Bushnell 675x5 - an awesome beginner's telescope

Old Man River - Tennessee · Guest

I have assembled the Bushnell 675x5 reflector I purchased from OP.com in preparation for making a holiday gift to my 8 yr old daughter. This has been time well spent gaining mastery in order to avoid disappointments or accidents during the excitement of initial use. It will be an impressive looking addition to our house!
As an unexpected surprise, Bushnell apparently added the starter edition of STARRY NIGHT software which runs on both Windows & Mac OS. It is the perfect appetizer for a beginner family. Well done!

My questions now are as follows: 1) Would there be a dramatic improvement of the low power image with the purchase of a higher-quality eye piece and, if so, what type/brand?; 2) How does one clean dust off the primary mirror and how often should that be done?; 3) How can one be certain the mirrors are alligned properly and is there any allignment protocol that I can perform at home? Thank you! OMR-TN

opticsplanet.com · Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 9:24 am Post subject:

Hi

We're glad to hear you are enjoying your new Bushnell 675x5 Voyageur telescope. We agree: it is a lot of telescope for the money.

One of the easiest ways to upgrade the performance of a beginners telescope is by purchasing a higher grade eyepiece, and even adding a higher grade Barlow lens if the budget permits. A Plossl design eyepiece such as the 26mm Meade Super Plossl, http://www.opticsplanet.net/meade-super-plossl-eyepieces.html or the 25 or 40mm Celestron E-Lux is a good addition, as is a Barlow such as the Celestron Omni, http://www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-telescopes-barlow-lenses.html.

Dusting off the primary mirror should be done infrequently - only when enough dust has collected to dgrade the image or seriously reduce the image brightness. The less you touch the mirror, the better. Use a lens cleaning brush such as the one supplied on the Nikon lens pen, http://www.opticsplanet.net/nikon-lens-pen-cleaning-system.html, to GENTLY sweep away any dust. This should be enough in most instances. Avoid the temptation to start rubbing away with cleaning solutions and lens tissue. The reflective coatings on mirrors are very fragile and will scratch instantly if you apply too much pressure.

Your new Bushnell 675x5 Voyageur should not need collimating to start, but if it should need some adjustment, the instruction manual contains some very basic information on collimation. For a more detailed collimation procedure for beginners, visit http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=collimation+for+beginners&pa. You can also purchase special collimation tools and eyepieces such as this Celestron specialty eyepiece, http://www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-telescopes-collimation-specialty-eyepiece.html.

Joanie Kozak
OpticsPlanet
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Joanie (Jne) K
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Old Man River - Memphis · Guest

Why 25mm or 26mm vs. 20mm (the low power eye piece I have now)? Will this also improve the field of view, as well? Won't that lower the effective magnification of 45x?

When and if the large mirror does get cleaned, does one remove it from the end of the cylinder to do so?

Lastly, FYI, the two links regarding mirror allignment unfortunately are no longer operative.

Really nice to be able to dialogue with someone intelligent following a purchase! Thanks. OMR-TN