sideways views

[ironwire]

Hi everyone,

Im new to SGL, although have found myself here many times in the last year searching for help, which thankfully i have always found.

I recently purchased a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p dob. I love it. Managed to pick out a few galaxies so far and some nebulae.

Got a 6mm ep and was blown away looking at Jupiter.

Upgraded the straight through finder to a corrected image right angled one, havent used it yet though.

I think i have the collimation process somewhere handy now.

Just had one issue, which is really not that bad...

If i look through the scope, the image will appear upside down, as it should, mine howerver appears sideways?!

e.g viewing in the daytime, looking at a telegraph pole, pole should appear upside down, but would still be in a vertical position.

My view of the pole is almost horizontal, i.e telegraph pole laying down. is this normal?

any help would be cool.

as i say, not that bad a problem, looking at stuff in space doesnt really need an up or down!!

hope this makes sense.

Thx in advance, and for all the unkowing help you have given me in the past,

Jamie

[gkec]

When you view the pole is the eyepiece pointing straight up or down? If so try rotating the ETA if you can so it points horizontally.

There is nothing wrong it is just the way the reflection off the secondary mirror appears to you.

[Spec-Chum]

Rotating an OTA on a dob is generally a bad idea

Don't worry about it ironwire, its just the angle of the reflection from the secondary. Try looking through the eyepiece sideways on but as you say, in space, up is wherever you want it to be.

[ironwire]

When you view the pole is the eyepiece pointing straight up or down? If so try rotating the ETA if you can so it points horizontally.

There is nothing wrong it is just the way the reflection off the secondary mirror appears to you.

Sorry im unsure what you mean by the ep pointing up or down? it points at the secondary mirror! The OTA cant spin, its on a dob mount.

i thought the image would only be able to appear upside down or right way up. cant get my head around it.

viewing jupiter, the equitorial bands or cloud belts, would appear to run north to south.

12 o clock position on the moon would appear at 9. olock?

very confused!

[bingevader]

It's just as Spec-Chum said, but it can be confusing at first.

It's just due to the orientation of the 'scope and the position of the focuser on the OTA.

If you were to look at something directly overhead the image would appear to be upside down.

On the horizon, if you could lie flat next to the 'scope and look through the EP the image is still inverted, but left to right, so a TV aerial pointing east would appear to point west.

However, you aren't lying next to the 'scope but stood up, so on the horizontal, the image appears to be rotated through 90 degrees also.

At night it doesn't really matter unless you are referring to someone else's map with a different rotation.

Studying the moon can be quite tricky, but you get used to it eventually.

Cheers

[ironwire]

Thats brilliant, thanks very much guys.

thx bingevader, makes perfect sense now!