Hello good folk of iceinspace
I have had mebership to the site for a couple of months but have yet to post as the forum is so intense with information.
Having said this, I have recently graduated from binoculars and purchased a Skywatcher 10" Dob. My EP's are Plossl multicoated 10 & 25 as a standard accessory.
Some great viewing of M42 but planets are a little small so possible Barlow purchase in the future.
I am in Brisbane and am a member of the South East Queensland Astronomical Society (SEQAS).
I am having problems, all of a sudden, with my spotter scope alignment. I say all of a sudden because after a bit of a fiddle with all the movable parts and such I simply cannot get alignment. I have included pictures of the setup as this is worth a thousand words.
I've probably been a bit stoopid but I feel everything is set in alignment as default (factory) and have not gone near any of the collimation settings.
Now when I align the scope with the spotter I cannot for the life of me get the object into the crosshairs. I have to have the adjusting screws out to the max to get it anywhere near the crosshairs.
I have the manual and followed it to a tee and no problems before the other night.
As you can see from the pics, the tightening screws are starting to 'bite' into the groove.
As a consequence, I have had to go easy and when bringing back inside I take all the pressure of the scope again.
I have moved the band outside of the scope mount and usually the results are very good but this is not right and I am obsessive about all parts working (I'm an IT guy).
Can one of my learned associates please provide some assistance to a noob that does not want to break anything. I am really frustrated because without this essentail piece of hardware I cannot 'look' at anything smaller than the moon. Have done the daytime procedure and had all the problems of 'fixing' an object through the scope on a dob mount. I am not very easily frustrated and doggedly determined when faced with a problem.
Please help!!
Johnno
(ps pics below, I hope!!)