Is my finderscope broken?

Question

The moon was out during the day today, and it was very clear in the sky, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't see it in the eyepiece of my Celestron PowerSeeker60, until half an hour of scanning and panning around the skies - I eventually found it by accident.

I'm not sure how I can get my finderscope to work that is, I managed to locate it in my finderscope (even though the image is upside down and mirrored) but when the moon was centered in my finderscope - it was nowhere to be seen in my telescope!? How do I set it up so it actually does the "find" part of "finderscope"?

Another quick question - is there a lense that I can get for this telescope which is a very minimal amount of magnification, so that I can look at objects through my telescope and have it act as maybe a bit stronger than a finderscope?

Thanks in advance - Jon.

Answer 1

You have a nice telescope, and you are learning a valuable set of lessons when you have a refractor of the quality of yours: low power is important. Refractors are difficult to learn to use, but once mastered there is almost no amateur astronomical hurdle you can't get over!

1.) Align your finder scope in the day time. Find a place with a nice view of the horizon and a building or two as far out as possible. Carefully using your lowest power, set your main scope on a far building, spire, or sign (signs work best for me). Next, loosen your finder scope and slowly find the same sight as your main scope. You may have to play one off against the other, first using the main scope then the finder, then the finder and then panning with the main scope. Do this until you can locate centered in your finder the same object centered in your main scope. Then, lock down your finder. Next, using your main scope, find a different object in a completely different direction making sure that the object is as far away as possible, but clearly identifiable. Center the object, and check your finder, tweaking the finder if needed. Move up to your next power, and again make sure that the object centered in the main scope is centered in your finder. Tweak the finder if needed. Keep on, switching between several objects at all powers until you can swing your main scope to any object and see it centered (or nearly so) in your finder.

Now, without any further tweaking, put an object dead centered in your finder, and check to see that it is centered in your main scope. If not, go back to using the main scope on objects tweaking the finder as you go until you can use the finder to center an object in your main scope.

This can take time and practice, but it will pay real dividends when you want to view at night.

2.) You should have a 20 mm eye piece, right? That should give you 35x. That's 700mm/20mm. Celestron sells a 32 and a 40 mm eye piece. That would give you about 22x and 17.5x The 32mm has a field of view of about 55 degrees, or about 100 times the width of the moon. I don't know the price. The 40 mm has a smaller field of view about 40 degrees which is still pretty good.

Another issue that you will face is that as you raise your power and narrow the field of view, object will move out of sight more quickly. Make sure that your mount moves effortlessly. That takes practice, too.

Again, you have a nice scope so don't be too daunted by learning to use it. If you do, then when the time comes that you can afford to up grade, you can do so with real confidence.

HTH

Charles

Answer 2

The problem with Walking Man's suggestion is that all celestial objects move! (Actually it's the Earth that's moving, but I'm sure you knew that.)

You should try to align your finder scope during the day. Aim your telescope on some distant object like the roof of a house or a street light or something (you'll have to change the focus a lot, so make sure it's as distant as possible). Once you've done that, adjust the finder scope.

It takes practice to find things in a telescope. I don't get a lot of practice, unfortunately, so I'm pretty happy if I can find the Moon or Saturn! I had a professor in grad school, though, who could take a 16-inch telescope and aim it right at the Ring Nebula without even using the finder scope! Needless to say, he's spent many hours with a (manual) telescope!

Answer 3

Find the Moon in your eyepeice, then wiggle the finderscope around a bit until it's in there, and in the center. Then tighten the screws. You'll have to adjust it a little every time you bump it - say, by picking the telescope up or taking it apart.

You might want to invest in a TelRad - they don't cost that much. It goes on the side of your telescope like a finding scope, and still needs to be adjusted, but it's easier to use - you don't have to look through a little hole, and it has a screen that it projects a laser bulls-eye on so you can easily see and center on your target. It's also got a wider field of view than your finderscope.

Answer 4

I suspect that your finder is not aligned with your scope. You were probably looking through the eyepiece at a big unfocused patch of sky. If you lost track of the center of the field (easy to do with no visual cues), you probably caught momentary glimpses of a reflection of your own face as well. I am not being critical here - I think that is what you are describing. Here is my suggestion. Stick with daylight for now (earth-based targets don't move during daylight). Use your lowest power eyepiece (that's the one with the highest number on it - probably 25 mm or so). Leave the Barlow in the box (or use it as a decorative plant stand like I do). This will make it much easier to find and focus on distant objects. Set the focus to the middle of its travel by watching it as you turn it in and out. Now point the scope approximately toward the base of the tower by just sighting along the tube. Look through the eyepiece and move the scope up and down until you see light and dark changes indicating that your field of view is going up and down past the horizon. Focus the eyepiece until the horizon is clearly visible as you translate up and down. The image will be inverted, but it should be sharp and clear. Once you get a clear, inverted image, you should be able to translate the scope from side to side until you center the tower. Now, translate it to the top of the tower. Then lock the scope so it won't move, or at least don't move it intentionally. Finally, set the finder cross hairs to the top of the tower, so you are getting the same target in the finder that you see in the eyepiece. Then wait 'til dark, without changing the focus or the eyepiece. You should be able to use the finder to find stuff, and the eyepiece to look at it, as advertised. If any of this does not work, then something else may be wrong, and then it's worth another question, or an email. But it really should work. Good luck.

Answer 5

Center your telescope on some celestal object that will not move, then use the adjustment screws on your finder scope to center it on that object. You may have to use different objects further out to get it right.

thank you kris. I meant terrestrial. . . A tree or a street light. ..

I will try to remove my foot from my mouth now. . .