Using a 5mm eyepiece instead will double the magnification compared with the 10mm eyepiece. Remember that the smaller the focal length eyepiece you use, the higher the magnification you will see in the scope.įor example, many of Celestron’s basic telescopes come with a 10mm eyepiece as the shortest focal length in the box with the new scope. If you want to see a larger disk, you need to use a higher power eyepiece. Planets are small and far enough away that they will never fill a significant portion of your field-of-view, even at you scope's highest usable magnification.
Why do planets appear as small dots with Low-Power Eyepieces? On nights that are like this, the situation gets worse when you magnify it using an even higher power eyepiece like your 4mm. This makes the air act like a weak lens that interferes with the light from a planet or a star by de-focusing it. Heat waves and high-altitude winds move air around and cause differing temperatures of air to mix. Now turn one of the two knobs to the side or below the draw-tube–first one way then the other until the object is in focus.Įven with a lower-power eyepiece like the 20mm, a view can be blurry because of the Earth’s atmosphere. Look through the eyepiece by placing your eye just behind it, not right against the lens. It is much easier to focus and has a wider field of view making it easier to aim the telescope.
If you can’t see anything clearly through your telescope using your eyepiece, try using a different eyepiece switch from a high-power eyepiece to a lower-power (ex: 4mm to a 20mm eyepiece) instead.Īlways start with the lowest power eyepiece (the one with the highest number in millimeters printed on it).