Mars is dark, surrounding is bright, what am I doing wrong? I just got a Celestron 8 and I'm a complete rookie: set up scope early so it would acclimate to the temperature. No difficulty locating Mars, but I see a dark planet with its circumference slightly illuminated and the night sky around it is bright? (scope in good dark location and nice dark sky) No amount of fine tuning makes a difference. What am I doing wrong?
Sounds like you are very out of focus. Dial the focuser all the way out towards you. The little knob on the right.