Help needed: Celestron 114 slt

delonicdevil · Post by **delonicdevil** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:15 pm

hi i need some help, just got my celestron 114 slt. tried to use it to see the moon at my house basketball court. however, could not see anything despite making sure that my finderscope starpointer is aligned. i tried to change the eye piece but to no avail. can anyone tell me why? could it be the light pollution? cuz the place was relatively why lit.

Zephyrus · Post by **Zephyrus** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:21 pm

I'm a newbie here, I don't know much about the scopes because I haven't got one myself. But, could it be that your scope uses a different image relay mirror/system (well I don't know what they call it), and you should be aiming at the opposite direction instead because the image displayed is all in reverse viewing. Because the moon should be visible as it should be brighter than all other stars, so I don't think it's because of the light pollution.

jermng · Post by **jermng** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:22 pm

What do u mean by you can't see anything?

1. Can you see terrestrial objects? ( Point at something on land - cars, buildings etc)

2. Make sure you align your finderscope with something that is far enough. Few hundred meters at least - the block opp. the road is not far enough.

3. Use your widest angle eyepiece to find the moon first. Play with the focuser to make sure it's not totally washed out that you cant recognize the moon.

Light pollution has no effect on the moon.

Hope this helps.

delonicdevil · Post by **delonicdevil** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:36 pm

more info: at first i used the 25mm eye piece which gives a 40x magnification, later i use a 9 mm eye piece which gives a 111x magnification. but i can't see the moon with it? why is that so? does it need to be collimated?

Meng Lee · Post by **Meng Lee** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:41 pm

The answer is very simple. The scope needs to be pointed at the moon in the first place.

I think you think that goto is really that accurate. Yes, it is accurate, but you have to do the initial steps properly first.

delonicdevil · Post by **delonicdevil** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:47 pm

jermng wrote:What do u mean by you can't see anything?

1. Can you see terrestrial objects? ( Point at something on land - cars, buildings etc)

2. Make sure you align your finderscope with something that is far enough. Few hundred meters at least - the block opp. the road is not far enough.

3. Use your widest angle eyepiece to find the moon first. Play with the focuser to make sure it's not totally washed out that you cant recognize the moon.

Light pollution has no effect on the moon.

Hope this helps.

yup i could see the buildings but everything is really blur. i managed to see the moon once but it was supermagnified. could the eye piece was filled with the white colour and the crater. tried to zoom out and the whole image was gone. hope somebody can tell me what's wrong with it. thanks

delonicdevil · Post by **delonicdevil** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:49 pm

Meng Lee wrote:The answer is very simple. The scope needs to be pointed at the moon in the first place.

I think you think that goto is really that accurate. Yes, it is accurate, but you have to do the initial steps properly first.

yup i did point the scope at the moon. u use the star pointer to aim right?

Meng Lee · Post by **Meng Lee** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:54 pm

If you say you see everything blurry then how do you know the starpointer is aligned?

Hope this helps.

delonicdevil · Post by **delonicdevil** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 12:10 am

Meng Lee wrote:If you say you see everything blurry then how do you know the starpointer is aligned?

Hope this helps.

oh, i think i know what's the mistake! i think i aligned the starpointer wrongly, i used the moon as the reference for alignment. guess is too big to be used for a reference point? cuz the manual states that the starpointer is aligned when the red led dot rests on the target STAR or PLANET. so i guess i should not have used the moon to align my starpointer?

Meng Lee · Post by **Meng Lee** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 12:15 am

As mentioned above, you must use a FAR LAND object to align.

Firstly, your scope is a Newtonian, so there may be difficulties reaching focus for near objects.

Secondly, moon is a "moving " object, so you have to use a land object to align. Same for stars and planets, they are "moving" objects.