Eye reflection and somtimes Secondary mirror

[SneakyBrit]

Hi! I just recently bought an explorer 130 with the EQ2 and took it out last night for an hour or two to see the full moon and see if I could get a glimpse at some stars.

The moon was good, and I could see some great detail, however it was a little bright but I could probably fix that with some filters.

However when looking into the darkness I would sometimes catch a glimpse of my own eye and eye lashes as a bright spot, and sometimes I would get a reflection of the secondary mirror and the focuser.

and my RDF is slightly off, when I aligned it with the moon, it could only make it to the edge with the az controls, while my telescope was focused on the moon.

Can anyone help me out?

Thanks in advance,

[acey]

The moon was good, and I could see some great detail, however it was a little bright but I could probably fix that with some filters.

However when looking into the darkness I would sometimes catch a glimpse of my own eye and eye lashes as a bright spot, and sometimes I would get a reflection of the secondary mirror and the focuser.

The moon is very bright at the moment (just past full). If you point your telescope near to the moon, but not at it, you'll still have bright moonlight shining into the telescope tube, which can cause reflections that you will see at the eyepiece. You'll see better detail on the moon once it's in a crescent phase, with more shadows on the surface. Your best views of deep-sky objects will be when there is no moon in the sky.

[SneakyBrit]

Thanks for the info with the reflections, what about the mis-aligned Red dot problems?

[Naemeth]

Thanks for the info with the reflections, what about the mis-aligned Red dot problems?

Usually best to align it in daytime with a far off object (tree, lamp post etc.) .

[SneakyBrit]

Usually best to align it in daytime with a far off object (tree, lamp post etc.) .

I have tried that, and still I can't quite get it to match up, it's always on the right of it, elevation is fine, just not the Azimuth

[Peter Drew]

For the RDF problem, try moving the base by slackening the screws that fix it to the tube, this should give you a fresh start with the RDF adjusting screws.

[Mattscar]

This thread has saved me starting one of my own, I too was viewing the moon last night with a new EP and got annoyed with the reflections I sometimes got, however the BST Explorer's do seem to be able to compensate for this if you play with the adjustable section. As for eyelashes, I would think thats a case of having your eye slightly too close to the EP, I get it sometimes too and have to remind myself not to get too excited and try to fit my whole head into the EP (exaggerated of course but you get the point )

[umadog]

If you look at the moon for a few seconds you will light adapt and the view will become quite comfortable. In absolute terms it's not very bright, it's just that it looks bright to you because you're dark adapted.

[knobby]

For the RDF problem, try moving the base by slackening the screws that fix it to the tube, this should give you a fresh start with the RDF adjusting screws.

You can also try shimming the foot of the finder with small sheets of paper / card if the screws won't allow enough adjustment