Collimation

[Tony1967]

I have a new meade sct that's out of collimation, i have never had the need to collimate my previous  telescopes before is this  difficult to do, here are some photos  of the refocused star images. 

[CraigT82]

Wow that's really out of whack... must have had a very bumpy ride during delivery! Collimating SCTs is relatively easy and best done on a bright star in good seeing. If you line up the diagonal with of of the secondary screws that helps with knowing which screw to turn. The secondary screws only usually require small adjustments... turn and look, turn and look etc. Gradually getting that spot back to the centre. 

 Your manual should tell you what you need to know but theres plenty of tutorials on youtube. Just be extra careful with Allen keys near the corrector plate!

[Tony1967]

Thanks for the advice. 

[johninderby]

I’ve found this is a really down to earth guide to SCT colomation.

https://skywatch.brainiac.com/collimation.pdf

[Tony1967]

Thanks 

[Peter Drew]

As already said, very small tweaks are all that it is needed. Make sure that the star is central in the field of view when assessing the collimation. When this looks good check again at high magnification and fairly close to focus. Polaris is a good test star, doesn't move much and is of a suitable magnitude.  😀