New telescope, only see a big blur.

Alexander Avtanski wrote in

Doink's advice about collimation is a good one. Just don't rush to
collimate before you can get some images from the scope!

During the day try to focus to something that is far away - a distant
hill, treetop, tower, whatever. When you are able to see it through
the scope, and know how to focus, try the scope at night. And just
after several sessions think about collimation.

I second this advice. You might also pay a visit to your friendly local
Astronomy Club where you will likely find several helpful people who can
help you diagnose and (if necessary) collimate.

Place the mirror diagonal (usually a 90-degree device) into the telescope's
focuser, then place the 20mm eyepiece into the other end of the mirror
diagonal. This way you will be looking down into the eyepiece.



This will probably confuse the poster more than anything else... according to
the model number he gave, the telescope is a 114mm reflector, not a refractor.
There will be no external 90 degree diagonal to insert.

Edmund Rishekl wrote in message . ..

From the telescope I then remove the unit that holds the eyepiece. It
is labeled "3X BARLOW LENS". It is a black tube aprox. 6" long which
is narrower at the end which goes inside the telescope and terminates
in a lens.

There are good Barlow lenses available, but this one is useless--it's
only there to *theoretically* provide the very high magnification that
Tasco advertises, but in practice, you might as well throw it away
(seriously). If you remove it from the tube that moves when you turn
the focusing knob (called the "drawtube"), you should be able to
insert either eyepiece into the drawtube directly (don't forget to
secure it in place). Before you do this, however, make sure that you
can see a reflection of your eye when looking into the center of the
empty drawtube. If you can't see it or it is poorly centered, then
your telescope's mirrors need to be "collimated" (aligned):

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...&q=collimation

You'll eventually need to do this anyway, but if you can at least see
a fairly well-centered image of your eye, then you can proceed with
trying to get your telescope to provide viewable images. Your
telescope's "focal length" is 500mm. To find out what magnification
you're getting, divide the telescope's focal length by the focal
length of the eyepiece you're using. For example, the H20mm (the "H"
stands for the design type) eyepiece will give you 500/20 = 25x. This
is considered low magnification (nothing bad about that), and is good
for viewing many of the larger objects in the sky, as well as
initially finding the smaller objects. The SR4mm eyepiece will give
you 125x, which is considered fairly high magnification, but because
of its design, don't expect much from this eyepiece--for now, only use
the H20mm, inserted directly into the drawtube. You should at least
be able to focus the image now.

By the way, your telescope comes with a 5x24 finder, which is a small
telescope with very low magnification and a wide field of view,
providing an intermediate step between your eyes and the main
telescope to help you aim at specific objects. Unfortunately, because
this type of finder is so cheaply made, it may hurt as much as it
helps. If you have trouble locating objects through this finder,
place your eye behind the telescope and aim along the tube instead.


- Robert Cook

Edmund Rishekl wrote in message . ..

Here's the problem: The telescope can only see a big fuzzy blur
roughly the color of whatever I'm pointing at

Oops, I neglected to mention that your telescope will probably not be
able to focus on objects that are nearby--maybe even hundreds of feet
away. After all, it's designed for viewing celestial objects. Make
sure that whatever you try focusing it on is very far away. In the
sky, the Moon (rising tonight around 10pm) would be ideal.


- Robert Cook

"Bettrel" wrote

I wrote:

Place the mirror diagonal (usually a 90-degree device) into the
telescope's
focuser, then place the 20mm eyepiece into the other end of the mirror
diagonal. This way you will be looking down into the eyepiece.

This will probably confuse the poster more than anything else... according
to
the model number he gave, the telescope is a 114mm reflector, not a
refractor.
There will be no external 90 degree diagonal to insert.

Right. Some of us assumed he has a refractor... oops.

"Edmund Rishekl" wrote

But now I draw to my next question: I noticed the image
shakes a little when I'm looking into the heavens. Maybe it was the
wind, maybe my eyebrow imperceptibly bouncing on the eyepiece.
Either way, is there something one can do to make the tripod base
absorb the microshocks a little better?

Telescope systems like these are inherently unstable, so there probably
isn't too much you can do but wait for it all to settle down after you've
last touched it. However, you might try hanging a bag of weights from the
center head of the tripod (the thing to which the three tripod legs attach
at their tops). Other than that, make sure the tube assembly is balanced on
the mounting (if it can be moved forward and backward), clamp everything
down, and don't use it when there are breezes.

Edmund Rishekl says...

Wow, wish I hadn't waited so long to check the responses!

THANKS TO EVERYBODY for the help: I now have a working
telescope. Turns out that the BARLOW thing was in two pieces
so I was able to remove the lens-bearing sleeve and still have
a place to mount the eyepiece. Tested it out and everything
works. THANKS AGAIN!

But now I draw to my next question: I noticed the image
shakes a little when I'm looking into the heavens. Maybe it was the
wind, maybe my eyebrow imperceptibly bouncing on the eyepiece.
Either way, is there something one can do to make the tripod base
absorb the microshocks a little better?

Assuming that you still want to keep it cheap, do this:

[1] Look for mechanical slop in the mechanism that can be taken out
by adding washers made out of heavy cardstock.

[2] get three old handtowels, fold them into as small a square as
possible, and stuff them into baggies. Put the feet of your
tripod on them.

[3] Get some strips of wood and contact cement them to the long metal
parts of your tripod legs. Be careful not to block it from folding.

Also, find a local club and go to a star party. You will find that
just about everyone will be glad to let you look through their scope.