Lens Prob?

[WitheringIntuition]

I have a Meade Telestar DS 114 by Meade and it has Autostar. After I've aligned everything properly and I go through the whole set-up process, I choose to look at Mars or a planet or galaxy, but when I look in the eye piece I only see a star or a few. I don't see any detail at all, no galaxy nothing. I'm usually on a 25mm lens by Meade and I was thinking maybe that's it? But it does the same thing with my 4 mm lens and 2.5 mm lens. Maybe somebody could help me out? (Sorry it may seem confusing, this is my first time on here)

[WitheringIntuition]

Anyone?

[kc5qnk]

Sounds like the scope is not really aligned...in other words, your goto computer is pointing it to where it "thinks" mars, etc. are, but it's initial setup (frame of reference) is wrong so it is pointing to the wrong spot. Stick with the lower power eyepiece (the one with the LARGEST number on it, i.e. your 25 mm). The two high power (small mm) eyepieces you mentioned will only make the problem WORSE, because as you go up in magnification, you lose field of view, making it even harder to find things. Make sure your finder scope is properly aligned with the telescope, then use it to help you manually center the scope on the object you are wanting to look at. At this point, it SHOULD be in the field of view of your 25mm eyepiece. You can then manually center the object in the eyepiece of your telescope, then try switching to higer magnifications as conditions allow. Realize that if the air is not steady (poor "seeing"), then you won't be able to use as high of a magnification and still get an acceptably focused image. Hope this helps!

Rusty

[ORSkywatcher]

Hi,

For what it's worth I have the unguided version of this scope 5-6 years old. It has a good mirror but came with small .965 inch dia. eyepieces. If your scope came with .965 inch eyepieces contact mead to see if they will send you an adapter so that you can use 1.25 inch dia. eyepieces. I did that and it made a world of difference in the quality of the image.

Additionally it sounds like you are not aliegned correctly. Even with the smaller dia. eyepieces you should see Jupiter/mars if pointed at them. Other club members report a steep learning curve with the autostar guidance system. However once they went through a set up with someone wwho was comfortable with it they wondered why they had trouble.

Finally my last bit of advice and the one I pass out the most. Find a local Astronomy Club to join. They knowlege base there is truly emense. Some one else has already had the problem and will be very willing to help out. You might also look up the meade users group for help.

Mike Quilty
Southern Oregon Skywatchers

[chicagoastronomer]

Begining astronomy is often frustrating, and the danger is that one would get discouraged and put the scope in the attic.

Focus in on terrestrial objects first, using the 25mm first then go up in magnification. Things will be upside down, but it doesn't matter. Just see if things are focusing in properly. You can also look down the focuser tube and see if the secondary mirror is centered. If it's pushed way to one side, you need to collimate more and with better precision. But for a rough alignment of your mirrors, it's fine for now.

Then, since it's out now, focus in on the moon. Easy to find and test on. See if the image can be focused to a sharp image. If not, somethings terribly amiss.

Do all this manually. Don't use the goto feature for now. As you need to target guide stars and set the scope computer in order for your scope to track properly. And as said before, it may be slewing in totally different positions.

Let us know your progress.