Having trouble with the finderscope on my Celestron

[Jrdn31195]

So, for my birthday, my girlfriend bought me a telescope.  It's a Celestron Astronmaster 130eq.  I've taken it out 10 or so times and I can't find anything through the finderscope.  I've tried aligning it during the day, but that hasn't helped.  I look through the finderscope from about 6 inches behind it.  Am I too close?  How far should I be away from it?  Could it be my vision?  I have 20/200 vision. Should I wear glasses when looking through the finderscope? 1 eye open? or 2? Or should I just invest the money in a telrad finderscope(I've heard good things about them).  Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you!

[cutepetgroomer]

I take it you have a refractor? I have a refractor that has a finderscope but I never use it. Aligning it and keeping it aligned is a pain for me, and I do much better without it. If possible download a stargazing app such as starchart or googlesky, I personally use Goskywatch on my iphone and it helps me learn what I'm looking at as well as what I want to find

[houston]

Hi jrdn. Your eye needs to be right up to the finder. There should have a focusing ring on the front may help.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I am not sure what the "starpointer" is that comes with this reflector (with erecting lens built in), but it almost sounds like a red dot finder rather than a finder scope. I would expect that you need to be closer to the finder than 6". I use my glasses while observing, purely because I have (cylindrical) astigmatism. If you do not have astigmatism, you can use a scope without glasses.

[LeeB]

if i remember correctly the 130eq has a red dot finder, if your vision is ok at distance a nice red dot should appear against the night sky , but if you have aligned it you will know that. Try keeping both eyes open and use your dominant eye in line with the finder. Get a good book or star chart and place the dot on the object location based on the surrounding stars or for ease try a nice bright star first. The red dot is not the best on the celestron however and for ease of use get a telrad sight, it is simple to fix to the scope (sticks on) and is nicer to use.

[ronin]

If it is a red dot then do not look at the finder, the idea is you look past the finder to the stars/sky/heavens, the finder then inserts a red dot on to what you see.

It takes a bit of getting used to and some (the majority I suspect) never get the idea, that is why there are many questions about RDF's, and why so many are removed. The dot can also be too bright for many people - I had one that was and that also made it worse to use at night, some can be adjusted for brightness.

If the technique doesn't click then you spent time altering the focus of your eye and get some strain, you are going from close to far quite a lot in a short space of time, also it means that you likely don't have it correctly aligned. RDF's fall into the general catagory of you like them ot hate them.

You should be some distance behind them when centering on an object, so maybe 6" isn't enough - too much chance that as the RDF dominates you end up looking at it.

If it is not an RDF type then, better tell us what it is.

[PeterCPC]

If it is the red dot finder which is right at the end of the scope tube then I advise getting a better RDF such as a telrad or similar. I had an Astromaster way back with one of these and it was useless. If you do use it then look through it from the other end of the scope - don't get close.

Peter

[OscarTheGrouch]

I have the same scope as you.  It's a red dot finder.  You'll want to replace it eventually, but seek advice from someone more experienced than me.  In the meantime, here's a rundown of what I did to get everything working for me.

Set your scope up during the day and look at the most distant object you can (I used a particularly distinctive tree branch way off in the distance, but you can also use the top of a telegraph pole, a lamp post or chimney pot - whatever you can see!) through the telescope.  Follow the instructions provided on aligning the red dot finder, but do this from the BACK of the scope whilst looking along the whole length of it.

Finding objects in the sky with the scope is a 3 step process:

1. Once you know where you want to look, turn on the red dot in the finder and standing behind the scope (like you did during the set up above) and looking along the length of the scope again, move the scope until the red dot is pointing at what you want to see.

2. Using the 20mm eyepiece provided with the scope, you should be able to see pretty much everything that was in the circle around the red dot.  The object you're looking for is unlikely to be in the centre of what you're looking at, because getting exact alignment is almost impossible.  It should, however, be in the view you see.  Using the fine adjustment arms, centre the object in the eyepiece. 

3. Switch to the 10mm eyepiece and the object you're looking at should again be in the viewfinder (you'll need to refocus for the different eyepiece), but unlikely to be central (it's going to have moved in the sky due to the earth rotating and also, the eyepiece will align slightly differently to the 20mm).  Again, use the fine adjustment arms  to centre the object.

I know it sounds stupid, but start by trying to find the moon this way, but centre it on the lowest point you can see.  This will show you how far off you are with your alignment and should make it easier to do the fine adjustments when you're looking for planets and deep sky objects.

Hope this helps!!

[TiTanecd]

Agree with OscarTheGrouch.

I stand at the back, and look at the star/object I want down the tube a few degrees to the side of the finder, and then with the idea of it in my head, I move slightly over to the finder, and align the 2 Red Dots. I go back and forth 2 or 3 times normally to double check.

I have a 32mm that helps a lot, I don't have to spend as much time on the cheap RD. 

I want to upgrade it some time.