10" Dob Beginner Help

[MichealQ]

Hi All

I recently bought a 10" dobsonian skywatcher and have only been lucky enough to catch a few clear skies in the last two weeks. I'm a total noob and am having trouble working out what I should be seeing through the scope. The scope comes with a 25mm and 10mm ep.

When I look through the scope at bright objects it seems like I'm looking through a microscope more than at stars. I've attached a couple of pics I managed to get through my phone. Am I doing something wrong here, or am I potentially expecting too much?

I'm also still working my way around the sky, so don't quote me but I think the pics are of Sirius.. lol it was one of the brighter stars near Orion.

Any help is appreciated :)


Cheers
Micheal Q

[Allan_L]

Hi Michael,
Welcome to IIS :welcome:
Where are you located?
The photos are your typical defocused star images.
You need to turn the focus knob until they become tiny pin points of light.
Then you are in focus for that eyepiece.

Normally stat with the lower magnification eyepiece (that is with the higher number printed on it). Without barlow.

Stars cannot be magnified much by any size telescope, they are just too small a light source.
What you can see though will be clusters of stars, nebulae, and galaxies.
Of course, you will be able to see some detail on planets and moon.

Download Stellarium (free) as i will give you an idea of what to see and where to look.

Ideally go to an observing night and pick up some tips and look through some others scopes to see what you can see.

I have a 10" DOB and there are heaps of deep space objects that you can see with it.

Regards
Allan

[MichealQ]

Hi Al

I'm based in Jimboomba, QLD.
Thanks for the help, I figured it was out of focus but I'm not 100% sure on how to focus as I did spend some time adjusting the focus in and out and switching the eyepices to see if I could see anything different, but still couldn't clear the image up. Could this also be attributed to is putting the eyepieces in to the barrel until they sit as far as they can go? I've only done this thinking I need to ensure it is fully in so that I can fasten it in place without stressing I might knock it out of place.

It has become overcast here so I can't really experiment.

Cheers
MQ

[Scorpius51]

Hi Micheal

Generally the eyepiece sits all the way in and clamped gently by the EP lock screw to just finger tight, but no more. Is the focus tube moving in and out when you rotate the focus knob? If not, then you probably have the focus lock screw tightened. There are generally 2 lock screws on most focus mounts.

As Allan mentioned, start with your lowest magnification eyepiece - the 25mm one.

[RobinClayton]

I have seen something similar when another member got a new Skywatcher. The scope comes with a 2" eyepiece holder and a 1.25" eyepiece holder. The member had put them both into the focuser - because the 1.25" eyepiece holder fits into the 2" eyepiece holder and it all looks like it belongs together, but it the focuser can not travel far enough to bring anything into focus.

Check your eyepiece holder - can one piece be taken out, so the eyepiece is still held properly in place, but the eyepiece is now closer to the main tube - then the focuser should be able to bring your stars into focus.

If you can take the scope to any star party or club members night, they should be able to sort it out very quickly - otherwise you have to try yourself and see what can be done. You should be able to focus on any distant object - buildings or trees or whatever is furthest away from you. Just be careful with the Sun not getting into the scope.

[EricB]

I had the very same issue the first time I tried to look through my S-W scope. I have fitted the 1".25 and the 2" adapters together and couldn't reach focus as a result. The 1.25 adapter (with an eyepiece in it) should fit straight into the metal tube of the focuser.

Eric

[erick]

Yes, bless Skywatcher's cotton socks! They like to be different and have their own proprietary focusser and fittings. You need to get the right adapter(s) in place and sometimes a short extension tube helps. If you search the threads, you will find a couple of them explaining the matter, with photos I hope. I recall that Skywatcher's printed instructions are not clear. Google "skywatcher focuser adapter" and you'll find some leads. There are a few videos that look like they may assist?

[MichealQ]

Thanks for all your help guys.

RobinClayton / EricB - That's exactly what I did, I thought the 1.25" adapter was supposed to connect to the 2" adapter because they totally fit, as soon as I separated them and trid to attach the 1.25" directly to the focusser she worked like a dream.

Updated pics attached as well as the way I had the adapter setup.

Hi5s all round.

Note: My labelling of some of the couple of pics I took were just stabs in the dark I only have a semi rough idea of what I'm looking at. But it's way more fun spending 2 hours actually staring at stars instead of out of focus biology experiments :D

[EricB]

Hi MIchael,

I am glad that was the issue and nothing more serious. Now you can start enjoying yiur scope.

Cheers,

Eric

[erick]

Near Leo - that is Jupiter and its four major moons.
Near Crux - that is the delightful Jewelbox open star cluster

Glad you resolved the adapters.