All I can see is the ‘Y’ shaped Propellor!!

[Henry Taggart]

Great looking scope and works well for Clear moon viewing BUT when I try to focus on Mars or Jupiter (great month for it !) I can see them well and clear enough but consistently see the secondary refraction mirror over the entire scope view - I have tried both 10 and 20mm lenses and send back and forth in positioning of lens and the focus range to no avail ☹️ any advice please ?!

[Victor Boesen]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Are you observing through the glass in the photo? Getting the scope outside is crucial when observing. Also, the fact that you can see the spider vanes from the telescope is usually because the image is out of focus. Even though you says you've tried focusing and etc. try bringing the scope outside and let it cool for a little while.

[Neil H]

Hi can you post a photo of the focuser as it would be if your using the scope  it may have an extension that needs to be removed or added to get full focus 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Neil H

[DirkSteele]

if you are seeing the shadow of the secondary mirror and spider vanes using the 10mm and 20mm eyepieces with that scope, you are far away from the focus point.  If you are getting a good detailed view of the Moon withe plenty of craters and other surface detail visible, I would suggest first aiming at the Moon, focusing, and then moving to Mars or Jupiter as they are pretty much all at infinity as far as your scope is concerned so the focus would at most require just modest tweaking,  If the Moon is not visible, try using a bright star and make sure it is as small as possible in the eyepiece when focusing and then move on to one of the planets.  If you are moving the focus wheel along its entire travel distance and the scope is still not coming to focus, I would ask if the scope requires an extension tube between the focuser and eyepiece?  If it does, it would be included as part of the equipment that came with it.  It will just be an empty tube with the same diameter as the eyepieces.

 

Dont forget Mars is currently 63 million kilometers away and Jupiter is more than 700 million currently, so they will appear very small in the scope.  I have seen some of my friends who had not used a scope before adjust the focus so the planets appear large, but all they had done was move the image well away from focus and expand the disc that is seen.

[Knighty2112]

Focus 1st on the brightest star you can see if the moon is not available to focus on, and get the star to appear as the sharpest image you will see (you will see the diffraction spikes form the the front mirror as bright lines), but get the star to the sharpest image possible (this should make the star look almost like a pin prick of light), then move on to Mars, Jupiter or Saturn and you should see a much sharper image, however they may be small depending on the EP used and magnification.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Knighty2112

[Waldemar]

Apart from all of the above, learn how to set up your EQ mount... The way it is set up now, does not work very well.
Take a look at this video please, so you can enjoy your equipment as it is meant to be:  

 

[Henry Taggart]

I can’t thank you all enough - all great suggestions - right out I go and try this all again from scratch !! The video on setting up the mount was great too - now working much more smoothly !  Will see how I get on tonight - it’s nice and clear out here so plenty to try out on 🔭 

[Nerf_Caching]

You need to focus your telescope by turning the focusing knob. The propeller shape is the shadow of the secondary mirror and the spider vanes.