i just got my first telescope a meade lightbridge 8".

I took it outside at around 9pm for first light and i put the 26mm qx wide angle eyepiece, point it at a pretty bright star and nothing shows up in the eyepiece. am i doing something wrong?

i tried different spots and nothing. the weird thing is when i use the other eyepiece i got the 14mm 5000 series plossl and i see stars.

also the focus seems wrong. i have to extend it all the way out to see clearly. that doesnt seem right either.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Silly question, but you have removed the lens caps from the eyepeice before inserting it into the focuser, right?

It appears that your finder is misaligned, and that you lucked out on the focus with the 14mm eyepiece.

Try sweeping back and forth, while moving the scope up or down a bit for each sweep, until something appears. Then you can focus. I would then try sweeping up Polaris and adjusting the finder.

You could try a distant building in the daytime and adjust the finder on it. That should make it easier to find Polaris at night and make the final adjustment.

yea i swept the sky with the 26mm and all you see is like a fuzzy white light everywhere. no blackness. but with the 14mm no problem.

Well yes, you need to focus the telescope for that eyepiece (i.e., I doubt your eyepieces are parfocal). If you don't see anything but a whitish-gray glow, you are waaayyy out of focus. Try racking the focuser all the way in, put the 26mm in, and point in some random direction, any time of night. You will see stars in an 8" for any random field of view. Rack out the focuser until sharp star images appear. Meade wouldn't supply a starter eyepiece with a telescope if the scope couldn't reach focus with it.

Dont put the eye piece all the way in, then try focusing. I had the same trouble.

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Beer, the cause of and solution to, all lifes problems

thanks everyone thats good advice. i'll give it a try tonight.

casus belli how far out did you leave the eyepiece?

Doesnt need a lot just as long as it isnt all the way in.

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Beer, the cause of and solution to, all lifes problems

great thanks i'll give that try.

how did you find the finderscope, troublesome? I think its in a bad spot, you have to almost get behind and crotch down to look thru it, could be in a better place on the scope i think.

I've got the red dot finder which is a lot easier to use than a normal finder scope but yes it could be better sited. Its the 10" lightbridge I have so I probably dont have to bend down quite as far as you.

However that said I've had some brilliant views with this scope. I've had for 9 months now and despite a 4 weeks on 4 weeks off work rota and the joys of scottish weather (It rains all the time) I must have seen over a 100 galaxies.

Saturn has been a good target and I've seen surface detail on Mars. Mars does require almost perfect colimination though. Jupiter is too far south for me to see atm.

Nebulae are another good target for the lightbridge and I do like the 26mm ep that came with it. I use it for finding my faint fuzzies then switch to a 13mm pentax. I also use a cheap 40mm ep for star clusters and sweeping the skies. I need a high mag ep and am thinking about a 5mm or a 8mm Hyperion.

Let me know how you get on and any problems feel free to pm me

Happy viewing!

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Beer, the cause of and solution to, all lifes problems

Im sorry, yea i meant the red dot finder that came with the deluxe model. its a pain to bend down that much.

oh man i cant wait to see some galaxies. im trying to get as much viewing as possible before the rains come. i have about another two or three weeks before it starts to rain every day. plus the heat and humidity makes the nights muggy around this swamp city they call Miami.

thanks again for the help.

Happy viewing!

Casus belli,

Is there some reason why racking the focuser all the way in doesn't work? Is there some mechanical trouble with the scope? I'm not trying to accuse you of something, just curious. Racking the focuser all the way in just seems like good sense, as it covers every possible focal point, and I always start the night with my Orion Dob like that; I have never had any problems with it.

To Casus belli,

Ive got the 10" aswell and Im having trouble figuring out the red dot finderscope. I can't get the red dot to appear. The instruction manual was a bit vague aswell, the pictures weren't very clear either.

The 26mm ep is a 2". All my other ep's are 1.25" The 1.25"s work fine but you need the 2" to be away from the stop by just a hairs breadth. Design fault or something Im doing wrong? I dont know Im fairly new to this but it works.

MC check your own post and apoligies for not spotting it earlier.

