I got myself my first telescope over the holidays. BT200 f/5 Newt, HEQ5 Synscan, and some EPs. Persistent cloudy weather has kept me from having a real viewing until last eve. I did get the finder scope aligned and played with the Synscan drive a bit during the holidays.
Last night the weather and spare time aligned. I skipped polar aligning the mount, just intending on random observations to have some fun. Polar alignment for GOTO is a bit daunting and I figured seeing anything would be exciting for a noob. Cooled the scope with its fan and waited for dark. However, when I meandered around the sky I could never get a good view of a star. Always a blue circular glob with a dark centre, like a fish/frog egg. I focused all in to all out and changed between TV Plossl 32mm and Orion 12.5mm. Same for both EPs. The focus all out seemed to be closest, but still far from focused. Or maybe, this is what bad collimation looks like?
I'm at a loss for what else to try, but the weather looks good for tonight. Any ideas what I'm missing???
