Blurry Esprit 150

[Rusty2]

Hello again : )
After around 4 years and limited time to make my 12 inch meade take a sharp photo I gave up . Understanding that I bought the wrong telescope for astrophotography I bought a SW Esprit 150 ed .

I got it on thursday , set it up on thursday night and tested it this morning from the lounge room looking through a very clean window .
I followed the intructions and found out that back focus was 10mm too far away and got a blurry image .

I pulled it apart and re-assembled it for visual observation . I inserted the factory eyepiece , blurry . I then inserted an Explore Scientific 30mm eyepiece and still blurry .

The only thing I can put it down to is heat currents but I really don't know .
Any ideas would be appreciated .

[mura_gadi]

take out the diagonal from the optic path and check visuals again, fingers crossed that's all it is.

[multiweb]

If you can reach focus then that's very odd. Unlikely but is this thing out of collimation somehow? Is it new?

PS: Trying without the diagonal is a great idea too.

[Stonius]

I would remove your window from the optical path. They really can effect the image.

[mura_gadi]

Is that from the varying blues at the corners of the image?

[Stonius]

It's because I remember a long time ago trying to use my scope through a window and wondering what was wrong with it before I realised the problem was the window. It's not optically flat, or aligned to the optical train. As soon as I moved outside, it was perfect. Worth a try, anyway.

[Rusty2]

Well well well , who would have thought that a window could make such a difference .
Thank you Marcus and I appreciate everyones input and replying so quickly .
I hope I can contribute something here at some stage . :)

Russell

[Stonius]

Ah good, I'm glad my mistakes could help someone else. Glad to hear you're back on track :)

[mura_gadi]

Ah, an easy fix... best ones.


If you setup on a hard surface bricks, pavers, concrete etc early in the evening, you might have to wait for them to cool before worrying about wobbly views at high mag.

[Rusty2]

Thanks Steve . I used to be on concrete now I'm on grass : )

I'll try and squeeze a picture out of it tonight .
Thanks again everyone !

[Mickoid]

Before I read all of the responses, this was going to be my answer. Take it outside, don't shoot or observe through a window. Despite how clean it may be, a window is not an optically corrected piece of glass. There are varying thicknesses throughout and each small area can act as a kind of prism, refracting light in all directions. It may not be discernible to the naked eye and the glass may well be clean but there's a lot going on inside its structure to distort a magnified image viewed through it.

[Rusty2]

Thanks Michael !
It did cross my mind briefly but I dismissed it , now I know .

[Rusty2]

Here is a screenshot of my second shot from this scope last night .

Set up on a SW AZ-EQ 6 GT , polar scope aligned , 2 star alignment . Prime focus , field flattener , 3 minute unguided unprocessed . Canon 5Ds , ir filter removed , light pollution filter .

The screenshot loses the vividness and clarity and looks dull compared to the original but I'm happy .

Thanks again for your help : )

[mura_gadi]

Nice shot...

[Rusty2]

Thanks Steve !

[Nikolas]

Was also gonna say the window as that's exactly what I see when looking through a window with binoculars, glad it was a simple fix :)

[Rusty2]

So am I . After 3 or 4 years I can finally move forward : )