or something like the Rigel Quickfinder. I got one of these from Santa ( SWMBO ) and have to say that it makes life soooooo much easier.......

[Blurred Image]

Set your red dot finder on the Moon. Fiddle about until you have the moon dead centre in the scope and then calibrate the red dot finder on to the point you see in the centre of the scope. That's what I have to do if the scope gets a clout in the garage .

N.

[Mentalmackem]

Just a quick one, but the Red Dot Finders on Celestron 'scopes are notorious. I know because I own one!! Some people get on with them, others don't.

I found that to start with it was easier to look along the 'scope than use the RDF. If you can get along with it -fine. If not you should probably look at replacing it with either a green laser pen on a holder ( as I did originally - but cannot use at star parties ) or something like the Rigel Quickfinder. I got one of these from Santa ( SWMBO ) and have to say that it makes life soooooo much easier.......

Gonna have another play around with it tomorrow and i still struggle with it then its a Rigel or a Talrad for me

[John]

well the street light and the red dot line up just checked, got a quick glimpse of jupiter but wasnt there very long.

A street light is probably far to close to align the finder and scope with - you need something miles away or preferably something like the moon.

[Spoonthumb]

Hi, I have the same scope and I also went out to catch Jupiter with it the other day. I think the problem is using the 10mm eyepiece (only one I got with it) is the main problem. The other problem is the finder scope is not great.

It took me about 45 mins but this was hampered by condensation aswell. This was the third time I have found it. Also did you polar align as its easier to narrow down the field when it's aligned as you can track ra in the right area and if its not there either go up or down (dec) a tiny bit and track ra again. Emphasise small amounts !

[Williams]

I had this problem last year, very very frustrating!! I still didnt findout why but I can only assume I needed more practice, which I did. I use a 30mm ep to target the area of planets and work my way in with smaller ones.. I have left the lid only once lol

[nephilim]

I had this problem last year, very very frustrating!! I still didnt findout why but I can only assume I needed more practice, which I did. I use a 30mm ep to target the area of planets and work my way in with smaller ones.. I have left the lid only once lol

That old chestnut I STILL sometimes forget to take the main aperture cap off.

[Strath]

I'll also add the comment that you need to set the RDF up on a very distant object; further the better. Try looking through the Finder at a close object and move your head from left to right. You should see the dot move across the object and this says that it is too close. The translation I see is much less when I setup against an object further away.

The previous comment to setup during daylight is very good. It gives you more to choose from and you can then practice with sighting on different objects that don't shift position like the sky.

[UHF]

+1 for the finder not being lined up. i was so surprised the difference in alignment which is shown up between a 10mm and 25mm eye piece, so a close object vs a distant one will make a huge difference on the alignment. the streetlight must take up the entire fov even on low power.

For me, my telrad doesn't get used as i have so much light pollution that i need magnification to see anything. i found a 50x8 finder with a right angle was just right and made for pleasant wide field viewing on those days i don't want to setup the scope.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Brian Nordstrom]

Yep! those cheap EQ mounts can be infuriating!!!! it takes a fine hand to use one .

Just 2 things .

1 , have you got the Right accention (RA) axis pointing north ?

2 , is the scope balenced properly ? as , if not you have to tighten the locks to much thus maiking movements very hard and jerky . When properly balenced the tube should stay where you point it without locking anything up . It should then move nice and smooth in all directions . You then need just enough tention on the locks so the slow motion controls work , no more ( remember balence is very important with an EQ mount so take your time getting that sorted before you head outside ).

Good luck , keep at it you will sort it out .

Brian.

[Mentalmackem]

quick update!, I took off the red dot finder that comes attached to the scope, put on a finder scope got it lined up the same as i did the red dot finder and i hit jupiter within 30 seconds!

[saturn4me]

Result!!

Well done!

[Astralstroll]

The first time I took my AstroMaster out during Christmas 2010 I couldnt even get the moon in view! It took a bit to get used to the rather useless RDF on the scope. Within a day I had found the moon (really good even with the poor eyepieces on the scope), Jupiter (just as I remember it from a child using my mates small refractor) and Saturn (awesome!). So I guess the mioral is to get used to how any finder works and persever a little, The time will be well worth it!!

Dave.