Telescope finder scope question

Geezer1000

Just bought a 2nd hand celestron nextar 130 slt. When i line the finderscope up with something, the eyepiece is not lined up. Is there some way to make the scope more accurate?

Popoutman

Yep.
Line up on something far away such as a chimney or a pylon. Lock down the scope if you can to stop it moving.
The finderscope should have adjustment screws or bolts to allow it to be pointed in a slightly different direction. Use these adjustments to centre whatever was centred in the eyepiece, in the finderscope.
Check again that the eyepiece has the centered item, check the finderscope that the item is stil centered.

That should do it.

Kencollins

Popoutman wrote: »

Yep.
Line up on something far away such as a chimney or a pylon. Lock down the scope if you can to stop it moving.
The finderscope should have adjustment screws or bolts to allow it to be pointed in a slightly different direction. Use these adjustments to centre whatever was centred in the eyepiece, in the finderscope.
Check again that the eyepiece has the centered item, check the finderscope that the item is stil centered.

That should do it.

I use Jupiter at the moment. I find it's quite a bit more accurate than something ground based.

Find Jupiter in your scope, centre it in the eyepiece view, then quickly adjust the finderscope so that jupiter is in the centre of the view.

Any star or planet you use the finderscope to find should then be dead centre in the main scope.

Just make sure you do it quickly, or Jupiter will drift out of view within about 30 seconds in the main scope view!

Geezer1000

Kencollins wrote: »

I use Jupiter at the moment. I find it's quite a bit more accurate than something ground based.

Find Jupiter in your scope, centre it in the eyepiece view, then quickly adjust the finderscope so that jupiter is in the centre of the view.

Any star or planet you use the finderscope to find should then be dead centre in the main scope.

Just make sure you do it quickly, or Jupiter will drift out of view within about 30 seconds in the main scope view!

Done that last night. The whole jupiter moving thing I didnt take into account lol

coylemj

While Jupiter is very bright and easy to find, being close to the celestial equator it moves pretty quickly - using an object in the northern sky is better (as close to Polaris as is convenient) as it moves slower.