secondary alignment

[Ally8446]

Can anyone confirm that my secondary is properly aligned or not please. I'm taking this one step at a time. Cheers folks.

Clear skies, Al.

[MadAlbert]

Your pic doesn't look too bad...but...The secondary must appear circular and concentric to the primary. Use a collimation cap to keep the fov as close to the optical axis as possible, ie as central as can be. HTH

[MadAlbert]

Check the secondary mount is in the middle of the aperture (use a 6"rule).

[Moonshane]

looks like it needs to come down the tube a smidge (towards the primary) other than that it's not bad. this assumes that whatever took the pic was central of course.

[MadAlbert]

What scope you got?

[Ally8446]

Astromaster 130. The biggest problem with this scope is the amount of slop in the focuser. I have a generic laser collimator but it appears to need collimated itself. Unfortunately there are no collimation screws visible. Think I'll stick to the Cheshire.

[Ally8446]

Oh and the spider vanes are plastic moulded so they're unadjustable.

[MadAlbert]

Really? Then I guess you should assume the secondary and primary are as centred as possible. All that leaves is to move the secondary slightly towards the primary and keep it as a circle...then use the cheshire to adjust the primary.

[Gomtuu]

Astromaster 130. The biggest problem with this scope is the amount of slop in the focuser. I have a generic laser collimator but it appears to need collimated itself. Unfortunately there are no collimation screws visible. Think I'll stick to the Cheshire.

If your laser has three dimples on it where you'd normally see the collimation screws, you'll probably find that they're filled with black silicone covering up the screws. That said, I use a cheshire and only use my laser for the barlowed laser technique.

For the OP, have you made yourself a collimation cap? It's probably the most useful and cheapest collimation aid!

[bomberbaz]

looks like it needs to come down the tube a smidge (towards the primary) other than that it's not bad. this assumes that whatever took the pic was central of course.

what he said