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You can't see me waving from foggy, light polluted North London...

AlexG

By AlexG
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AlexG

AlexG

Posted
Posted

My name is Alex. I joined the Lounge today as I embark on the task of taming a neglected Helios 114mm reflector that I bought a number of years ago to begin astronomy but have never really enjoyed.

I braved the light pollution when I first bought it to admire the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn but taking it to a meeting of astronomers over in Epping Forest convinced me a) that the no-name plossls that came with it were only marginally better than the bottom of a Coke bottle for viewing :smiley: that the telescope was badly adjusted and needed urgent attention.

Sadly at this point my neighbours installed floodlights in their gardens second only to Arsenal Stadium and the school at the end of my garden installed 24 hour a day globe lighting so that the whole place is lit up like a railway marshalling yard. Attempts to collimate the telescope seemed successful, but when I defocussed a star it still looked more like a comet rather than a disc. Then building work intervened and the Helios has been packed away for nearly two years to escape the dust.

The Helios has now been broken out from its box where it has been sheltering and needs to be collimated. While most articles I have seen talk about tweaking a primary mirror screw "a quarter turn" the poor Helios has been messed around so much when being packed and transported that nothing is vaguely aligned and much more radical action is needed.

I have at last found an article that seems to start at the most basic level, advising me to prop the whole tube up about ten feet away and try to get the primary mirror to reflect "up and down" the tube. That's more like it.

So if there are any seasoned stargazers who have experience of wrangling a reflector into some sort of shape I would be most grateful for their encouragement. I mean to sort this out this time, and I have bought a nice Meade 4000 super plossl to celebrate when the telescope is pointing straight.

Oh, and what a friendly, supportive lounge this seems to be!

Regards

Alex

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barkis

barkis

Posted
Posted

Hello Alex, welcome to SGL. A very active and pleasant forum.

Ah!, the old chestnut collimation raises it's head again. Not to worry, if you can't get it sussed out on here, your mirror must be broke. :smiley:

Seriously, It's not that big a deal, you will learn how to crack i do it.

Ron. :evil:

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themos

themos

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hello and welcome.

I have a Celestron 114mm at 900mm focal length (f/8), I think the same as you. You can just jump right in and remove the whole primary assembly from the tube, remove the mirror from its supports, wash it, mark the centre with an adhesive paper ring, reassemble it and collimate it. If I can do it, so can you! Start a thread or send me a personal message (a "pm").

see you

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