A Bit Disappointed

[carastro]

If you can get a clear image with a lower powered eyepiece there is unlikely to be anything wrong with the scope, you're just trying to make it do the impossible, I have the same problem with my scope if I put a too high powered eyepiece on it.

Jupiter was fairly high in the sky

Although Jupiter was high in the sky and you are seeing it through less atmosphere, you have to remember that we are moving away from Jupiter at the moment and it is much further away from us than when it is at opposition. The best time to view Jupiter is when it is at it's highest point at midnight, which was back in September.

Carole

[Capricorn]

I would suspect the eyepiece's and the magnification.

As Jupiter is low and with a turbuent atmosphere that will contribute to a poor blurred image.

Are the 6mm and 4mm plossl's?

The 6mm may be useable but I think that 4mm amd a barlowed 10mm (=5mm) will be too much.

Companies claim 2x Dia in mm but that claim is made for achro's, ED's and APO's. APO's and ED's may make it but I am doubtful of achro's.

Another thing is that the eyepiece, barlow and scope may not work together very well. Each part will have charactoristics that simply may not combine well.

Suspect that a 10mm and 8mm may be the best, a good 6mm may be of use under good conditions and that the 4mm is of no use.

Equally if the 10mm works, 100x, get out fairly early when Jupiter is fair in the South West and have a look then. At 100x you should see some detail.

[Astro_Baby]

The thing witha mirror in i8t ....

THat doesnt sound like a collimation 'eyepiece' it sounds as if you have a diagonal there.

[RikM]

I thought he was talking about the shiny part of a Cheshire ?

Rik

[Astro_Baby]

Companies claim 2x Dia in mm but that claim is made for achro's, ED's and APO's. APO's and ED's may make it but I am doubtful of achro's

Depends mightlily on the refractor.

[lavoisier]

Well, plenty of replies again, thankyou.

I was talking about the shiny part of a Chesire eyepiece and not a diagonal. I have checked the scope thoroughly this morning and it appears to be collinated just fine.

I have used every combination of eyepieces I have on a terrestrial target about 400-500 yards away. I have at 1.25", 32mm, 25mm, 17mm, 10mm, 6mm, 4mm and all of them produced a good image with and without the Barlow. So I am chuffed to bits with the scope itself and the eyepieces. Although I am aware I won't get this degree of magnification at night.

I also have a 2" at 42mm but I have encountered another small problem. When I look through the 2" eyepiece I tend to get a black circle like pupil and iris would appear in a mirror, with a small field of view. Iwas told by the company I bought it from that I would get a large field of view, but it's not there? Any thoughts please? You guys seem to know your onions.

Thanks again in advance

Paul

[Mr Spock]

Silly question, but you are using a 2" diagonal? What you are getting sounds like vignetting.

Also with a 42mm eyepiece you might need to move your eye away from the eyepice a bit as the eye relief will be quite large..

With my 120mm, 42mm LVW and a 2" diagonal the widefield views are great.

[Moonshane]

hi Paul

I previously had the celestron version of this scope and really liked it. aperture fever took over for me though and I sold it.

the views I got were really nice with pinpoint stars. the 10mm eyepiece may have been OK in your scope as it's a f8.3 so not too harsh on eyepieces. at the end of the day if it works for you, it works for you.

I found the best views with mine were with the an 8mm eyepiece, occasionally up to 7mm or 6mm. something else to consider is where neighbour's heating vents are - I often find that higher power viewing is ruined when someone has a bath!

don't fret about the scope, the chances are it's fine, especially if there's no obvious signs of being dropped which would be very apparent and I'm sure you'd have mentioned them.

just a note on planetary observing which I was not aware of at first. you never (or it's so rare it may as well be never) get constant sharp viewing in the UK, it's always affected by the weather conditions. even (in fact especially) when the sky is very clear you have to watch for prolonged periods and then every now and then you'll see it pop into focus and you 'grab' the detail in your mind and build a picture over time. eventually you learn how to see planetary detail. often when there's a very fine haze, the seeing is better and you can see more detail on planets and more readily see colours in stars and split close doubles.

good luck.

[lavoisier]

Hi

yes I am using a 2" diagonal, but thinking about things I probably had my eye quite close. I shall try it further away.

Thanks for that. It's all coming together now.

Paul

[John]

If its the 42mm Revelation Superview eyepiece then the eye relief is long and the correct eye positioning can be tricky to find. Once found though the views will be fine with an F/8.3 120mm refractor.

[lavoisier]

Hi John,

I'm sure that's the eyepiece I have. I guess I'm fretting abit much with it being new to me.

Thanks to Moonshane for taking the time and trouble to reply too. I can't really afford to invest in an 8mm eyepiece at the moment but I suppose I could get away with a 17mm and a Barlow. As I said above I do tend to panic a bit about things but thanks to everybody who has replied to stop my worries.

Paul

[Moonshane]

totally ok with the 17mm and the barlow. this should give a good image most times. planets (even at 200x) will always be small but the detail pops out.

[Capricorn]

Just read your other post. You have an erecting prism in the path as well.

Can you set the scope up without it present?

I suspect that removing this would help quite a bit.

However as the optical path will change it is not simply dropping it out as you would need, I think, an extender of some sort.

Did the scope come with anything like that ?