Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

HELP! Newbie. Blurry view in eyepiece for Celestron Astromaster 130EQ Telescope?


Recommended Posts

Hi everyone,

 
I'm new to the board here. Great site!

I'm also new to this whole thing. I just got my new first telescope and it is the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ.  I had followed all the steps in setting up the telescope. I hope I've done nothing wrong in setting it up.

I've came into a disappointment after trying to view in all of the provided eyepieces because everything came out blurry!

Can someone please help me out? I'm very confused and frustrated.

Much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

this will sound silly but i take it you have focused the eyepiece, i ask because this has come up before, im guessing you have the 10mm and 25mm eyepiece, try inserting the 25mm and getting that to focus first

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

this will sound silly but i take it you have focused the eyepiece, i ask because this has come up before, im guessing you have the 10mm and 25mm eyepiece, try inserting the 25mm and getting that to focus first

H nightfisher,

Thanks for replying and trying to help me out.  Yes, I have focused the eyepiece but still get a blurry view. 

Any other ideas on solutions on how to fix this problem?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How blurry are the images? Can you make out stars or the moon? Maybe your mirrors aren't lined up properly. If you don't have a collimator try making a collimation cap out of a hairspray lid or 35mm film case if you have one. Then you can get a rough idea of how good/bad your mirrors are.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi There, welcome to the forum!

When you try to focus, does the image appear to be getting sharper but just doesnt reach focus or is it just always blurry? Or does it appear to get sharp then just begin to blur again as you adjust the focuser?

What were you looking at? was it a star or a planet or the moon, or just everything you tried to look at was blurry?

Did you buy it new or used? If its used it could need collimated (sounds painful but its not... really), but if new then usually spot on.

Its kind of late now, but maybe you can try it during the day with the 25mm eye piece. ( Just be very careful not to point it any where near the sun!!! and keep the scope covers on (including the finder covers) if you have to leave it for any time) You will need a pretty far target to get focus on, say around  50+ m away.  This will give you a chance to check over everything again in day light.

Some times we can miss things when we are excited to get out and view. I left my eyepiece cover on last week because i was in a hurry to change eye pieces while looking at the moon :) Had to scratch my head for a min till i realised what i'd done :)

Also have a look inside the tube, you never know, could be a bit of packing material in there or something :)

Let us know how you get on.

All the best

Mark

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi There, welcome to the forum!

When you try to focus, does the image appear to be getting sharper but just doesnt reach focus or is it just always blurry? Or does it appear to get sharp then just begin to blur again as you adjust the focuser?

What were you looking at? was it a star or a planet or the moon, or just everything you tried to look at was blurry?

Did you buy it new or used? If its used it could need collimated (sounds painful but its not... really), but if new then usually spot on.

Its kind of late now, but maybe you can try it during the day with the 25mm eye piece. ( Just be very careful not to point it any where near the sun!!! and keep the scope covers on (including the finder covers) if you have to leave it for any time) You will need a pretty far target to get focus on, say around  50+ m away.  This will give you a chance to check over everything again in day light.

Some times we can miss things when we are excited to get out and view. I left my eyepiece cover on last week because i was in a hurry to change eye pieces while looking at the moon :) Had to scratch my head for a min till i realised what i'd done :)

Also have a look inside the tube, you never know, could be a bit of packing material in there or something :)

Let us know how you get on.

All the best

Mark

Hi Mark!

Thanks for your reply.  When I try to focus, it's always blurry.  I was trying to do some terestrial viewing and tried doing it last night when trying to look at the moon.  It's still blurry. 

The telescope (Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ) is brand new. 

Any other ideas on how to fix this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, 

Well newtonians are mechanically pretty simple instruments really, just two mirrors and an eyepiece, so its got to be mirrors or eyepieces / focuser tube i guess.

The focuser tube is extending all the way? its not stuck or stiff is it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry, wife is reminding me to go to bed :) Got work tomorrow :(

Dont worry, we will figure this out, Im sure its easily solved. Tons of great people on here with bags of experience. And worst case, its under manufacturers warranty so short delay till you get up and running again.

Laters

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Again,


At work... being very productive today :)


Ok had a think about your problem, first thing, check that you dont have the barlow lens in (if your scope came with one)

Its a tube with a lens at one end and an eye piece fits on the other end. It increases the magnification of the eyepiece you are using. ( technically it changes the refraction of the light rays to mimic a longer focal length telescope) 

You dont want to be using that for testing with right now.


The other thing is checking that the scope is collimated correctly. My scope has a longer focal length than yours so collimation isnt as critical for me, but perhaps it has a much bigger impact for you.


The following links should help, first one is a video, 2nd one is an in-depth guide.






You will need either a 35mm film tub lid with a pin hole in the centre, or i guess you could use a bit of stiff card. Draw round one of your eyepiece caps and make a pin hole in the center of the card. Can attach to the focuser barrel with tape or blu-tak.

The hole is just to help make sure you are looking directly down the optical axis.


Give this a try and let us know how you get on....


Cheers

Mark

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My bet would be focus.

The first day I had my scope I took it out and tried to view a 3/4 moon. Put in the stock 25mm eyepiece and all I saw was a white blob. I knew it was the moon but I could see more detail with the naked eye than I could the scope. I was disappointed and thought there had to be something wrong with the scope. Good thing my dad was there to help me discover the focuser knobs!

