I just got it as my first telelscope, and I have several questions, and worries about it.
1. I live in Alaska, and I was viewing with it under very cold tempertures tonight. I keep it stored inside, and now the primary mirrors is all fogged up, and has collected condensation. How do I combat this effectively?
2. I own with it a 3x barlow lens, along with the 25mm plossl that came with it. I've read and seen from several places that you can see the rings of Saturn, and if your lucky, the ice caps on Mars. Yet when I look through it, Saturn just looks like a point of light, that moves across the eyepiece quickly. And Mars is slightly bigger, and has a small red hue to it, and moves super fast out of view of the eyepiece, and I have extreme difficulty tracking it. Why is it that quality seems to be lesser than other experiences I have read about?
3. The e-z finder scope II that came with the 'scope seems to be very inacurrate. Is it just me? And can you not use it on Planets?
4. How much better can you see the planets through an XT10?
5. I believe my Telescope is out of collimation, also. When I check it with the collimator cap, the white dot that is suppose to be in the center of the cross-hairs nearly is, but the gray out-lining circle that is around is slightly to the left. Anytime I try and get the grey circle in the center around the white dot, the dot moves alot with it. And, how can I tell if my secondary mirror is out of collimation? I'm not sure if it is, or how to tell. The manual that came with the scope was very vague on describing how to tell this, or fix it.
Please if you could help me answer these questions it would be a major help. Oh and also, I have a very small amount of light pollution in my area.
1. I live in Alaska, and I was viewing with it under very cold tempertures tonight. I keep it stored inside, and now the primary mirrors is all fogged up, and has collected condensation. How do I combat this effectively?
2. I own with it a 3x barlow lens, along with the 25mm plossl that came with it. I've read and seen from several places that you can see the rings of Saturn, and if your lucky, the ice caps on Mars. Yet when I look through it, Saturn just looks like a point of light, that moves across the eyepiece quickly. And Mars is slightly bigger, and has a small red hue to it, and moves super fast out of view of the eyepiece, and I have extreme difficulty tracking it. Why is it that quality seems to be lesser than other experiences I have read about?
3. The e-z finder scope II that came with the 'scope seems to be very inacurrate. Is it just me? And can you not use it on Planets?
4. How much better can you see the planets through an XT10?
5. I believe my Telescope is out of collimation, also. When I check it with the collimator cap, the white dot that is suppose to be in the center of the cross-hairs nearly is, but the gray out-lining circle that is around is slightly to the left. Anytime I try and get the grey circle in the center around the white dot, the dot moves alot with it. And, how can I tell if my secondary mirror is out of collimation? I'm not sure if it is, or how to tell. The manual that came with the scope was very vague on describing how to tell this, or fix it.
Please if you could help me answer these questions it would be a major help. Oh and also, I have a very small amount of light pollution in my area.