Difficulties with Celestron 3 inch Refractor

[Matt1979]

I have used a Celestron 3 inch refractor for 11 years and at first there were no problems with the telescope at all. But over the last two years, when I have had chance to use the telescope I have been having real problems getting it in line with the finderscope. As soon as I get a star or planet in the finderscope, it just won't appear through the telescope, as if there is a problem with the mounting.

The difficulties have been frustrating - it must have taken me over 5 minutes last January/early February to try and get Sirius in view. I have had to use a 60x spotting scope (my Celestron has a power of x72 with a Barlow Lens) instead. What should I do to get the mounting correct?

[long_arms]

It sounds like your finder scope is misaligned?

Have you tried pointing it at something far away during the day, getting it centred in the main telescope eyepiece then adjusting the screws on the finderscope until it is centred in that?

Dan

[Brent]

It could also be possible that the finder base has slipped. Make sure the base is in line with the scope, then make the adjustments Dan describes above.

[Biggazza88]

Claim all is lost and treat yourself to a nice shiny new telescope

[Brent]

Claim all is lost and treat yourself to a nice shiny new telescope

We have a winner !!

[Matt1979]

It sounds like your finder scope is misaligned?

Have you tried pointing it at something far away during the day, getting it centred in the main telescope eyepiece then adjusting the screws on the finderscope until it is centred in that?

Dan

Thanks. I will look in daylight (when the weather is good again) and see if adjusting the screws helps. I just hope it will as when the telescope's mounting worked, I had some fantastic views of Jupiter and Saturn. Around six weeks ago I decided to be patient and use the refractor again with my planetary eyepiece and I had the best view of Jupiter and the Galilean moons ever, even though it was over five minutes before I got Jupiter in view through the telescope!