Sorry, it wasn't the 7, it was the 14 I was using. I had got the eyepieces out of order in their case, so mag was about 200x. Also if I use the 24, the image still looks like a comet, only smaller!
The other night when I pointed to a star it was so badly out that I could see nothing more than a bunch of very feint smudges. That's when I thought I would check which screws to adjust.
After putting the laser in the next day, I was at least able to see something last night. I knew it would not be perfect, and wasn't, but at least it enabled me to get it close enough to be able to make out stars on a night of bright Moon.
At the moment I am not so much worried about seeing rings as at least being able to see focused "dots" rather than comets.
If I defocus the image I can see the shadow of the secondary, but it appears significantly off to one side. If I attempt, at least initially, to adjust the shadow to appear to be in the middle would this at least get it in a better position? Would the star have to be in the centre of the field for this to work, ie. as the image moves off to one side, does the secondary shadow "move" inside the defocussed image? (Haven't actually looked at this before, but I would expect the shadow would stay in the same relative position) I won't get a chance tonight to do anything as we have to go out.
I will have a look at the white paper trick at the weekend, I might even get a chance after work tonight (Friday). Also next time I might try it with the 24 until I get it better as this will allow more movement until the image goes out of the field.
I wish my arm was long enough that I could look in the eyepiece at the same time as adjusting as I think this would give a more immediate feedback...fortunately though, when I stand up, my knuckles don't drag on the ground...
