How do I collimate?

[the lemming]

Hello

In preparation of my new toys arriving later this month could somebody please tell me how to collimate a Newtonian telescope or point me to a link which will teach me?

I've placed an order for a Skywatcher Heritage 130p telescope + Cheshire thingie and would like to know about using them so I can hit the ground running when the postman comes knocking.

Cheers

[rory]

http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro%20babys%20collimation%20guide.htm

here you go, quite popular guide here. also check out you tube.

[MorningMajor]

Hi try this excellent article by one of SGL's very own little gems!

[MorningMajor]

I'm always beaten to it!!

[WaveSoarer]

There are numerous threads on here about this. If you're using a Cheshire then please be aware that you may not be able to get the focuser in close enough so that you can see all three primary mirror clips for the secondary alignment. You align the cross-hairs of the Cheshire onto the centre mark (polo mint) of the primary when you're tweaking the secondary tilt. A lot of people expect to see the primary mirror clips and get hung up about this. You don't need to see them with a Cheshire but it would be essential if you're using a collimator cap instead.

[rory]

I'm always beaten to it!!

loooooser . ( only joking)

[the lemming]

Much appreciated. Cheers

[adrianelliott]

I collimated my scope for the first time today using the astrobaby guide which rory linked above. Its a great guide, but make sure you read it through a couple of times before you start. If the collimation is out when the scope arrives, be double sure you can't tweak it by adjusting the primary mirror (big one at the back) only, because once you start playing with the secondary mirror the difficulty level goes up alot.

In the end I think I got mine perfect, although there were some scary moments and it took me a while to grasp the relationship between the three tightening screws and the main screw on the secondary mirror. Waiting for a break in the clouds to see how much of an improvement its made

[MorningMajor]

loooooser . ( only joking)

I collimated my scope for the first time today using the astrobaby guide which rory linked above.

It's true - don't even get a namecheck! lol