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Member Junky
Posts: 13
Location: Canyon, Texas | I have an XT 10 intelliscope...I bought it about a year ago and it was one year old when I bought it (so it is two years old now.)
Anyway, the planets (Venus and Saturn) will not focus...they appear as doubles, triples or quads. When they out of focus they form a thick X. When they are REALLY out of focus, they form a perfect donut
Stars (Vega was my test) will not quite focus either. And near focus, the star forms a hollow diamond.
It is the same with all three of my eyepieces. (A vixen 30 mm plossl, an Orion sirus 10 mm and a celestron 8 mm expanse.)
The telesope had been outside for about an hour.
Seeing tonight was prob very, very bad (but could it be that bad.)
Anyway, I check the collimation before and after taking the scope out.
I use a laser collimator. With the screw somewhat tight, the laser hit the primary mirror on the edge of Orion's mark (not quite in the center..maybe 2 mm off and returned dead center of the laser's target.
Anyway, my telescope experience is with a C8 sct and an ext 90, so i don't know what is normal for a big, fast newt. But I know stars should be points.
Anyway...what is wrong? Bad seeing? Bad collimation? Bad scope? I have a hard time believing that I was sold a lemon...Orion has good customer service, so surely someone would have returned a bad scope.
Thanks!!! |
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Forum Support Admin
Posts: 3118
  
Location: Wyoming Sagebrush | First thing, check that your primary isn't pinched.
That's what it sounds like right now,
The side clips should have the space of a playing card between them and the glass.
Make sure the lock bolts at the back of the mirror if it has them are loose.
Pinched secondaries are rare with the way they're mounted in those scopes. |
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Member Junky
Posts: 13
Location: Canyon, Texas | OK...I found some pics of views though pinced mirrors, and that is likely my problem.
Two dumb questions: 1) Do I need to remove the primary to fix it (I assume so) and 2) Do I need a new mirror? (I hope not!)
Thanks so much!
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Forum Support Admin
Posts: 3118
Location: Wyoming Sagebrush | Read page 18 of this manual about removing the primary.
There's a note about the mirror clips.
http://content.telescope.com/rsc/img/catalog/product/instructions/2... |
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Expert Junky
Posts: 2686
 
Location: Marysville,Wa 48.07N-122.21W | John, when I click on the link to the manual, I get a msg from Adobe reader that says there is an error in the PDF and it won't show it properly.  |
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Member Junky
Posts: 13
Location: Canyon, Texas | Thanks! |
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Member Junky
Posts: 13
Location: Canyon, Texas | OK....I finally got a chance to mess with the scope.
The primary mirror had been removed by previous owner, who for some reason must have tightened the four clips around the mirror. They were tight! (I know it had been removed since one of the six small bolts hold the primary assembly in place was snapped.)
I loosened the clips and collimated the mirrors. Tonight was clear and windless. The scope performed flawlessly.
LESSONS: Never mess with your mirrors unless you know what you are doing. And don't buy used unless you can check everything out. The poor, dishonest dude who unloaded his scope on me did not know what he was doing.
I am glad I got it fixed, though. |
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Forum Support Admin
Posts: 3118
Location: Wyoming Sagebrush | I'm glad you saw first hand what happens when a primary is pinched on a Newtonian.
Along with the optics themselves, the cells that hold the mirrors are a critical component.
They have to hold and protect the mirrors, but also be gentle.
No pinching allowed!  |
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Forum Support Admin
Posts: 3568
Location: Mandeville, LA USA 30.38 X 90.07 | I'm glad that turned out well!
David |
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Big problem with XT 10 intelliscope
