gave some suggestions

Ben asked for some help on his C8 SCT telescope on the RASC Toronto Centre Yahoo!Group.

He had tried to observe the Moon. Well. That was his first problem.

He said he could see a bright white disc but no detail. He tried different eyepieces. He tried turning the focus knob each way but it didn’t make a difference. He shared that he had used the telescope several times before without difficult.

Some others jumped in but it didn't feel like the conversation was going in a good direction.

I asked about his setup. I wanted to know if he was using a mirror diagonal. I wanted to know if anything had changed. Had he added or removed any equipment. Was he using extension tubes? Or a Barlow? I discouraged testing with the 8mm. I pointed out that SCTs have a LONG range of focus.

He responded that nothing had changed. And that it had worked fine before. Huh. I was running out of ideas.