When looking through my telescope at the moon the image is beautiful. When looking at a planet or other deep space object I see a shadow of the arms the hold the secondary mirrors. I have not been able to fix this. Can someone point me in the right direction please?
2007-02-25 02:07:00 · 2 answers · asked by cyber_wolf630 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
If the telescope is focused on any distant object, the shadow of the secondary and its supports should be SO out of focus that you cannot see them at all. So if you are seeing craters on the Moon or the rings of Saturn or any clear detail at all, then the shadows you are seeing are not from the secondary. If you are seeing the shadow of the secondary, then the telescope is not in focus. A star will be a tiny point in your telescope, with no visible size at all even at your highest magnification, so just focus to make the stars as small as possible. Similarly, you should focus planets to make them as small as possible, but in that case they will not be tiny points but small disks showing some detail. Especially Saturn will show the rings clearly even at low power. 50 power is enough to show the rings.
2007-02-25 02:17:23 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. Your first answer was great. Double check the collimation of the primary and secondary mirrors. This takes some practice to get right but it's worth it. Also, some telescopes have a secondary support structure that is larger than necessary but it is hard to fix this. Just remember that even Hubble pictures show the secondary support diffraction lines.
2007-02-25 10:28:47 · answer #2 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