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Trouble viewing Jupiter


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Hello,

I recently purchase a telescope (Orion StarSeeker IV 127mm). First off, I admit that I've no idea what I am doing and have begun the life long journey of educating myself and learning. Having said that my first few trips out have been disappointing. I've attempted to view Jupiter on a few occasions only to see a white ball with a big black dot in the middle. I am 99% sure it was Jupiter that i as pointing the scope at.  I don't know what I am doing wrong. I was viewing pretty early in the night so maybe it was too low for optimal viewing? I was using my 23mm eye piece. It was dark but not totally dark due to neighborhood lights. I know without being there and knowing all of the details it's difficult to identify the problem(s); however, if anyone has some suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. 

 

Thank you 

 

Frustrated Newbie 

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Sounds like you haven't achieved focus. does it look like this:

comacomp.jpg.1b6b29501e3bc19dd00ee48fa5f

Have you got an extension tube in the focuser?

I was looking the other night, immediately after putting my scope out, it looked a bit hazy as I would expect without cooing, and my light pollution is pretty high, but it was still very much identifiable as Jupiter and 4 of its moons.

 

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Thanks for the reply. that's somewhat similar to what I observed; however, it was solid black in the middle. I was out for 20 minutes or so and it was a cool night. 

I do not have an extension tube. 

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There are factors that have to be taken into acct., it may look good just eyeing but when you put magnification to the mix it gets distorted due to light pollution, atmospheric turbulence , humidity and thin clouds just to name a few . Back focus might be contributing , pull you ep out slowly and you may achieve focus . I've found that works with my newt but,  when I barlowed the other night. I'm just throwing things out there so you might find something to work. You also should have a dot in the very center of the circle , if it's just a black circle , one or both  of your mirrors are out of alignment. Take your ep out and you should see your eye , if you don't adjust your mirrors till you do then put your collimating tool in and center the dot. There videoes on youtube to help to get this done correctly. Everyone starts off , so don't sweat it. It'll come together.

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This image is only slightly out of focus, the further out you go it will come to a black splodge (do an image search for "collimation star test"), try what stepping beyond has said and slowly pull the eyepiece out, see if you achieve focus.

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Have you seen anything through your scope yet, it sounds as if you are not using the focuser, or not turning it slow enough,

the turns need to be very slow, as you can pass perfect focus if you turn the knob to quickly, with your scope the whole mirror

moves up and down to achieve focus, i'm sure that's how it works. 

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Thanks everyone. Weather permitted I will get back out there tonight and try your suggestions. I have viewed a couple of stars but they also looked white on the outside with a black circle in the middle. Really shows that I am a newbie - I was competently unaware that you needed to collimate a brand new telescope. 

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20 minutes ago, laudropb said:

Try focusing on a distant object during the daytime.

As Laudropd states focus in the daytime on the most distant object you can see from your location to get it into focus with your 23mm EP. As long as you don't disturb this focus when achieved, you should be able to see Jupiter and anything else you view in focus alright when viewing at night. Almost sound to me that your are so far out of focus that you are seeing your secondary mirror reflected back at you out of focus. 

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I wouldn't worry about the collimation of your scope for now, even if it is out you will still be able to make out Jupiter. I believe (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that Mak-cassigrains don't go out of collimation anywhere near as easily (or frequently) as a Newtonian reflector.

I've had mine way out of collimation and it's still been useable.

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The focus on daytime objects will be different from night time objects unless the daytime objects are very distant (horizon). For whatever reason, you have a simple focusing issue, as already posted, don't worry about collimation at this stage.

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When you focus on astronomical objects, the image when out of focus will appear as you have seen, an illuminated disk with a dark central shadow. As you get nearer and nearer to focus the disk gets smaller and smaller and the darkened centre disappears. When the image is at it's smallest (a very small disk with a planet or a point of light with a star) the scope is at sharpest focus.

It's nothing to do with collimation by the way.

I think a lot of folks get confused by this when they 1st use a scope because they expact the focussed image to be larger than it actually is. Planets and stars look really very small through a scope even with high magnifications.

 

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Quote

 

I tried my new scope for the first time last night. Not knowing that I was looking at Jupiter, I too had the same black dot. So I played with the focus and then BOOM, my first glimpse of Jupiter and its moons. Very exciting stuff. Thought I'd home in a bit and tried my 9 mm eyepiece but couldn't seem to stay fixed on it. Any suggestions or just keep practicing. Does any one have any reviews on the anti vibration pads for a celestron 127 slt or do those celestral objects wobble constantly?

 

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 After you have focused on some objects outdoors in the daytime - like a distant church-steeple a mile or two away - try to find a bright star at night. Now using the knob of your focuser, slowly turn the focuser up/down until the star appears as a sharp point-of-light. This works inside your scope by sliding the mirror to and fro - but you won't see that happening. Not a white circle with a black center. Once you've mastered focussing on a star, go find Jupiter again and do likewise until Jupiter becomes a clear and focussed image.