You get so caught up in the moment of seeing something new for the first time and you forget the basics.

Whatever the problem turns out to be, hope you get it sorted out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Kirscovitch,


Yea it does feel like that. Not really buying the collimation being out myself. When i got my scope the secondary was loose, 2nd night of viewing only half the primary was visible through the focuser barrel, but was still able to focus somewhat though image was way off axis. But thats an f8, dunno how different it is for faster scopes?


Dont imagine both EP's being defective / covered in grease or something either.


swtbliss8 - check the top of the focuser, mine has a lock knob. wondering if this is partially screwed down preventing full range of movement. There is some slop in the SW focusers so maybe stopping it going all the way in ???


Cheers

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had an astromaster 130 a few months back, it's not a bad starter scope at all..

I didn't have any trouble with focusing but there are a few little tricks to check if its collimation or the focuser..

To check the collimation, very rough and ready, take all of the caps off, don't put an eyepiece in, look down the focuser, if the scope is somewhat in line you should be able to see a reflection of your eye in the mirrors which are all central.  The instruction book on page 28 has a picture showing this.  My Scope was new out of the box, it was a little off but not that much...

http://www.celestron.com/c3/images/files/downloads/1219957574_astromasterinst.pdf

I don't think the focuser has a lock nob on it like the skywatchers do, its a moulded plastic affair, two screws underneath to give access to the cog that turns the rack of the focuser tube. 

It may be worth checking to see if these are aligned so the focuser is actually moving.. From memory you should have a range of about 3" (guess!!).

The stock lenses, could be an issue, mine came with an image corrected 20mm and a stock 10mm, didn't care much for either but they did work and I got relatively clear images of the moon on my first night before changing them, check and see they look clean, not damaged etc...

Other than that, not really sure or experienced enough to comment...

Good luck, hope this helps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was trying to do some terestrial viewing and tried doing it last night when trying to look at the moon.  It's still blurry.

What exactly were you doing ?

You said you were not looking at anything too close, however in the bit above you say terrestrial, assume that anything terrestrial is too close. You really are looking at an absolute minimum of 2 miles and preferably 5 or 10 miles away.

This almost reads that you could have aimed at a tree then pointed at the moon, and maintained the same focus.

Assume that anything on the ground is too close, another way is if you do not need binoculars to see it then it is too close.

You do not say what you could not get in focus - I assume the moon, so was there a bright blur in view. Just at this time I cannot know if you actually had anything in the field of view to actually focus on. There is nothing along the lines of "I had the moon in view but could not get it to focus, it remained a bright blurry blob all the time."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Kirscovitch,
Yea it does feel like that. Not really buying the collimation being out myself. When i got my scope the secondary was loose, 2nd night of viewing only half the primary was visible through the focuser barrel, but was still able to focus somewhat though image was way off axis. But thats an f8, dunno how different it is for faster scopes?
Dont imagine both EP's being defective / covered in grease or something either.
swtbliss8 - check the top of the focuser, mine has a lock knob. wondering if this is partially screwed down preventing full range of movement. There is some slop in the SW focusers so maybe stopping it going all the way in ???
Cheers
Mark

Hii Mark,

Not sure if you got my message I sent you earlier.  I'm not even sure if the telscope that I have (Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ) has a lock knob.  If so, can you or someone point that out visually by picture so I can see and know what I'm doing?  Thanks so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it would help suggestions if you can define blurry a bit more. can you see e.g. the moon and it's a bit blurry or can you only see a white fuzz?

some 'wavering' is normal and is the effect of the atmosphere

seeing also dictates what levels of magnification you can use  - good seeing = higher magnification. with your scope I'd suggest 100x approx max but maybe more

a scope should also be left to cool outside for about an hour if possible to give best results

assuming all of the above are ok then it's most likely focus.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

it would help suggestions if you can define blurry a bit more. can you see e.g. the moon and it's a bit blurry or can you only see a white fuzz?

some 'wavering' is normal and is the effect of the atmosphere

seeing also dictates what levels of magnification you can use  - good seeing = higher magnification. with your scope I'd suggest 100x approx max but maybe more

a scope should also be left to cool outside for about an hour if possible to give best results

assuming all of the above are ok then it's most likely focus.

Hello Moonshane,

It's just a big blob of blurriness and I can't see anything.  Nothing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This scope sounds like it isn't focussed correctly.

When you turn the focusser knob do you see movement in the draw tube? (ie does the eyepiece move in and out when you turn the knob?). It should extend up to about an inch and a half or two inches. When you turn it the other way it should turn right up to the telescope.

Are you sure you only have a single eyepiece in the draw tube? There should be no extension tubes or barlow lens in between eyepiece and draw tube.

Take the eyepiece out and look in the drawtube - you should see the reflection of your eye from the primary mirror. You should also see a small circle in the center of the primary mirror and three mirror clips on the circumference of the primary mirror. 

Check if the secondary mirror (the diagonal one at the top of the tube) is square on to the draw tube. If it's twisted round to face the side of the tube at all then the view will either be distorted or there won't be a view.

If all that is correct - then pop the 25mm in the draw tube and point at the moon. Turn the focuser knob very slowly across it's full range of travel outwards and inwards. At some point the moon should come to focus but if you go too fast you can easily overshoot the focus point.

Let us know how you get on with that and we can take it from there :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.