[ATM] Telescope Focusing at Public Events

[Gilbert Gagne <gil5941@earthlink.net>]

Hello All!
I've recently attended several public star parties with my new dob 
12.25" f/5.3 telescope. I'm in my late sixties and use magnifier glasses 
for reading and I focus my scope in the usual manner for my eyes but 
without glasses. When others look through my telescope (some young, some 
older) I ask if the focus is ok. Some people say it is very sharp but 
some say the image is blurred. I then show some of these observers how 
to focus then look thru the instrument myself and find I have to 
refocus. When these same people look again, they invariably say the 
image is now much better! I realize that not all people are expert 
observers and these re-focusers may have simply given up.

My question is this: when a telescope is properly focused, is it focused 
for everyone or do people's eyes focus a telescope image differently? 
Should glass wearers remove their glasses when observing thru a 
telescope? and if so, would the telescope need refocusing?

Gil Gagne
Port Orange, FL
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