No white circles. No black centers. Clear and sharp.

Try watching this video:

 

And look about this page as needed:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Focussing+a+telescope+youtube&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

You'll get there!

Dave

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1 hour ago, Davechicken said:

I tried my new scope for the first time last night. Not knowing that I was looking at Jupiter, I too had the same black dot. So I played with the focus and then BOOM, my first glimpse of Jupiter and its moons. Very exciting stuff. Thought I'd home in a bit and tried my 9 mm eyepiece but couldn't seem to stay fixed on it. Any suggestions or just keep practicing. Does any one have any reviews on the anti vibration pads for a celestron 127 slt or do those celestral objects wobble constantly?

 

I too have a Celestron 127 SLT Mak.  I bought Seben anti-vibe pads/feet - sensible price, good quality, proper construction (unlike washing machine feet which some folk have tried!).  I drilled small, slightly deeper recesses into them since the centres were actually quite flat, allowing some movement of the tripod's feet.

Anyway, I have to report that I don't feel they make a great deal of difference.  The 'scope will always wobble a bit after you touch it or focus it - just wait until it stops!  On balance, for the cost, the pads might be worth having, but just don't expect a huge improvement!

Doug.

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The vibration pads don't stop vibrations beut they do help them to dampen down quite a bit quicker. I have the Meade ones and I notice that they work better with heavier scopes.

Moving from an aluminum tripod to a steel tube, or better still, hardwood one is the best upgrade you can make to a mount IMHO.

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They spread the load a bit more. My scope

is on decking. They do seem to help.

 

Steve.

15 minutes ago, John said:

The vibration pads don't stop vibrations beut they do help them to dampen down quite a bit quicker. I have the Meade ones and I notice that they work better with heavier scopes.

Moving from an aluminum tripod to a steel tube, or better still, hardwood one is the best upgrade you can make to a mount IMHO.

 

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1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

I too have a Celestron 127 SLT Mak.  I bought Seben anti-vibe pads/feet - sensible price, good quality, proper construction (unlike washing machine feet which some folk have tried!).  I drilled small, slightly deeper recesses into them since the centres were actually quite flat, allowing some movement of the tripod's feet.

Anyway, I have to report that I don't feel they make a great deal of difference.  The 'scope will always wobble a bit after you touch it or focus it - just wait until it stops!  On balance, for the cost, the pads might be worth having, but just don't expect a huge improvement!

Doug.

Thanks Doug, Doug

 

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16 minutes ago, John said:

The vibration pads don't stop vibrations beut they do help them to dampen down quite a bit quicker. I have the Meade ones and I notice that they work better with heavier scopes.

Moving from an aluminum tripod to a steel tube, or better still, hardwood one is the best upgrade you can make to a mount IMHO.

Thanks PNB, Doug

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I have both the ready-made pads - mine are Orion-branded - and I have straight Sorbothane® pads I got cheap from Amazon.com. I put 2 pads together in a plastic-bag (to keep debris from collecting, as they are tacky-feeling). And I use these under each leg. For particularly heavy scopes, I fit 2 wooden-slats top & bottom. And these cut the dampening time to under 1 second. Better than the store-bought pads and infinitly less money.

Hope this helps,

Dave

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I had a similar problem last night with a Celestron Astromaster 900/130mm: I'm new to scopes.

Sunday night I tried to see Jupiter's GRS. The seeing was poor but good enough to locate J in the 20mm supplied Celestron eyepiece. I then inserted the supplied 10mm eyepiece and was surprised to see the shadow of the central support and the spider vanes obscuring the image. I turned the focusser throughout its entire range but it wouldn't go away, just got bigger or smaller. Jupiter itself wasn't clear at all, though that may be due to the poor seeing. So the view was pretty useless.

 

First time I'd used a higher power eyepiece than 20mm, so I was a bit surprised. Is it normal to see that obstruction? Could it be collimation error or my focussing technique. The shadow was smack in the middle of the image. Will  take out the ep today and look into the OTA - I gather that if I see my eye the collimation is OK. Thanks for any help.

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I wanted to thank everyone for their help. I went out the other night and was able to view Jupiter with pretty good detail. It came down to a focusing issue. It was a very exciting moment for me and one that will help fuel my curiosity and continued observing long into the future. Thanks again!

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  • 4 months later...

This is an older thread, but I have recently purchased and tested the Celestron anti-vibration pads on my Celestron 8 SE scope. They made a big difference, cutting vibration time in half. 4 seconds of wobble are down to 2 seconds...a great improvement.

I also owned a 127 SLT (worse with vibrations) and I believe the pads would be similarly helpful.

Perhaps the best accessory I've purchased.

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