Collimating

[Beechiller]

Hi all I'm sure this has been posted before. I've bought a laser collimator and tried using it tonight. I have the red dot in the middle of the doughnut. The instructions then tell me to look down the scope to see if dot is centred I half blinded myself doing this am I doing this wrong? I have half a bottle of wine in me at minute so don't want to go near it again tonight!

[wookie1965]

You look down the scope from the front not down the focuser.

[cussine]

Agree with wookie, enjoy the wine :-) :-)

[Gomtuu]

Bear in mind that if the laser itself is not properly collimated, it will be off.

I'd strongly recommend using a Cheshire.

[Bart]

Google the barlowed laser technique. Excellent. Mind you, if I want it spot on, I do use a Cheshire too

Barry

[umadog]

You may blind yourself if you get the beam pointing directly into your eye. Depends how powerful the collimator is. If it's below about 5 mW your instinctive blink reaction is fast enough to prevent damage. i.e. you'd have to purposefully stare into the beam for it to blind you. If your telescope is remotely near collimation then the return beam will hit the secondary and then be reflected into the tube or focusser. Thus, you will never have the opportunity to look into the beam. All you will ever see is scattered light bouncing off the spot the laser hits on the primary. You can't blind yourself with that.

[hippie]

Here's a how to collimate your scope guide.

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