Skywatcher 130 eq2 help!

[ML]

Hi I've recently purchased a skywatchers bk 1309 eq2.

I have et it up and now trying to use it! I've not had the moon out since I got it but jupiters been out to be seen. I have 2xbarlow 10mm and wide angle eye prices. 

I put the Barlow and 10 mm on to try and view Jupiter but struggled. During the day when setting up the red dot finder it's fine but when looking at or trying to veiw a planet all I can see after a bit of focusing is the three cross strutts (don't know name!) at the end of the telescope with no planet in site. This is my first telescope after many years wanting one. So very much s beginner and struggling! Any help or guidance would be much appreciated Matt.

[Knighty2112]

Did you align the red dot finder during the day on a distant object at all? If not then it might not be aligned correctly so that the scope points where the red dot finder is looking at.

[billyharris72]

Hi ML.

I had this problem the first couple of times too. Three things come to mind that, combined, should help.

1) Double check that the red dot finder is accurately aligned on a distant object during the day. You want half a mile or more if you can get it, and get it as spot on as you can.

2) When looking for Jupiter start with the lowest power eyepiece and work up. Going straight from an RDF to a 5mm eyepiece view is murder - anyone would struggle to do this. Something like a 25mm eyepiece is what you need.

3) If you are seeing the spider veins that support the secondary mirror I can only assume that you are also seeing the mirror (so a big dim circle, probably with concentric rings) and the veins silhouetted against it. If that is the case then your focus is way off. However, seeing that circle is usually a sign you have something bright reflecting in the mirror, so you may be pointed in the right direction. Try working slowly through the whole range of the focuser. The direction that makes that big diffuse circle get smaller and tighter is where you want to go.

Billy.

[ML]

1 hour ago, Knighty2112 said:

Did you align the red dot finder during the day on a distant object at all? If not then it might not be aligned correctly so that the scope points where the red dot finder is looking at.

Yeah I alligned it on a chimney in the distance. Infact I re-aligned it yesterday. As it wasn't great and I ended up waving it around until I found Jupiter but just couldn't focus on it. I put the 10mm into the 2xbarlow I assume that's right?

[Yearofthegoat]

Once you have the red dot finder aligned, start with the wide angle eyepiece in on its own - no barlow. Jupiter's nice and bright at the moment so will be easy to spot once it's in view.

As was mentioned above, go slowly through the whole range of the focuser - if the scope is pointed at Jupiter you'll likely see a big white blur and the aim is to make it smaller and clearer. You'll know when you see that happen. If you find you're turning the focusser for ages, you may well have gone the wrong way (I've done that)!

Once you've got Jupiter clear in view, you can swap the wide-angle for the 10mm and you should only have to re-focus a little bit either way to get it back in focus.

After that you could try the barlow with the 10mm - you'll need to re-focus again - but now bear in mind that if you bump or wobble the scope you might lose Jupiter and have to find it again. I noticed with my little Mak 90 that at high magnification even swapping the eyepieces over caused Jupiter to jump around loads.

If you get fed up, perhaps wait for the moon to come around again, as that's a nice big easy thing to practice on. You'll laugh at how easy it is with a bit of practice!

Good luck!

 

 

[Knighty2112]

49 minutes ago, ML said:

Yeah I alligned it on a chimney in the distance. Infact I re-aligned it yesterday. As it wasn't great and I ended up waving it around until I found Jupiter but just couldn't focus on it. I put the 10mm into the 2xbarlow I assume that's right?

Use the wide angle 25mm EP you have first without using the 2x Barlow to locate Jupiter easier first off. Then when you have it in you scope move up to the 10mm EP again without the 2x Barlow. The magnification you get from both these EPs on their own is  X36 and X90 respectively. When you use the 2 x Barlow the EP magnification doubles to x72 for the 25mm EP, and to a whopping x180 for the 10mm EP, so there is no wonder you couldn't find Jupiter very easily at that magnification even with the red dot finder, which is a course finder to get you in the general area with low power views.

[happy-kat]

Also each night what magnification you can use varies, x180 might be too much and create a displeasing blurry blob.

[Sme4969]

The best I found was to use 25 mm ep and the main scope to find a distance object in my case the window of a factory then lock the scope and then aligned the finder scope to that window ? I then unlocked the scope and used the finder scope on something further away locked scope and checked the view in the main scope ?