causes Distorted image celestron 127

[Hoi2001]

Celestron 127 images appear with distorted light 

suggestions

[Ruud]

Distorted light? Do you have a photo or can you make a sketch?

[Cornelius Varley]

20 minutes ago, Hoi2001 said:

Celestron 127 images appear with distorted light 

suggestions

Can you expand this a bit further ? Without knowing the type of distortion it is difficult to help you.

[Hoi2001]

Last night I was looking at Venus & Mars.  I could see the shape of both planets but there was almost a double image.  There was no clear crisp border around the shape of the planet.  

Im new to astronomy and I thought it might be a collimation issue.  However I've been frustrated trying to get this scope collimated.  I tried during the day and I thought it was all set, but apparently it isn't.

 

thx

[Ruud]

Hi Hoi, that sounds like poor seeing.

Bad seeing takes many forms and shapes. These youtube videos are just a sample: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=poor+astronomical+seeing. I use Meteoblue to get an indication of how good or bad the seeing will be.

Welcome to the stargazers lounge!

[laudropb]

Both planets can be difficult to focuss cleanly at the moment due to atmospheric distortion. Try a star test on a magnitude + 2 star that is well above the horizon.

[happy-kat]

Alscollimationaid is a neat like little application you can use to check your collimation. Plus a star test is good to try to test it but need a clear night for that.

Edited January 17, 2017 by happy-kat