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Any hints why my telescope is blurry


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Hello all,

           I am hopeing someone can suggest a starting point to find out why my telescope seems a little blurry.

It is a Celestron Nexstar 130, visually it is pristine, it has only been used twice. I havent even had it pointing at a star yet. I fires it up for the first time today and pointed it out at some trees and seemed unable to get a clear focus on. I thought at first it may need mirror alignment but wouldnt that just make it a little off center, Cant see how that would make it blurry. Anyway, any suggestions where to start would be appreciated.

Cheers

Me

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Hello Greywolf

Two basics to check :-

1. The scope is collimated - there are loads of online tutorials.

2. The scope is well cooled - leave it outside in a shady spot for at least an hour before use.

Hope that helps

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You need to set it up with your intended visual target at least several hundred metres away, then let the scope acclimatise for some time before testing it again. If the image is still blurred, check the eye pieces as well :)

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Never thought about the distance, the trees were maybe 150 meters away, and the eyepeice I grabbed at random, I confess i didnt really look as it was really just a test run. It is cold, wet and cloudy here tonight so I will try the moon from the deck if the clouds clear. I hope thats all it was. Thanks for the replys, will give it a test when the weather clears.

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As above really , use your lowest power eyepiece and a target a decent distance away. The scope is designed to be used on distant objects so its probably a case of being too near.

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Blurriness at a near object wouldn't sound like collimation to me unless it were spectacularly out of whack.  A small scope like the 130 shouldn't need much in the way of cooling either.

Were you looking through a window at all ?  Was there any object closer to the scope and in its line of sight other than the target trees.  A small branch of a tree for instance in the line of sight might not focus but might blur the view of more distant objects.

Either way I would wait and see how it works on a night sky object.

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Thanks for all the responses, no objects closer but I was looking through a window, looked clear to the eye though? 1am here and still cloudy. Have to wait till tommorrow night I think.

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Theres your problem  - the glass in the window.  Window glass is not optical in any real sense.

Remember as your telescope magnifies things it also magnifies imperfections in stuff - in this case your window :)

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Like others i would recommend to try and focus on something bright and easily visible like the moon. If you are looking out a window this can cause a blurry affect.

Collimation probably isn't a factor to this.

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