Telescope used in film "knowing"

[triton1]

I was trying last night to look for Neptune so I was checking each star in the general area focusing and refocusing,defo need a better focuser I noticed collimation was,nt perfect.I,m a bit ocd(ex toolmaker) so decided to use high power eyepiece and defocus on a star and finally collimate that way.Now I don,t have arms like a gorilla but I managed it.

The point of this thread is in the film Knowing Nic Cage,s son is using a 8 inch reflector with some sort of right angled extension that fits into the ep holder so he doesn't have to stand on a chair.It seems to run halfway down the length of the scope.So is this a 90* diagonal plus a correct image extension? Or something different because collimating using a star would be so much easier and more accurate (it was probably only a gnat,s [removed word] but every bit counts) also being double jointed would help.If anyone in the knowing could help(sorry) I,d be interested

Many thx. Jonn

[Fozzie]

Hahaha, I did exactly the same thing last time I watched the film.. what is this attachement...?! Where did it come from!? Hmmmmm

After some digging I found some debate as to whether its a prop or an actual product, only thing I could find was on an Australian site..

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=48512

Ta

fozzie

[triton1]

Wow Fozzie that was quick it was just that I do take pride in my collimation but I realised I was a tad off.The eye can really pick up something so miliscule but then I have checked my centre spot on primary and that is a tad off as well.Overall is this going to affect "perfect collimation"?

[Fozzie]

Im definitely not an expert in perfect collimation, but I like you try to get it as perfect as possible... i usually use a laser, which may or may not need collimation itself... so generally I make sure everything looks ok through the focuser, down the on to the primary and on the the target on the laser... One step at a time I guess...

I'll be investing in a Cheshire soon I think... as I hope it will be more accurate!

I don't find that being slightly off disrupts my enjoyment, you'd obviously know if your collimation was beyond reproach! But if your getting nice out of focus rings then hopefully it's near enough..