Expert: Paul Wagner - 1/6/2012

Question
I received a used Celestron 114 mm Newtonian 910 mm telescope for christmas.  It came with a Bartow 2x and two lenses, an H20mm and a SR4mm.  I cannot see any objects, night or day when I look through with either lense.  Collimation is fine.  I am suspecting that the two lenses are the problem.  When I look through either one at an object, I only see a cloud or severely out of focus image.  Any suggestions or ideas of how I may fix this.  I do not want to hurt my wife's feeling for buying me something I have always wanted.

Answer
HI Rob

I think I know the answer.  Most telescopes are really made only to focus on the stars---and they are a long way away.  IF you are trying to focus on nearer objects, the scope won't work.  Try pointing it at the moon,and see if you can't get an image that way.  That's the first step in diagnosing the problem.

And don't mess with that Barlow yet.  Start with the H20mm, and get that to work first. They you can start playing with the other options.

Hope that helps---and let me know what you find out.

Paul Wagner