Collimation?

[bcfcciderhead]

Well as i have to work tonight thought i best bring the scope with me , ok red dot finder set up, mount up but not polar aligned (just a quick look tonight), some nice views of the moon (25mm wide angle) and also with the 2x barlow, next stop jupitar, with the 25mm i can see the moons and just make out the brown line running around the planet, a bit better with the barlow, can i improve this?, but my main concern is when getting jupitar in focus i keep seeing what look likes the spider legs that hold the lens in place, do this mean a collimation is needed (see my post on equipment) dont see it when looking at the moon.

[NGC 1502]

If when viewing Jupiter, or any small very bright object through a Newtonian

telescope, it is normal to see spikes of light caused by the spider vanes

that hold the secondary mirror in place.

Regards, Ed.

[Impster]

this is useful as I was seeing the same thing through my reflector. As you focus in the spikes almost disappear which I guess is a sign the scope is well collimated?

[Chris H]

Yes it's normal they are diffraction spikes caused by as you said the secondary support vanes. It is possible to get spider vanes which are curved and are meant to eliminate the problem.

http://www.nightskies.net/scopetest/accessories/destiny/spider.html

[bcfcciderhead]

glad to here that, and i just bought a cheshire collimator to, but i guess its a good part of your kit to have and at £20 not to expensive, thanks guys feeling better now:icon_salut:

[great_bear]

You'll also get less of a distracting cross-flare when you up the magnification so Jupiter's less bright.

[Nick P]

glad to here that, and i just bought a cheshire collimator to, but i guess its a good part of your kit to have and at £20 not to expensive, thanks guys feeling better now:icon_salut:

An invaluable piece of kit - takes me about 30 seconds to collimate my newt with the cheshire - £20 well spent in my opinion