Collimating

[Universe_Astronomer]

Hi,

I received my Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian yesterday and I was wondering if I could get some advice on collimating.

Does this specific telescope already come collimated or will I have to make adjustments?

And if so how would I do this without a collimating tool?

Thanks Justine

[Pig]

Hiya Justine, There are some very good tutorials on You tube, far better than I could explain.

I have performed it on my previous scope it isnt that difficult, just dont rush into it.

If you what you see through the scope is good and clear and looks ok to you your scope probably doesent require it.

[Pig]

If what you ... forgive the grammar

[skir]

This guide should be of use:- http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro%20babys%20collimation%20guide.htm

[bingevader]

Take a good look through it first!

Mine was fine and most people with a skyliner 200p report the same.

Don't go fiddling straight away unless you know something is wrong.

It was several months before I needed, or felt the need, to start twiddling any knobs!

Unless it's taken a mighty clatter on the way from China it should be fine to begin with.

As I remember, with mine, the polystyrene packaging was all broken when I took it out of the box, it had clearly taken a bump, but worked very well straight out of the box.

But as the others have said, you'll need a collimating cap (old film canister) and/or a Cheshire collimator when you decide to take the plunge.

Cheers

[AstroAdam]

Mine was fine. I actually didn't collimate at all for the first few years! Then it was with a film canister cap/star test only. Only now do I collimate regularly, and that's only because I now image with it. They actually stay within a reasonable range of collimated for visual use. All I'd say is don't fret about it initially unless you have a real reason to think something's up!

[Universe_Astronomer]

Thank you for your help/advice

[Mr Q]

You can do a simple star test to determine if you need any adjustments. To do this, aim the scope at a bright star nearly overhead and put in a eyepiece of medium to moderately high power (15 - 6mm) and rack the focus way out untill you see a large "ball" of light made up of many light and dark rings. If the rings are concentric (centered within the ball of light), the collimation is fine. If the rings are not centered, the scope needs to be collimated.

This procedure is explained in the below site:

COLIMATING

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Justine,

dont worry much about colimation.It is not that difficult.Check out this video:

As your scope just arrived,I doubt you will require the scope to be colimated immediately,give the scope a go and see what is what.