Help Focusing/viewing objects on Astromaster 114EQ

[Trentk2000]

Hi,

This is my first post, and I am relatively new to astronomy, so please disregard any ignorance on my part. Currently I have an Astromaster 114EQ, and have been running into a problem. Whenever I point my telescope at a distant star or a planet, (Jupiter in this case), I get the same exact image-- a blurry white circle (kinda looks like a microscope slide), and covering it is the crossbars and shadow of the secondary mirror. When I focus it, I can get the image to a much smaller size, however lacking any actual detail. I was able to make out Jupiter, and a small dot next to it, likely a moon-- but I am not able to make out the gaseous rings or 'halos', as many others have. In fact, I was only certain it was Jupiter due to the dot (moon) next to it.  Despite this, when I decide to look in the direction of the moon, everything is crisp clear... I can make out all of the distinct details of the moons surface! I have attempted collimating my telescope, however I lack a proper collimation cap... but from what I can tell, the mirrors are centered. Regardless, I don't feel this is the problem. I have looked for solutions elsewhere, and have tried multiple things, but I have had no real luck... Any insight would be great.

Also, here is a video that I recently found, that shows an image similar (not 100% identical) to what I am seeing:

 

[Dave In Vermont]

Okay - this is easy! What you are seeing in the above image is a de-focused star. We actually are known to want this image when we 'collimate' our telescopes. If you are seeing nicely circular-rings like this, it means your telescope's optics are 'collimated.' Collimate means the mirrors are properly aligned.

However - what you want a star to look like, when it is focused in your eyepiece, IS the smallest point of light you can get it to. No telescope on Earth will show you a star as a disk. Stars are much too far away for our meager equipment to show a disk - except our own star - the Sun*. So a properly focused star will look like a bright, tiny dot.

As for a planet like Jupiter, you want a clear disk - with some equatorial-bands on it. It's Moons will be tiny dots like a focused star, but not as bright. So your telescope is doing what it should from your description. But you need to work on focusing it. Also you need to understand that not everything out in space will be focused at the same time. These can vary a bit due to distance, as well as 'seeing' conditions. Some nights our atmosphere is very still & calm. Other times there can be high-level turbulence (that is invisible to our eyes) which will cause the view in the eyepiece to look blurry and focusing becomes difficult or impossible.

What I suggest is for you to practice focusing your telescope in the daytime on distant, terrestrial objects: tree's, church-steeple's, telephone-poles, etc. This is also a good time to align your finder-scope or red-dot, with your main telescope.

You'll get there! And no need to worry about asking any questions on astro-related things - that's what we expect and we love helping newcomers find answers!

You'll get there -

Dave

* NEVER POINT YOUR TELESCOPE TOWARDS THE SUN!! Just one quick look can be your last in that eye! Ask about proper Sun-Filters if you are interested in Solar-Viewing.

[rockystar]

it could be that you are running out of outward focus. Have you got and are you using an extension tube in your focuser?

[ronin]

At a guess you have something like Jupiter in view - it is about the one thing that is big and bright for the"bright" background.

The eyepiece is too far out, you should simply need to wind the eyepiece in towards the main body of the scope by using the focuser. What happens if it is too far out is that the star/planet is a big blur and the central obstruction - the secondary mirror and even the spider start to become apparent, just they never make it to a sharp image however. But as they (secondary etc) look like they are getting "better" a user will carry on winding out. Even if you know it is "wrong" after having had a scope for years people still try. I do it to simply know that the focuser stops somewhere - I have not a clue why I do but I do.

Just use the eyepiece of the longest focal length that you have, don't go loading everything up that you can, stick to the simple side.

Not sure what eyepieces came with the scope, but the longer, usually 25mm or 20mm is usually OK, the shorter one, often 10mm is often not so good. The barlow is also often not good. Basically be prepared to go purchase a better short eyepiece. A few places in the US do budget plossl's. Do not go for something that delivers high magnification, you first want a decent image.

[brantuk]

The thing with this scope is that the supplied eyepieces (20mm and 10mm) are very basic and only give 50x and 100x magnification. So so viewing a planet is going to appear quite small in the eyepiece. Also being a Jones/Bird type newtonian means you have a correcting lens in the focus tube to achieve a focal length of 1 meter. So focusing - whilst tricky - is not impossible, but don't expect top quality.

It's obvious you're out of focus so you need to practise that during the day on distant objects. Don't use any extension tubes - just use the eypieces, and get a feel for the different focal points of each eyepiece and how much you have to turn the focuser knob when you change one for the other. This will help at night.

As suggested above - a better quality eyepiece will help - perhaps an 8mm for 125x mag will give a slightly larger view. I would avoid cheap barlows which just add more low quality glass into the light train spoiling the view more. An 8mm on it's own will be better than a 16mm barlowed. Hth

[Trentk2000]

17 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Okay - this is easy! What you are seeing in the above image is a de-focused star. We actually are known to want this image when we 'collimate' our telescopes. If you are seeing nicely circular-rings like this, it means your telescope's optics are 'collimated.' Collimate means the mirrors are properly aligned.

However - what you want a star to look like, when it is focused in your eyepiece, IS the smallest point of light you can get it to. No telescope on Earth will show you a star as a disk. Stars are much too far away for our meager equipment to show a disk - except our own star - the Sun*. So a properly focused star will look like a bright, tiny dot.

As for a planet like Jupiter, you want a clear disk - with some equatorial-bands on it. It's Moons will be tiny dots like a focused star, but not as bright. So your telescope is doing what it should from your description. But you need to work on focusing it. Also you need to understand that not everything out in space will be focused at the same time. These can vary a bit due to distance, as well as 'seeing' conditions. Some nights our atmosphere is very still & calm. Other times there can be high-level turbulence (that is invisible to our eyes) which will cause the view in the eyepiece to look blurry and focusing becomes difficult or impossible.

What I suggest is for you to practice focusing your telescope in the daytime on distant, terrestrial objects: tree's, church-steeple's, telephone-poles, etc. This is also a good time to align your finder-scope or red-dot, with your main telescope.

You'll get there! And no need to worry about asking any questions on astro-related things - that's what we expect and we love helping newcomers find answers!

You'll get there -

Dave

* NEVER POINT YOUR TELESCOPE TOWARDS THE SUN!! Just one quick look can be your last in that eye! Ask about proper Sun-Filters if you are interested in Solar-Viewing.

Will do, thanks, for the quick response, and to everyone else. I'll take everyone's view into account next time I got viewing!

[Trentk2000]

13 hours ago, brantuk said:

The thing with this scope is that the supplied eyepieces (20mm and 10mm) are very basic and only give 50x and 100x magnification. So so viewing a planet is going to appear quite small in the eyepiece. Also being a Jones/Bird type newtonian means you have a correcting lens in the focus tube to achieve a focal length of 1 meter. So focusing - whilst tricky - is not impossible, but don't expect top quality.

It's obvious you're out of focus so you need to practise that during the day on distant objects. Don't use any extension tubes - just use the eypieces, and get a feel for the different focal points of each eyepiece and how much you have to turn the focuser knob when you change one for the other. This will help at night.

As suggested above - a better quality eyepiece will help - perhaps an 8mm for 125x mag will give a slightly larger view. I would avoid cheap barlows which just add more low quality glass into the light train spoiling the view more. An 8mm on it's own will be better than a 16mm barlowed. Hth

Thanks, I think I'll look into other lenses once I become more accustomed to what I'm currently using.