__________________
Beer, the cause of and solution to, all lifes problems

casus- u where right. not putting the eyepiece all the way in worked perfectly.

racking the focuser all the way in plus not putting the eyepiece all the way in and then focusing worked perfectly.

the eyepiece has like a grove around it. thats how far in it went.

i had a great night of viewing last night. im calling it first light cause of the problems and cloudness of the first night.

amazing how many stars you can see. in all directions. you just have to point the scope in any direction and you'll see stars.

i tried looking for faint fuzzies but didnt see any. i can see that finding galaxies and clusters and such is going to be difficult. any suggestions? i know i know i need a good star chart (i was using clear sky clock's star map that they have) but theres much more to it than just a star chart.

i cant wait to take this scope to a dark site.

Have you tried stellarium. Its free and easy to use and can be set to your location. It doesnt show everything that your scope will be able to see but it does give you a good start. Use your mouse scroll button to zoom in and out.

Available at

stellarium.org

Theres also google sky which while much more detailed I dont like so much, its not so user friendly but again is free (which is important to a Scotsman) I sometimes stumble across a faint fuzzy that isnt on stellarium and its google sky I go to to identify it.

On a wind free night I used to take the sky scene section of Astronomy now magazine out with me which under a red torch was very handy for finding my way about and it taught me a lot about the sky. I dare say on your side of the pond there are similar publications. An excellent book for a beginner is "Turn left at Orion"

Faint fuzzies need dark skies. If the moon is up I dont bother too much with them and look for double stars of star clusters instead so a lot depends on how dark your sky is. Light pollution is my enemy.

This scope has taught me a lot. Not only where things are but how to look through the scope (Adverted vision) and the weather conditions. I've learned that a cold night is normally better than a warm night as theres less water vapor in the air. (A problem that you will suffer from in Miami) I use M51 as a guide to viewing. The better I can see it the more faint fuzzies I can see. I use this simply because I have no problem finding it and because I've seen it in all conditions and from memory I know what to expect.

Do try the Orion Nebulae. Its the middle star in orions sword (not the belt) In my more northerly sky its never very high up but even here its a stunning sight. From where you are it should be spectacular.

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Beer, the cause of and solution to, all lifes problems

thanks i'll give that stellarium.org a try.

got you on the free thing a must for me as well. just got the scope and that was costly enough for now. plus my car was totalled today when a prissy up class girl ran a red light and plowed into my car. can u believe i pulled her out of her car and she tells the cop the light was green for her. whata SOB!!

I dont much like the google sky. dont get me wrong its really nice and cool with lots of information but its a bit more confusing i think for using it as a star map.

i have a good amount of light pollution. its pretty sprawled out here in Miami. its like one large city from Miami up past ft.lauderdale and west palm. its about 100 miles id say of city after city.

tonight looks like its going to be a wonderful night. no clouds and the humidity is down. im taking my scope out to a dark site tonight. i'll take your advise and start with Orion and work my way from there.

Peace and have beer for me!

You might want to get a star atlas. See this thread for more on the topic.

Cartes du Ciel is another freeware planetarium that is quite good. It does take a bit of study to become familiar with CdC, however.

Monthly calendars/charts and object lists are available here.

Dave Mitsky

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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

We get a great magazine here called 'Australia Sky and Telescope'. There's one for the Northern Hemisphere aswell, I think that one is just called 'Sky and Telescope'. I subscribed to AS&T and its very handy because I don't have to remember to buy it every month. It has star charts for the Southern Hemisphere which I have found to be quite useful.

Another good book is called 'Skywatching'. I found this great for finding stuff in the sky but also for advice on how to use telescopes properly (its ideal for beginners).

The single best book for a novice is widely acknowledged to be Terrence Dickinson's Nightwatch. Turn Left at Orion is another excellent book for a beggining observer. Phil Harrington's Star Watch also comes highly recommended.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Ive got another question: What other accessories have you got with your Lightbridge?? Did you purchase any additional eye pieces or filters? I got 1 eye piece with my Lightbridge. Ive already got several eye pieces and coloured filters that came with my 6" dob so Im going to use those aswell. Is it worth also getting a light pollution filter or any other filters? I guess you could get a bit carried away with unnecessary accessories. Ive seen covers for trusses available but mine are already covered by my light shroud so Im not getting those. Im more interested in optics and filters than anything else.