advantages of better collimation

[stafford_stargazer]

Hi All

Another question please

How important is it to have accurate collimation?

Also what are the advantages of getting the best collimation out of your telescope,is it the more accurate it is the better your planets will be in detail?

Thanks Gary

[simon84]

When I had my 12" Newtonian I used it more or less straight out of the box. Didnt really know what collimation was at that point.

After spending a bit of time looking around I discovered that I needed to get the scope collimated so bought a Hotech.

When I looked through the scope after I'd collimated it everything improved, contrast, detail, shapes of stars etc. I'll never forget looking at The Pleiades, absolutely breath taking. Before it had looked flat and not much to it.

HTH.

[Astro_Baby]

By and large better definition, sharper edges, more contrast, sharper focus.

BUT - it needs a dose of common sense and realism as well. An averagely collimated scope will perform better than a badly collimated one but theres no point becoming too obsessive about it because lots of things in the real world will mess the collimation up. Scope tubes will heat up and cool down along with mirrors, the angle the scope is point at will also introduce flex and shift in the system and finally most focusers arent themselves terribly accurate and exhibit slop. Most commerically made scopes areent rigid enough in my opnion (the exception being TAL with their 2-3mm thick aluminium tubes which look like they are machined - they arent in fact but just look it) as a result the tube walls lack rigidity and when you add a hefty weight of pyrex at one end and hold the tube in the middle the things bound to flex.

So its important but dont get carried away is how I see it.

The faster the scopes focal ratio becomes the more essential it is for it to be accurately collimated. My baby TAL1-1 with a slow focal ratio can be out by a mile and still work ok(ish) whereas the 8" F5 newt needs to be spot on.

[lunator]

Gary

Spending time collimating will make the views much better.

When the sky is steady - known as 'good seeing' and your scope is collimated then the detail you will see on planets etc will be excellent.

Cheers

Ian