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[Bryant]

Hello, as the subject heading states, I'm having difficulties with my finder scope . If anyone remembers, I bought a 8" dob from celestron earlier this summer (I guess that's a bit far away these days). The finder scope that came with it is a 9x50, and I absolutely cannot figure out how to focus it. It will not focus on stars or even the moon, and to date I haven't griped too much about it because it is usually almost in focus, but tonight it was horrible and on a quest for M35 (Found in binoculars) I became extremely frustrated. Anyone know what's going on here?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Bryant,

Most finder scopes are adjusted/focused by turning the eyepiece section till the image is sharp.

I have found that for general finderscope usage, the zero-Mag Rigel finder is the tops. A full review can be found here:

astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=Equipment&action=display&thread=1110828464

I rarely use anything else to locate objects and recommend the Rigel highly. I even have one attached to my Adler Planetarium Nikon refractor. I do have a 60mm finder attached to my reflector, but it is used mostly for lower powered-wide field use.

If rotating the eyepiece on your finder does not bring it into focus, come back here and we will figure something out. Post a pic of the finder if you can so I can take a look at it.

[katodog]

I'm fairly sure that your finder is adjusted with the objective cell and the ribbed ring that is against it. You loosen the ring, and turn the objective to achieve focus, and then snug the ring back against the cell.

Hope this helps.

[Bryant]

Ah, Katodog that did the trick Thing was it didn't really say anywhere in the manual or anything about focusing it, so I think thats where the trouble came in.

For future reference or what have you, here's a picture of it.

[katodog]

Yup, that's what I thought. Glad to be of help.