Dot in eye piece

[stikflote]

Hello all sory to be a pain,   Celestron astro 130eq

i can get my RDF dot  on the the target im viewing a  house ,but cant see the red dot in my eyepiece

 help please

 

Keith

 

 

 

[Ricochet]

The red dot is only visible on the screen of the RDF. It is not a laser and cannot be see through the telescope. The trick is simply to get what you are looking at to also appear to be behind the red dot when you view from behind the finder. 

[John]

The red dot does not show in the eyepiece of the scope.

You align the scope so that the red dot viewed through the finder is lined up to exactly match (as far as possible) what is in the centre of the eyepiece. So using a distant object (needs to be a few hundred metres away) helps to do this alignment (a one-off process) before attempting to use the scope at night.

 

[stikflote]

Hello,

Will try again tomorrow ,so you are saying i get what im looking for in the Eyepiece,

then get the red dot on it .

Keith

 

[John]

To align the finder with the scope eyepiece, yes you do it that way. That should be a one-off adjustment which you can do in daylight using a distant target.

Then, when you are using the scope at night, you do it the other way around and what you point the dot in your finder at, should then be in the eyepiece.

 

[stikflote]

Thankyou John

IT might not be a good scope for a rank beginner ,and a chance remark to Daughter ,

but she said shop had sold over 1500 

and if ya stuck inside dad  its something   to interest you 

 thanks Sue

[Peter Drew]

It's interesting to see the different issues that those new to the subject come up with initially.  Not seeing the red dot in the telescope is a new one on me and not one I'd ever thought about, I can see how it could be confusing.  On a similar tack, yesterday I had an email from a local amateur to ask what it was that appeared to be eclipsing Venus as there was a big bite out of it as seen in the telescope.        🙂

[stikflote]

Hello Peter,

It is confusing  i dont have a clue what im doing have a quick start guide all in pictures ,,tells yopu how to put telescope together ,,tells you to put battery

into finder, then says you are now ready to stat using your astromaster.

but when you start reading the manual ,you realise you have to balance it and then it starts getting difficult,

when this lockdown   comes  and we get back to normal,i will see if i can find a club to join. Keith

[John]

Good idea about the club Keith - there are some good ones around that are very helpful.

[Louis D]

8 hours ago, Ricochet said:

The red dot is only visible on the screen of the RDF. It is not a laser and cannot be see through the telescope. The trick is simply to get what you are looking at to also appear to be behind the red dot when you view from behind the finder. 

Correct, a laser sight is visible in the eyepiece where an RDF is not.  That the laser beam is visible makes alignment at night really easy by aiming the scope at a bright star using the laser as a rough starting point.  You then center the star in the scope and align the laser close to the star and then look in the eyepiece and center the end of the laser beam in the eyepiece.  Of course, laser sights are discouraged in the UK despite being popular in the US.

[Waldemar]

Laser may be a nice tool for the one who is using it, but for the rest of us it is light pollution... 

[Louis D]

6 hours ago, Waldemar said:

Laser may be a nice tool for the one who is using it, but for the rest of us it is light pollution... 

It is nearly impossible to make it out further than about 20 feet off axis unless there's a lot of dust/moisture in the air, and I wouldn't be observing under those conditions anyway.  I definitely wouldn't recommend them if there are astrophotographers nearby as at a star party because they will pick them up in their images, but from a backyard by yourself, it is negligible.  I just can't bend around to look up through an RDF style finder anymore, nor can I merge the images of the sky and RDF with my bifocals.