Dobsonion skywatcher classic 200p

[Craig solomon]

Hi all  after help if anyone's out there ?

[wulfrun]

Welcome to SGL, it's a pretty active forum but if you tell us what you want help with it'll get you answers that are more relevant...

[PeterStudz]

Go ahead, what help do you need? I’m sure some of the members here will be more than happy to assist. 

[Craig solomon]

Hi , I'm a technophobe and also a astronomy novice , I purchased my dobsonion,  set it up etc my problem is I can locate items like  moon etc through the view finder really clear but on the actual eyepiece ( main telescope ) if I use the moon for example all I see is light regardless which eye piece I use , or even using a moon filter , I've tried to refocus it   wondering of I've set it up wrong but no idea how 

[Dark Vader]

Hi Craig, have you used both the 2" and 1.25" eyepiece adapters? 

Focusser should look like this for 1.25" eyepieces:

 

 

[Kon]

3 hours ago, Craig solomon said:

Hi , I'm a technophobe and also a astronomy novice , I purchased my dobsonion,  set it up etc my problem is I can locate items like  moon etc through the view finder really clear but on the actual eyepiece ( main telescope ) if I use the moon for example all I see is light regardless which eye piece I use , or even using a moon filter , I've tried to refocus it   wondering of I've set it up wrong but no idea how 

Is the light you see in the shape of the moon out of focus or just light? If it is later, you may want to check if the finder scope and main telescope are aligned properly. You can easily miss the moon by a few degrees but the glare will come through.

[Craig solomon]

6 hours ago, Kon said:

Is the light you see in the shape of the moon out of focus or just light? If it is later, you may want to check if the finder scope and main telescope are aligned properly. You can easily miss the moon by a few degrees but the glare will come through.

Hi mate , thanks for your reply I'd say a combination of the two if I'm honest , does the finder scope and the main telescope have to be perfectly aligned , forgive my ignorance but I thought finderscope was just to locate item , but had no relationship to what you see 

[Craig solomon]

10 hours ago, Dark Vader said:

Hi Craig, have you used both the 2" and 1.25" eyepiece adapters? 

Focusser should look like this for 1.25" eyepieces:

 

 

 

[Craig solomon]

10 hours ago, Dark Vader said:

Hi Craig, have you used both the 2" and 1.25" eyepiece adapters? 

Focusser should look like this for 1.25" eyepieces:

 

 

Looks like I put an extra adaptor on , would that make a difference?

[Kon]

40 minutes ago, Craig solomon said:

Hi mate , thanks for your reply I'd say a combination of the two if I'm honest , does the finder scope and the main telescope have to be perfectly aligned , forgive my ignorance but I thought finderscope was just to locate item , but had no relationship to what you see 

Think of your finderscope as mini-telescope, so what you see there, you should see from your main telescope as well. There are 3 little bolts that will allow you to adjust it. Best done at daylight; pick a target such as a tree or an antenna over 50m away and observe from the EP of the telescope and then try see the same with the finderscope. For finer tuning do it at night using a high mag EP and focus on a bright star and try bring this star in the finders cope as well.

[Craig solomon]

Thanks I'll have to try it at night as the way my house is located there are no visible things to locate at distance so I will have to do at night but I read stars move to fast to do this 

[Dark Vader]

2 hours ago, Craig solomon said:

Looks like I put an extra adaptor on , would that make a difference?

Yes, it will cause the focusing issue you describe. If you take the 2" one out and just use the top one like in my pic, then set up your finderscope accurately, you should be pretty much sorted. Set it during the day as Kon has described using a distant tv aerial or electricity pylon, then fine tune it at night using Polaris. That one hardly moves at all, so you can also star test your collimation afterwards.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Dark Vader

[Craig solomon]

Thanks for everyones help , got it working last night and Wow I was not expecting to see what I saw , look forward to getting to know its capabilities 

[Kon]

Great you sorted it out. I have the 200P and it is a fantastic telescope.

[Craig solomon]

Agree , when I saw the moon for first time in detail it was emotional