Celestron Nexstar

[Deacon]

Hi all,

I am intrested in buying the above scope (either the 6se or 8se). Is it true that SCT's require collimating. This really is the only thing thats putting me off.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Deacon

[brianb]

Is it true that SCT's require collimating. This really is the only thing thats putting me off.

EVERY optical instrument needs to be collimated - it's true that with some wthere is no provision for user adjustment, that just means that if the factory gets it wrong or the instrument gets a knock, the images will be poor.

Don't let collimating an SCT worry you. It's a lot easier than a Newtonian, there's only a tilt adjustment of the secondary to worry about. Also my experience with small SCTs is that they're pretty well collimated from the factory and stay that way, unless you fit Bob's Knobs or drop the thing.

[Deacon]

lol what are bobs knobs

[George Jones]

lol what are bobs knobs

http://www.bobsknobs.com/

[steve_bham]

Hi ive had the Nexstar 5 and now got the 6se. Great scopes both mine keep / kept the collimation very well, even after transporting them to a dark sky site.

So dont worry to much about the collimation it is very easy to do on the SCT.

[BlueAstra]

I've had an 8se for 4 months and have not needed to collimate it yet.

[TheThing]

More collimation scaremongering I'm afraid.

With care and careful handling, you might never need to collimate your scope, particularly the smaller reflectors. Scopes with large mirrors seem to need collimating at the drop of a hat though (12" dobs spring to mind!)

I've had a series of 5" and 6" reflectors and they have rarely needed collimating. I store on end, mirror end down and am careful to transport them. Admitted, they only go/went from house to garden and back again, but with care they kept collimation, sometimes for many months (18 for a SW 130 from new until traded in).