Magnification and shaky images

[cpittman35]

Hello Guys,

Another question for your seasoned pros

Last night I was able to get some OK views of Jupiter and her moons, Saturn, and Mars.  They move so fast it's hard to keep up with them. 

When I use any eyepiece greater than the 10mm I get a bad shake in the scope.  Well, I notice it more with higher magnification.  The slightest touch, even to adjust the focus, and it shakes to the point where I can't focus all that great without the Planets moving out of frame already. 

Am I doing something wrong or is that just par for the course for my particular scope/tripod combo? It's the Celestron Astromaster 130eq.

Thanks again for answering all my questions.  You guys are awesome. 

[Louis D]

Not to disrespect your scope, but that is precisely the problem with this type of mount versus a dobsonian mount for a Newtonian scope at this price point.  Heftier equatorial mounts will solve this shakiness issue, but at what cost and weight?  If you switch to a dob and use ultra or hyper wide eyepieces that are well corrected, you can focus on the object with very little shakiness when using a light touch on the focuser then put it near the edge of the wide field of view and watch it drift across, then repeat minus the focusing.  Putting Sorbothane pads under the feet will reduce the damping time even further.  The pads will help a little with your mount as well.

[Timebandit]

Hi. As you increase the magnification therefore the point of interest of the target therefore gets to a more focused and more magnified point. Therefore even the slightest movement will therefore also be magnified in its exaggerated  movement of the point of target. If this happens when you are changing eyepiece itself then most scopes do have slight movement when changing eyepiece or refocusing. If when you let go of the scope it still moves when looking  through the eyepiece I would say that you have a problem with the mount set up . Either the mount is not secured correctly and firmly in its settings or at some part in its moving parts of the mount are not tightened correctly, or the mount itself is just not of heavy enough structure and is moving due to some wind motion around it. I hope this is helpful.

[cpittman35]

40 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Not to disrespect your scope, but that is precisely the problem with this type of mount versus a dobsonian mount for a Newtonian scope at this price point.  Heftier equatorial mounts will solve this shakiness issue, but at what cost and weight?  If you switch to a dob and use ultra or hyper wide eyepieces that are well corrected, you can focus on the object with very little shakiness when using a light touch on the focuser then put it near the edge of the wide field of view and watch it drift across, then repeat minus the focusing.  Putting Sorbothane pads under the feet will reduce the damping time even further.  The pads will help a little with your mount as well.

No disrespect taken  I went with what was affordable at the moment.  I wanted to make sure I liked this whole astronomy deal before diving headlong into a real expensive setup.  So far I'm enjoying it.  Once I learn how to use this one and get what use out of it I can I'll move on up.  Thanks for the insight. 

[rockystar]

I've seen some people tie a bag of bricks (or something similarly heavy) to the underside of the mount, it should shift the centre of gravity and make it a bit more stable

[cpittman35]

19 minutes ago, Timebandit said:

Hi. As you increase the magnification therefore the point of interest of the target therefore gets to a more focused and more magnified point. Therefore even the slightest movement will therefore also be magnified in its exaggerated  movement of the point of target. If this happens when you are changing eyepiece itself then most scopes do have slight movement when changing eyepiece or refocusing. If when you let go of the scope it still moves when looking  through the eyepiece I would say that you have a problem with the mount set up . Either the mount is not secured correctly and firmly in its settings or at some part in its moving parts of the mount are not tightened correctly, or the mount itself is just not of heavy enough structure and is moving due to some wind motion around it. I hope this is helpful.

The scope itself doesn't move when I change the eyepiece or refocus.  It just gets a little shaky and doesn't calm down fast enough for me to get a good view of what I'm looking at.  At lower magnification I don't notice it. 

I checked everything on the mount and all the nuts and bolts are nice and tight.  Thanks for the insight. 

[cpittman35]

14 minutes ago, rockystar said:

I've seen some people tie a bag of bricks (or something similarly heavy) to the underside of the mount, it should shift the centre of gravity and make it a bit more stable

I thought about anchoring it somehow.  I'll see what I can come up with around the house and let you know how it works.  Thanks

[Waldemar]

Motorising your focusser may help a lot too. In that way you don't have to touch it anymore, so no more shakiness .

[Riemann]

It is worth checking that you have everything as well balanced as possible, i.e. the right amount of tube sticking out the rings and the correct counterweight position. 

Out of balance = worse wobble.  

There is probably a limit to how good you can get it with your mount (I used to have the Celestron equivalent and know the problem well) but perfect balance may help a bit.

 

[Ricochet]

I found that over tight clutches lead to a longer vibration time. Try tightening them up just enough to prevent the scope from moving of its own accord and see if things improve.