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Woo hoo Tried Collimation!

John Mckay

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John Mckay

John Mckay

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Tried my best tonight, realy have not a clue apart from the odd primary mirror adjusts.

Can i ask, i have a Cheshire, and for the first time i used the tiny allon key i got with my Skyliner 10" dob and made a small adjustment to one of the 3 screws in the secondary to try and get the crosshairs in the pinhole to line up with the Cheshire? Is this what to do? Have played with the primary before but never had the crosshairs meet!! Feels good hope this is right!!

I then adjusted the Primary? the tiny dohnut has the other bit inside. Have i Collimated??

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sixela

sixela

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made a small adjustment to one of the 3 screws in the secondary to try and get the crosshairs in the pinhole to line up with the Cheshire?

Forgive me for being a terminology nit first, just to make sure we understand each other.

The tool you have is actually a combination of a sight tube and a Cheshire eyepiece. The sight tube portion is the tool's inner edge at the far end and the cross hairs. The Cheshire is the bright ring inside the tool, whose reflection you see when peering through the pupil (the centred little peephole).

To set the tilt of the secondary, you align the centre spot reflection behind the cross-hairs (not the Cheshire ring reflection, because you are going to move that one in the next step). It's not that easy, because focusing on both at the same time is hard, but do it as best you can. It's actually not that critical for visual observation.

I then adjusted the Primary? the tiny donut has the other bit inside. Have i Collimated??

Usually, the centre spot is a small doughnut and the Cheshire ring reflection is a larger doughnut, and you indeed make them concentric in this step.

Try to rack the focuser in roughly as much as when you focus your 25mm Plössl when you insert the tool (1).

--

(1) if you really want to know the optimal position, try to see with a sheet of paper where the image of the moon is in focus if you hold the paper in front of the focuser on a moonlit night. That's where the focal plane is, and that's what ideally should be in the middle between the Cheshire ring and the pupil. But as long as you set the tilt of the secondary more or less right, it's not that critical.

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John Mckay

John Mckay

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Thank you Wakey, that was a nice comment. Yep im back and loving it! Seen Jupiters bands for the first time tonight, and was gobsmacked by the moon that was so close to it, any idea what it was? not sure but im gony check stellarium, it was so close!!!

Thanks also sixela, good advice will follow it with the cheshire 2morow. And Mdstuart, thanks, stars seem like tiny dots, hope that meens alls ok.

Ive contacted FLO for a Wixy, tried to find Andromeda tonight but no joy, hope the Wixey will help? Plus im buying an eyepiece, prob £70 budget, any ideas?

ta much guys.

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Beulah

Beulah

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Beulah, dont get the joke, miby cos im a newby lol

Sorry John! :D

It's not because you are a newbie, (welcome BTW ;)), it's because we have a swear filter and certain words are automatically asterisked out; unfortunately some of the swear words are homophones...:D In mdstewart's case, he was trying to use an innocent word rhyming with stick, but it also pertains to something else........

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