glasses owners

[pr0xibus]

Evening guys. I got my telescope set up tonight and got it balanced too.

Anyway their was a small break in the clouds up here so i thought ill leave it out side for half hour and just have a wee test. first time looking through a telescope since i was 9 about twenty year ago.

Anyway i wasnt looking at anything in particular just random stars and trying out the focus. I find while i wear my glasses the star will be in focus for a short time say a few seconds then go slightly blurry, i can feel the strain in my eyes too. I have tried it with both eyes open and then just one eye open but makes no difference.

Is their any special magical way someone with glasses should be looking through the scope

Cheers

[barkis]

I wear glasses for everyday use. They are bi focals, but when using my scope, I take them off. I can focus the stars, planet, or whatever I am observing without the need for spectacles. Of course anyone who may follow me to the eyepiece, will certainly have to re focus to suit their eye.

If I were to take a picture of the moon, and use the live view of my camera, then I would wear my glasses, and use the distance segment of the lens to adjust the focus.

The change in focus in your case, could be due to the telescope cooling down. A cooling down period of at least an hour should be allowed, before an observing session starts. That will allow the optics to reach ambient temperature, and eliminate the need to continually adjust the focuser.

Allowing a cooling period is especially desirable, if your scope is stored indoors, where it is likely to be of a different temperature to the oudoors environment

Ron.

[pr0xibus]

Thanks for the quick reply barkis.

Tomorrow hopefully if the sky is clear i'll leave it outside for an hour and try again.

I have single vision glasses but my eye sight is extremely bad lol

I will take my glasses of tomorrow and try again

[kev 102 42]

i take my specs off.....kev

[LukeSkywatcher]

I wear glasses 24/7 for watching tv,driving but i never wear them for observing through bins or scopes..............yet everything is very well focused for me.

Everyones eyes are different. Sorry i cant be of any help.

[GazOC]

I'm short sighted and wear contacts but take them out when observing.

[johneast]

If are astigmatic you may need to keep your glasses on. I am and I find using Long Eye Relief eypieces helps.

From my Celestron manual:

"If you wear corrective lenses you may want to remove them....If you have astigmatism, corrective lenses should be worn at all times."

[TopHouse]

As above, if you have an astigmatism you could do with keeping them on, I'd also suggest an eye patch on the eye you aren't looking through, (don't laugh, many on here wear them) and with regards eyepieces i highly recommend the Baader Hyperion eyepieces as with the huge eye relief they are a godsend to us glasses wearers.

[Astorix]

I myself have poor vision and a really bad Stigmitism in both eyes, so as you can imagine, i am pretty blind! however when i use Bino's or scopes i take them off and focus the instrument like i usually would and it works fine!i can see as clearly as i would if i were wearing glasses!! it's weird!

[Moonshane]

I am short sighted and wear glasses almost all the time, although at 43, my eyes have started going slightly the other way now and I have to look over my specs to see close up now - varifocals are not far away I fear!

I take off my specs for the scope etc and it's always OK - the main reason is that I don't look after my glasses anywhere near as well as my other optics and they are scratched to hell. I get a lovely starburst effect when I look at anything with them on!

It's slightly annoying having to put them on and take them off all the time (I need to put them back on for placement/alignment to see anything other than the brightest stars/planets/moon but it's always better with them off at the scope.

[Capricorn]

If you are long sighted or short sighted then within reason you will simply adjust the focus of the scope to take eye imperfection into account.

If you have astigmatism then there is nothing that the scope can do about this in terms of compensation. Although most people often have only minor astigmatism and it reallly has a small effect when viewing. I have astigmatism but as it is minor i do not use glasses when observing.

When you are looking at an image you could be making the eye focus to get a sharp image, then when you relax the image goes out of focus. If you then refocus your eye the cycle starts again. So you have to effect of the image going in and out of focus. Not uncommon as you will naturally focus your eyes on an image but if that image isn't at your rest point you will eventually relax and the image goes blurry.

[pr0xibus]

I hope no-one laughs.

When i tested the telescope yesterday skywatcher explorer 150pl i didnt realise that the telescope had a massive cap at the front of it i just took off one of the smaller caps "i put this down to me not using a telescope in many years lol". since it was a smaller opening for the light to come through i am suspecting this could be the problem with me focusing etc etc

so another question without opening another tread what are the smaller caps for at the front of the telescope

[barkis]

No one will laugh. It's been done many times, including by experienced Amateurs, and I include myself.

