Is this broken???

[Shore Diver]

I just bought it and last night was the first time I tried it. On the moon, it looks decent. But when going to Jupiter and Saturn, I get bright blobs. I tried different eyepieces to make sure it wasn’t them. I figured I’d try collimating it. I remove the eyepiece, and when I look down, it seems there are two black circles that are not aligned. I figure they need aligning. The manual shows me totally different diagrams than what my telescope actually is! I don’t see the screws they’re talking about. Only two things recessed to the right of the eyepiece that look like Allen screws. And nothing on the other side. Here are three pictures. the 3rd one is what i see looking down the eyepiece tube. The blue is from aiming it at my pc. You can see that the black circles aren't aligned very well.  I don't believe that white sliver at the bottom left should be visible. Anyone have a clue??? Btw, it’s a Meade NG90 Maksutov Cassegrain.

[Peter Drew]

Can you see the bright sliver when you look down the eyepiece holder with your eye central?, if so I suspect that the internal secondary baffle has slipped sideways exposing part of the aluminised secondary spot.    🙂

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Shore Diver and welcome to SGL. 

Do leave the scope ample time to cool down; (i.e. reach ambient temperature before putting in an eyepiece). I leave my ETX105 for minimum of thirty minutes and/or longer during the winter months before use, uncapped, etc., so any trapped heat has time to escape. Depending on where you are, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are not very high at time of writing for observers at 50+ degrees North.

If you have an empty milk bottle, make a small pin-hole in the centre of the cap. This makes you a collimation cap and maybe more accurate then sight alone with the eye at this stage looking down the tube. Once you have made the collimation cap, align with the centre of the secondary, then look down the tube. If it is still out of collimation, contact the vendor/seller a.s.a.p.

If you still have problem then return it to wherever it was purchased from and get them to raise an RMA, make notes of date, time, who you spoke with, etc.

Just for information... To get to the collimation screws, you first have to remove the rear ABS plastic assembly. If it is still out of collimation, then it will require specialist equipment to put right. I would not do anything at this stage to correct the collimation, otherwise the vendor will accuse you of it.

Keep us updated as to how it goes.

Clear skies.

[Shore Diver]

Really dumb question, but could it not being collimated properly cause these focus issues?? 

[michael8554]

The manual I read that is supposedly for your scope is actually for a Newtonian reflector, not your MC reflector, hence the confusion over the adjustment.

If this MC is like the Meade MC I had way back, you can't adjust the Collimation.

The top eyepiece port gets images via a small 45 degree mirror at the bottom of the eyepiece port.

This can be flipped so that images emerge from the rear of the scope, if you unscrew the metal cap at the rear.

 The mirror doesn't always flip to the correct position, so looking down the top port can look  way out of alignment.

Try flipping the mirror a few times to see if it will settle correctly.

Michael

[michael8554]

I see now that you already have a post going on this subject - Why have you repeated ?

Michael

[RT65CB-SWL]

This is how Jupiter, years ago appeared in my ETX105 before the 're-mod'...

Another test is stars. How do they look? If they points of light then it should be OK. If they have a tail coming off oneside; (looking like miniature white tadpoles): then it will need collimating. Also if you de-focus a star or bright planet, are you getting concentric rings?

I just read @michael8554 first comment. As it is 'new' maybe it is a bit stiff and as he suggests and may need 'flipping' a few times.

Out of curiousity, your last image... is that from the top eyepiece port or the rear 'visual' port?

[Shore Diver]

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

I see now that you already have a post going on this subject - Why have you repeated ?

Michael

My first post was asking if it needs to be collimated. This post is after I took a look at it and nothing matched what the illustrations showed and made me wonder if it’s something that may actually be broken or not after realizing that I can’t really collimate it

[Shore Diver]

As far as I can tell, this is what is causing the sliver of light. The tube that runs through the inside of the body is slightly skewed so that it does not perfectly align with the silver reflective dot on the front of the lens. Is this a problem? Or fixable? Forgive my lack of terminology, but I don’t know all these parts yet... 

[Cosmic Geoff]

5 hours ago, Shore Diver said:

As far as I can tell, this is what is causing the sliver of light. The tube that runs through the inside of the body is slightly skewed so that it does not perfectly align with the silver reflective dot on the front of the lens. Is this a problem? Or fixable? Forgive my lack of terminology, but I don’t know all these parts yet... 

Don't ask us. If it looks faulty, get your supplier to deal with it. It's their responsibility.

[RT65CB-SWL]

7 hours ago, Shore Diver said:

As far as I can tell, this is what is causing the sliver of light. The tube that runs through the inside of the body is slightly skewed so that it does not perfectly align with the silver reflective dot on the front of the lens. Is this a problem? Or fixable? Forgive my lack of terminology, but I don’t know all these parts yet... 

From your description, that sounds like you are describing the baffle tube. 

PLEASE return it as I mentioned earlier and don't be 'fobbed off' by your reseller/vendor, Meade, etc! ...and don't forget to ask for your money back.

[John]

The baffle is fixed to the inside of the corrector plate with special adhesive. If it has been badly placed or has moved it is not something that can be fixed by the owner really. If the scope was new then it is definitely a return issue.

I have heard of these baffles shifting when a scope has been subject to very, very hot conditions, laid on it's side for long periods (months).

 

[Shore Diver]

So if the baffle isn’t perfectly straight, what will happen? Could that be the cause of the blurriness???

[Peter Drew]

3 hours ago, John said:

The baffle is fixed to the inside of the corrector plate with special adhesive. If it has been badly placed or has moved it is not something that can be fixed by the owner really. If the scope was new then it is definitely a return issue.

I have heard of these baffles shifting when a scope has been subject to very, very hot conditions, laid on it's side for long periods (months).

 

Specially if an attempt has been made to use it for solar.    🙂

[Shore Diver]

I'm thinking I just have a blurry telescope...