Sky-watcher 127 az goto synscan

[Briano]

Was hoping somebody could help me.

i recently got a sky-watcher 127 on az goto with the synscan.I understand its all in american and have sorted that part out.

i have 2 problems.....

Lat = 52 degrees, 13.9 minutes North

Long = 2 degrees, 44.5 minutes West .

I'm not sure how to Exactly enter that on the synscan.

secondly when i look at the moon.

using a 90degree angle and a 25mm or the 10mm barlow all i can see is a bright light to bright to look at, i also spent many hours trying to focus it but only get a the brightness of the moon.

I'm starting to think i should of got a smaller telescope

Any help would be appreciated.

[PeterM]

Hi Briano, as far as I know Synscan uses decimal for lat & long, your coordinates roughly convert to latitude 52.22 longitude 2.73 .

I'm not sure about the second part of your query but if you're not seeing any surface detail at all and assuming your scope isn't broken you're either not in focus or, and excuse me for suggesting this, not pointing right at the moon. Your scope is very good but you have quite a tight field of view and it's possible for you to be off target without too much difficulty.

[pvaz]

I can't help on the synscan as I never owned one.

Regarding the EPs, use the 25mm alone 1st and try to focus on a distante (it needs to be about 1km away or it won't focus) building top, bell tower or something similar, during day time. Just don't point it at the sun or you may get permanently blind.

To focus you shoud have a handle in the back of the scope and you rotate it (i'm assuming it's a SCT scope). The image will be upside down but should be easy to focus with the 25mm. Then you do the same with the 10mm an see if you can reach focus with it. Also take the chance to align the finder scope.

If you do this and can't reach focus then there's probably something wrong with the scope.

Then, at night, use the finder and then the 25mm EP to get the Moon in the center. Then you can use the 10mm to increase magnification. EP numbers work in reverse, the lower they are the more magnification you get.

Keep posting questions. We know it can be a bit hard at 1st but with a bit of time and patient things will come toghether

[Briano]

thanks. i will try and focus it in the day as suggested and solve that issue before i enter tho's co ords, . it certainly more complicated than i realised. silly me for thinking ya just point and gaze

[BazMark]

I also have this scope and if it's working correctly you should get superb views of the moon with just the 25mm EP on it's own. Just use the 90 degree diagonal and the 25mm EP at first.

When you've achieved focus with that combination you could try with the 25mm and the barlow together. You should also get quite good views with the 10mm EP. However, I would not bother barlowing the 10mm as it will be pushing the scope to a point where it is very difficult to achieve good focus.

Also, though I don't use my 25mm EP very often if I remember correctly the moon fills the field of view with this EP. If you were looking at a full moon and not at the limb of the moon then it's not easy to focus on surface detail as there's not a lot of contrast. If the moon is not full then try to focus on the terminator as there's usually plenty of contrast in the shadows cast along the craters.

One last thing. The 90 degree diagonal goes into the scope first, then the EP or Barlow and EP. If you put the barlow into the scope first this will make it difficult if not impossible to focus with both of those EPs.

[BazMark]

Something else that occurred to me is the quality of the barlow. If you got the SW deluxe barlow as I did, it's a fairly good one. However, if you you got the basic SW one it's not so good so will contribute to your poor viewing experience.

Also, if you have a moon filter, affix this to the bottom of EP you're using as this will help tremendously with the glare.

[Jdavies]

i just don't like barlows

[Arushin]

Hi Briano,

This is a great little scope for lunar and planetary observations. You won't get anything but the brightest deep sky objects but that's why I also have a big Dob. The contrast on this little Mak never fails to amaze me and its ability to do captures with a webcam is brilliant. My avatar was created with this scope. Take the advice above and invest in a moon filter as viewing without one is rather hard on the eyeballs. I find the best view of the moon is using the 25mm with the occasional switch to 10mm for close ups on interesting features. I seem to get the best out of Jupiter by using no more than a 9mm. I am sure that the issues you are having are just teething problems and you will have it all sussed out and be enjoying great views before you know it.

Good luck

Tony

[Cornelius Varley]

Was hoping somebody could help me.

i recently got a sky-watcher 127 on az goto with the synscan.I understand its all in american and have sorted that part out.

i have 2 problems.....

Lat = 52 degrees, 13.9 minutes North

Long = 2 degrees, 44.5 minutes West .

I'm not sure how to Exactly enter that on the synscan.

secondly when i look at the moon.

using a 90degree angle and a 25mm or the 10mm barlow all i can see is a bright light to bright to look at, i also spent many hours trying to focus it but only get a the brightness of the moon.

I'm starting to think i should of got a smaller telescope

Any help would be appreciated.

You should enter your coordinates in the following order : 002 44 W, 52 14 N. You telescopoe is ideal for lunar and planetary viewing. Make sure that you have the finderscope aligned correctly on the telescope. Set the telescope up in daylight and aim it at a distant aerial using an eyepiece in the diagonal, then adjust the finder so that the cross hairs or red dot of your finder line up on the same spot as the telescope.

Peter

[Briano]

wow lots of very helpful people here, . this is what i exactly did when the moon was full last night and had viewing problems.

set the telescope in garden tripod was all level. with a 90degree angle then a 25mm ep on top, it was so bright it nearly blinded me. couldnt even see the moon just a white light. i tried for hours fiddling with the focus knob and for a second see the cresent but then it dissapeared and was back to the bright light. i'm sure i'll suss it all out. thanks again all.

[brantuk]

If you have a small offset hole in the telescope cap - take the cover off the hole and replace the main cap on the tube. This should reduce the brightness sufficient enough that you can look comfortably through the eye piece

[BazMark]

i tried for hours fiddling with the focus knob and for a second see the cresent but then it dissapeared and was back to the bright light. i'm sure i'll suss it all out. thanks again all.

It sounds like the moon moved out of the field of view whilst you were trying to focus on it. Did you use the GoTo to locate the moon or just the directional controls?

Something else you could try is to locate Jupiter. Nice bright target along with it's moons and with the 25mm EP you should be able to get a nice crisp view as Arushin pointed out. Once you have it in focus you can slew round to the moon and you should only have small adjustments to make to get best focus.

Another useful feature of the remote control on this scope is the ability to change the slew speed by pressing '2' followed by one of the other numerical keys '1' to '9' as the normal slew speed ('9') is far too fast once you have you target in your field of view (FOV).

[Macavity]

The scope may simply be hugely out of focus? The "crescent" you see flash by, might just be the various "curves", which are seen when a bright object is outside the field of view. The focussing knob can be turned MANY times (it will eventually stop in either direction) and it's quite easy to loose track of which direction to go. I would heartily endorse the idea of a "test run" looking at distant objects during daylight. With these in focus, the Moon (at "infinity") should not be too far away - As the knob turns.

[BazMark]

The scope may simply be hugely out of focus? The "crescent" you see flash by, might just be the various "curves", which are seen when a bright object is outside the field of view.

This is especially true since re-reading your last post Briano, I noticed you said that the moon was 'full' when you were trying out your scope. So you would not have seen a cresent moon unless you were describing it's limb (curved edge)