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

[cantab]

Something I wonder is if the main mirror could have the wrong focal length, either in the original manufacture, or from a repair attempt that swapped in an incorrect mirror. That would explain the inability to focus, but I don't know how to test for it.

[swtbliss8]

Any joy with the astro society yet swtbliss? I'm itching to hear if someone's looked it over for you and solved the problem.

It's a real brain teaser this one lol.

Ha ha.  It really is a brain teaser.  It's getting the best of me...really frustrating.  No joy with the Astro Society.  They haven't replied back to me yet.  Hope they are not ignoring my message

[Tiny Small]

Have you tried focusing on the moon with your lowest power eyepiece? For clarity, the lowest power eyepiece you have will have the biggest number on it. A lower power eyepiece will have a much deeper focal area, like stepping down aperture on a camera, meaning its easier to get into (rough) focus but also should help a little if it is an eye relief/glasses problem. If you are trying to focus on a tree with a 10mm (very high power) eyepiece, the tree is going to need to be a VERY long way off, as in fractions of a mile, not just 50 to 100 meters.

[brantuk]

Give then a call as well swtbliss - you may need to try a couple of times - but all you need is the date/time/location of their next meeting - they should be able to supply that over the phone.

[Gazetilludrop]

Oh my days I'm on the edge of my seat with this one!!! Great advice everyone, I've learned a thing or two off this topic  . I feel for you swtbliss8, its certainly a mind job!!!  Hope you get to the bottom of it and soon!

[Joseki]

If the focuser moves, the mirrors are fairly well aligned, there are no additional extras in the light path and you've tried multiple eyepieces, the simplest explanation is the mirrors.  Perhaps the mirror got mixed up with a mirror for a different focal length telescope in the factory, such as http://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/SkyWatcher_Explorer_130_Newtonian_Reflector_Telescope.html.  The small mirror is flat, so even if it were slightly too small it wouldn't stop you focusing.  If you're feeling like some minor DIY, why not try making a simple 25cm tube extension out of stiff card, tape it to the end of the focuser and tape the 20m eyepiece to the other end? (and you've got to keep it fairly straight whilst moving the focuser - maybe a two person job) Not very stable or useful in general but it would help check (since I'm guessing it'd be most likely to be the 900 mm focal length - standard mass produced mirrors don't come in many different varieties).  If it was out of warranty you could mess around checking the focal length more precisely (removing it from the telescope) but as it isn't I'd return it rather than give them a chance to get out of their obligations.  Of course, having hands-on input from someone with more experience is a good idea, but if (as you say) you've set it up correctly it should be just a case of finding the spot on the focuser between fully in and fully out that is in focus, which doesn't require years of experience to do.

I think it would be very unlikely to be anything to do with the mirrors fogging up (all the time, as soon as you try and use it, even in the day), but when contacting technical support it might be good to be able to say that you checked.

[swtbliss8]

Here's an update:

Sad to say that I had to say goodbye to this telescope and return it.  There was just no solution to this problem.  I didn't want to hang on to the telescope if it was really defective.  .I also did not get any response back from LA Astro Society.  Sadness....

[Kirscovitch]

That sucks. Sorry to hear that. At least you will get a new scope and eventually get some good views with it! 

[hobbes22]

I've been on the edge of my seat reading through this! Let us know how you get on with the replacement.

[brantuk]

Though I woulda loved to know what was wrong with it - returning it has sorted the problem for you (kind of) and you can now move forward, which is the main thing.

Let us know when you get another scope - or start a new thread asking for advice on what to get by all means.

[Knighty2112]

Most likely an incorrectly set secondary mirror. I have the same scope, and tried to set my secondary mirror as suggested in Norton and other astronomy books, and also from articles and videos on the Internet. After getting my secondary mirror as close as central in my viewfinder as I possibly could, I then found that my scope would no longer focus correctly. Distant objects were not able to achieve correct focus. I quickly put my secondary mirror back in the position it was originally (as best as I could remember) and all was well again.

[Yearofthegoat]

Sorry for the necropost but it might help someone...

It looks like the OP hadn't inserted the black eyepiece holder tube into the draw tube, before inserting the eyepiece into the holder tube.

Made the same mistake with my 150. There were two holder tubes, each for use with different diameter eyepieces. Without them the eyepiece is too far into the draw tube = no focus.

[Stu1smartcookie]

Lol I read through the whole of this post … it had everyone grasping at their own straw trying to think about every possibility … they needed the “year of the goat “ 

[Willder Mena]

Hi,

My wife just gave me for my birthday a Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ-MD. I finished setting it up and I was frustrated because the telescope was no focusing and everything was blurry, I couldn’t see anything.

I came to this post trying to find a solution, but didn’t quite get it. I found it with this YouTube video:

The problem was the calibration or collimation which is solved by aligning and adjusting the screws of the diagonal and back mirrors. Once you do that, you place the eyepiece and roll back and forward the knob to adjust the image.

 

I hope this can help you.