[pr0xibus]

makes me feel slightly better lol if i never looked at the pic of my scope on the internet again i might never have realised lol lucky i have never been to a meet otherwise i would have been laughed at personally lol

[RikM]

so another question without opening another tread what are the smaller caps for at the front of the telescope

If you are looking at the moon, you only need to take the small cap off the front of the scope otherwise it can be so bright it isn't funny. I don't know that this is what it's actually for, but this is what I do.

I keep my glasses on when looking through the eyepiece and use an eye-patch on the other eye. I am an avid sketcher and continually taking my glasses off to look, then back on to sketch, the off to look again etc. I find a major PITA. I use eye-pieces with soft, folded down, eye cups and I don't really have any problems with that.

I guess everyone will feel differently about keeping their glasses on or taking them off. There is no right or wrong, only personal preference.

Rik

[Brunty12345]

im a glasses wearer too, i only wear them when im indoors, thats when im using my laptop, playing games and when im reading things etc but when it comes to the scope, its good to have a lil 5 minute breaks between each go at the ep, say like observe for half hour or however long you plan to observe, and then take a break, close your eyes for a few mins, and then open your eyes and start focusing on further objects in the distance, dont put your glasses back on because then it sends your eyes funny when you take them off again, this is my personal experience and what i do, maybe it will work for you? im short sighted by the way, plus i have a lazy eye, which is my right

[Brunty12345]

and on top of that, when i stopped wearing my glasses constantly my eyes have actually started to correct themselves, i dont know why, but everytime i go for an eye test i always seem to need weaker glasses

[pr0xibus]

WOW is the only word i can think off right now.

I left the scope outside in the cold for about an hour too cool down.

I THEN TOOK OFF THE MAIN CAP. put my super25 wide angle lens in and bam the first thing i pointed it at was saturn. I can clearly make out saturn plus the rings and 2 moons one either side of saturn.

it was small but could make it out very good. I then changed to the super 10mm lens and the view was breathtaking. i think i could possible make out 4 moons of saturn. saturn was very clear this time i only wish i had a camera.

I then put the 2 x barlow lens 1.25" plus the super 10mm. could still see 4 moons and saturn but for some reason it ws slightly dimmer. Much harder to keep track off i think i might just invest in a motor.

But for my very first scope and my very first time pointing one at the sky i am one very happy guy tonight. I tried to share my enthusiasm with the other half but unfortunatly she was watching re-runs of hollyoaks so no interest their.

Up here their is still quite a bit of clouds about so hopefully tomorrow will be clearer.

Since i have taken off the main cap i can see alot better with and without glasses

And i think i might have spotted my first sattelite, not quite sure but randomly checking the sky a small white dot flew past at a steady speed

Cheers guys

[robhal9000]

Hi,

For those who have issues with taking off glasses and then having nowhere to put them safely. I use these.

2 x Spectacle Glasses Neck Cord String Straps BLACK 25" on eBay (end time 10-May-10 17:35:43 BST)

or a similar product.

[Macavity]

and on top of that, when i stopped wearing my glasses constantly my eyes have actually started to correct themselves, i dont know why, but everytime i go for an eye test i always seem to need weaker glasses

Well I hope it continues. I anticipated an improvement, but remained short sighted and lost acuity, so now need bifocals or varifocals. Not overly taken with my "Carl-Zeiss" lensed version of the latter [varifocals]. They are OK for generalised "out and about", but rather useless for extended periods reading or astronomy. Moreover the frame welding broke after a mere three months... I think I will be off to "Specsavers" - or similar ilk, next time.

But, as the (rather sharp) salesman in the opticians said:

"We're no more expensive than dentistry these days..."

[LukeSkywatcher]

I hope no-one laughs.

When i tested the telescope yesterday skywatcher explorer 150pl i didnt realise that the telescope had a massive cap at the front of it i just took off one of the smaller caps "i put this down to me not using a telescope in many years lol". since it was a smaller opening for the light to come through i am suspecting this could be the problem with me focusing etc etc

so another question without opening another tread what are the smaller caps for at the front of the telescope

It was 6 months before i noticed that the WHOLE lens cap comes off of my 90EQ. Up til then i was observing with only the smaller central cap removed. Haha when i looked at the full moon for the 1st time with the whole cap removed i thought i was blinded.