I live in southern California which is famous for polluted night skies. But I still enjoy looking up the night skies through the window of my bedroom. Last night I opened up the window and set up my Vixen refractor accordingly. Then I almost got a heart attack when I saw a bunch of diffraction patterns all over bright stars. I immediately called my 16-yr old son and started yelling at him because he was the one that took the scope out of my room and did something in the backyard with his friend some days ago. "Brian, what did you do with the scope? I told you... never let any of your friends touch the scope. blah blah blah..." My son told me that he didn't do anything bad to the scope and his friend didn't even touch it at all. I couldn't believe what he said. So I tried to figure out what's wrong with the Vixen, searching the internet and reading books and manuals. I cleaned the lense and replaced the eyepiece and prism. But despite all these efforts, yelling and blaming I still couldn't get rid of those evil diffraction patterns.
Then I suddenly realized I put the bug screen in the window a couple of day ago. I took the screen out, and of course, the telescope started working normally, showing pinpoint stars without any anomalies like diffraction patterns. Well, I felt sorry for my son... but at least I didn't put a blame on my wife though.
Then I suddenly realized I put the bug screen in the window a couple of day ago. I took the screen out, and of course, the telescope started working normally, showing pinpoint stars without any anomalies like diffraction patterns. Well, I felt sorry for my son... but at least I didn't put a blame on my wife though.
