Needs help on my telescope

[Cassiopeia]

Ive just bought a Skywatcher Explorer 200p EQ5 scope and im already haveing some problems with setting it up.

Me and my family spent last night trying to set the whole thing up and attempted to take it outside for a quick test.

In the instruciton manual it isnt very clear about what to do. In one part of the book, it tells us to focus on an object in the distance, so we put the scope onto a scarecrow in the farmers feild next to us.

When we looked through the finderscope, we saw it fine, but when we went to look through the actual telescope eyepeice, we couldnt see anything. I thought that you would be able to see the same thing through the finerscope as the actual eyepeice of the scope. ??

Also, for example, last night we tried to look at Saturn, but all we could see though the finerscope was a light, like a star with the naked eye. So we tried looking through the actual eyepeice and there was nothing to see.

Is there something we have to do that we have missed?

Do we have collimate the mirrors or something? Please help.

[jgs001]

It sounds like the finder and scope aren't aligned. You need to setup the scope and finder so they are aligned together... During the day, find that scarecrow in the main scope, use the ep with the biggest number (longest focal length) to find it, focus it, and centre it. Then user the next smallest numbered ep and repeat and so on, till you've got it as close as you can get. Then on the finder, there should be some adjustable screws. Adjust these till you can see the scarecrow in the finder too. That way, when you find Saturn in the finder, you'll also be able to see it in the scope.

[insomnia]

You have to align the finderscope to the telescope, its best to do this during the day. Find something in the distance like tv arial (about a mile or so away) look at the arial through the scope with 25mm or higher eyepiece, centre the arial in the EP then look through the finderscope and ajust the finder screws until the arial is centred in the cross-hairs.

Then use a different eyepiece (10mm) and centre the arial, then fine tune the finderscope, this way planets will be more precise to locate in the finderscope

[sgazer]

hi,

it sounds like it's simply that the finder scope is not aligned with the main scope, ie. it's not pointing at the same thing.

The idea is to use some daytime object to align both the finder and main scope. It has to be something quite a distance away otherwise the scope's focuser won't wind out far enough to bring it to focus (I'm guessing about >500m).

Once you've found something and focused on it with the main scope, you can then adjust the 2 screws on the finder scope so that the same object is in the centre of the crosshairs. Then they are both aligned.

You'll find it is complicated slightly as what you see will be upside down.

[Cassiopeia]

It sounds like the finder and scope aren't aligned. You need to setup the scope and finder so they are aligned together... During the day, find that scarecrow in the main scope, use the ep with the biggest number (longest focal length) to find it, focus it, and centre it. Then user the next smallest numbered ep and repeat and so on, till you've got it as close as you can get. Then on the finder, there should be some adjustable screws. Adjust these till you can see the scarecrow in the finder too. That way, when you find Saturn in the finder, you'll also be able to see it in the scope.

Ok thank you, ill try that

[sgazer]

and John and Claude can type faster than me!!

[insomnia]

Lol good to know we are all on the same wavelength

[BRENDAN]

Are you not seeing anything at all through the eyepiece? Not even daylight or a blurred object? If you look through focuser without an eyepiece you should see a reflection of your eye in the center indicating a rough alignment of the mirrors. Try an eyepiece that is not very powerful like a 25mm or so as the wrong eyepiece may magnify the object too much and make it hard to set up your scope. Also make sure the object is not to close as this will be very blurred.

If you manage to see the scarecrow in the main scope, keep it there and now center it in the finder-scope cross hairs.

Collimation is an issue for reflecting telescopes and will take time to get it right if you are an first timer. Get this right will give you the best views ever.

[Cassiopeia]

Are you not seeing anything at all through the eyepiece? Not even daylight or a blurred object? If you look through focuser without an eyepiece you should see a reflection of your eye in the center indicating a rough alignment of the mirrors. Try an eyepiece that is not very powerful like a 25mm or so as the wrong eyepiece may magnify the object too much and make it hard to set up your scope. Also make sure the object is not to close as this will be very blurred.

If you manage to see the scarecrow in the main scope, keep it there and now center it in the finder-scope cross hairs.

Collimation is an issue for reflecting telescopes and will take time to get it right if you are an first timer. Get this right will give you the best views ever.

Yes, when i looked through the focuser without an eyepeice, i saw my eye. And we also had a 25mm in aswell. I think we have to just align the finder with the scope, like you said. Thanks

[jgs001]

As this thread is a duplicate of

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-help/101766-needs-help-skywatcher-explorer-200p-eq5.html

I'm going to lock this thread, please see the thread above.