Set Up Help

[MeganMarie93]

Hey guys and girls, I love space and photography separately and decided to combine the both. 

Ive recently set up my new celestron ps1000 as instructed. I took it outside to view the moon, which I had centred in the finderscope. However, through the eyepiece it was just a blurry bright light 

Any advice would be a massive help? 

[Alan64]

Hi!  Welcome!

I have the same telescope, the same kit...

The telescope is known, colloquially, as a "Bird Jones" reflector.  Quite a few of them arrive mis-collimated.

It sounds to me that the telescope needs to be collimated.  Start here at post #30, then 31 and 32, and give it a go...

https://theskysearchers.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=5754&start=20#p49883

[Ruud]

Yes, a Bird-Jones design. That uses a corrector lens. If you remove the eyepiece, can you see a lens at the bottom of the focus tube?

We've had a member with a missing corrector lens which made focusing impossible.

Welcome, I hope we can solve your problem.

 

[MeganMarie93]

1 hour ago, Ruud said:

Yes, a Bird-Jones design. That uses a corrector lens. If you remove the eyepiece, can you see a lens at the bottom of the focus tube?

We've had a member with a missing corrector lens which made focusing impossible.

Welcome, I hope we can solve your problem.

 

Ive just had a look and there is a lens. I didn't try it during the day so I will give it a go in the morning and see what happens 

[Alan64]

7 hours ago, MeganMarie93 said:

Ive just had a look and there is a lens. I didn't try it during the day so I will give it a go in the morning and see what happens 

Yes, indeed, and it must be removed in order to collimate the telescope, if the telescope arrived mis-collimated.  After the telescope is collimated, the lens within its cell is reinstalled.

[Alan64]

My own arrived mis-collimated.

If it is mis-collimated, you can try the no-tools method... https://garyseronik.com/no-tools-telescope-collimation/

After having read that, if you'd rather use a Cheshire and a collimation-cap instead, indoors as I do, then the primary-mirror will need a center-spot... https://garyseronik.com/centre-dotting-your-scopes-primary-mirror/

The primary-mirror is easily removed.  Take your time and be careful...

[MeganMarie93]

10 hours ago, Alan64 said:

My own arrived mis-collimated.

If it is mis-collimated, you can try the no-tools method... https://garyseronik.com/no-tools-telescope-collimation/

After having read that, if you'd rather use a Cheshire and a collimation-cap instead, indoors as I do, then the primary-mirror will need a center-spot... https://garyseronik.com/centre-dotting-your-scopes-primary-mirror/

The primary-mirror is easily removed.  Take your time and be careful...

I managed to use it during the day and it focused perfectly. However, again at night at the moon it’s just a bright white light nothing else. It’s so frustrating 

[DaveL59]

almost sounds like its not coming to focus as you should find it'll snap into focus and be able to make out detail. Did it come with any filters, sometimes there's a ND moon filter which may help reduce the brightness if its overpowering your eye.

When you had it in focus in daytime, was it a distant object and how far in/out did you have to crank the focuser to achieve? 
If you were near the end of travel then perhaps there's not enough travel for focus on astro targets with the eyepiece.

If the focuser doesn't have enough in/out travel then it may not manage with just the eyepiece, was it configured for photography use I wonder? Tho I'd have thought modern scopes would have adequate in-travel for photo use without shifting the mirror so I may be well wide of the mark with that train of thought...

Edited January 4, 2020 by DaveL59

[ronl]

Have you set up the finder scope with the main scope, you can do this in daylight, focus the main scope on a distant object, a tv aerial, or pylon, then look through the finder, you should see the same object, you can fine tune at night, turn the small knobs on the side of the finder holder, you would be good to go.

Edited January 4, 2020 by ronl

[John]

Even if the scope is a bit out of collimation the moon should focus quite sharply. Accurate collimation gets you the last 10-15% of performance that the scope can give but even with some collimation error the scope should provide reasonably nice images of the night sky targets.

Which eyepiece did you have in the scope when you could not get the moon into focus ?

If you have eyepieces and a barlow lens with the scope, dont use the barlow lens for now and just try using the eyepiece with the longest focal length (ie: the highest number in mm).

 

[Alan64]

2 hours ago, MeganMarie93 said:

I managed to use it during the day and it focused perfectly. However, again at night at the moon it’s just a bright white light nothing else. It’s so frustrating 

The 20mm eyepiece that comes with the kit...

The eyepiece is notorious for coming apart, either by accident, or intentionally; and all that that entails.  The eyepiece contains an Amici, erecting-image prism-assembly, and for daytime/terrestrial observations...

The view through it is quite narrow, the field-of-view akin to that of a 12mm, at least.  The eyepiece can be converted into a conventional 20mm, but we won't go into that.

Given the telescope's 1000mm focal-length, I would strongly suggest getting a 1.25" 32mm Plossl within this listing straight away...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-sp-plossl-eyepieces.html (31x)

It would make for a wonderful investment, also for any and all telescopes that may be acquired in future.

Edited January 4, 2020 by Alan64

[Alan64]

The only other eyepiece that comes with your kit is this 4mm...

...and for a power of 250x with the telescope.  A bit high there, yes, but I treasure my own, and far over the 20mm erect-image.  This is an afocal-shot I took through that 4mm, with my PS1000, and by holding a small point-and-shoot camera up to the eyepiece and snapping the shot, on the fly...

Now, it's slightly blurred there, as the mount I was using was a bit shaky, similar to the CG-2 mount that comes with the kit, but I did set my camera's shutter to 1/45th of a second to compensate.  I then had to brighten the image to match what I had seen during the live view.  During the live view, with my right eye only, the view was nigh tack-sharp.

The view would be extremely narrow if you popped that 4mm in, but it would dim the Moon down considerably.  If you might manage to see the Moon with it, and quite closely, that will tell you right there if your telescope needs collimating.  The Moon is an awfully large object.  It's not that difficult to zero in on it, even with that 4mm.

[Alan64]

Many have difficulty with the 5x24 finder-scope that comes with the kit...

That's my own before I unwrapped it.  Many have had the problem of not being able to align it well.  The solution for making it easy to align, and to hold its alignment afterwards, is simply by shimming the holder of the scope's stalk...

I used a bit of self-adhesive flocking, wrapped once round.  Thin, self-adhesive felt can be used, or even masking-type tape in a pinch.  You want the scope to fit into the holder neither loosely nor too tightly, just right rather, snugly.  You can then adjust the screws at the rear and align it most easily.

It's actually not a bad little finder, not at all.  I took it out during the day and was amazed at the quality and speciousness of the view, albeit at 24mm.

Edited January 4, 2020 by Alan64

[Alan64]

My bad, as that must be the PS1000 kit from Jessops, and with these eyepieces instead; my bad...