Got my telescope, now for some questions :D

[Suzpaz]

So I saw Jupiter. It was awesome.

I do have a few questions however. I got the 130p GOTO AZ SynScan.

I haven't aligned it yet, waiting for some bright stars to show up later tonight.

But before the sky went dark, I caught a glimpse of jupiter.

So my questions.

I got three (two?) eyepieces. One 2x Barlow, one 10mm and something else called a "Wide Angle Eye Relief" somethingsomething.

1)

I got a black ring with screws on it.

Here's a guy unboxing more or less exactly what I got, and stumbled across the same little ring. He also had no idea what it was:

YouTube - Skywatcher 130P

2)

Jupiter was kind of out of focus.

Is this due to:

a) Not collimating (I haven't learned it yet). I have no idea if they have done this automatically to newly sold scopes.

A lot of light pollution in the south, especially from the sunset.

c) A lot of light pollution from the city in General. Live more or less 5km from downtown Oslo.

or D) All of the above?

3) The first thing I managed to do, of course, is touch my moon filter with my fingers. Any tips on how to make it silky smooth?

4) The mount looks very unstable. All through the gazing, Jupiter kept shaking. Is this because of atmospheric disturbance, or small movement in the mount itself?

5) Is it necessary to custom make a collimation tool, or can I do it out of the box? Shipping for a collimation tool is more than the item itself, so I'd like to make it cheap

I'm going out on the porch tonight to align the synscan, and hoping to catch a proper look at the moon. I figure, seeing as that is such an easy target, it will be easy to spot if something is wrong with my scope (collimation etc).

Thanks for all the help here over the past few weeks

[themos]

You'll have to describe the view, if something's out of focus it can be fixed by just turning the focus knob slightly. yeah, I know...

perhaps more likely that the atmosphere was making the image swim around and blurring the details or that the air in the telescope was different temperatures and swirling around creating the same effect.

check for rough collimation: in the daytime, open the telescope cover, take out the eyepiece, point it at a lit wall and look into the focuser: you should be able to see your eye staring back, nicely centered.

[rowan46]

jupiter is getting low in the sky at the moment so viewing is not at its best when the target is low in the sky there is more atmospheric interference, light pollution will not affect the focus it can however affect contrast. It is possible your scope needs collimation but its more likely atmospheric conditions or even both. enjoy your new scope don't forget to wrap up warm

[Suzpaz]

I'll try that No, I was adjusting the focuser. I went from a big ring of fire to a small ball. I was expecting to see the red band of jupiter a bit clearer than I did. There was also some "blurring" around the edges. It did get better after half an hour or so now that I think about it. I'll have to look at the moon tonight to make sure

But it's cold out there! Going in the bath now because my feet are cold as ice.

But I'm happy! Gonna take a picture of the moon with an iphone later just to show off Prolly gonna be Sh*** but I'll still be happy!

[rowan46]

good point about scope cooling I had forgotten that

[JohnDenim]

Jupiter is still there, have another go now the sun has gone. (or after you emerge from your tub! )

I can focus her with my unbranded 4" newt, so you should have no problem!

[themos]

big hiking boots and ski pants help with the cold...

[rowan46]

big hiking boots and ski pants help with the cold...

I'd find something to cover the top half too

[Nexus 6]

Hi Suzpaz, I would have thought collimation would be ok as its a new scope.

You should not need to worry about light pollution when observing the Planets, you can in fact observe them in broad daylight although you must take note of the Sun in such circumstances.

How long did you leave the scope outside to adjust to the cold?, this would have an effect on it I would have thought if it had been moved from a warm room

Regarding the Moon, a flter to observe it when its full and very bright would certainly help.

[Capricorn]

Cannot see it stated what you were using at the eyepiece end.

If the 10mm and the barlow then I would suspect simply that the 2 items aren't great and you could never get a sharp image.

Also if just the 12mm then maybe the image is too small and the collected light simply swamps the image, hence no detail and being overly bright appears out of focus.

As to collimation I would guess that the factory setting is fair but could be improved on. No one is going to sit and accurately collimate each scope as they trundle off the production line.

Cool down is the other that has been mentioned. See you are in Oslo, At this time of year I guess ~-10C so maybe more then normal.

[E621Keith]

Reflector can be knocked out of alignment during transit very easily, so even new scope may need collimating out of the box.

[ian h]

Good article on collimination here

SkyandTelescope.com - Do It Yourself - How To Collimate Your Newtonian Reflector