Secondary Mirror Collimation

[tms48]

I have collimated my Heritage 130p with a cheshire eyepiece, but when completed I noticed that the offset to the secondary mirror is not in line with the main mirror. I know that an offset is to be expected but does it need to be in line with the primary mirror. It either tilts at an angle up or down from a straight line to the main mirror. I have repeated the collimation making sure the secondary was centered and circular before lining it up with the adjustment screws to the primary but get the same results. Everthing else lines up pefectly, do I need to collimate again or is this ok. Or am I missing a step somewhere

[LukeSkywatcher]

When i bought my Heritage, i went through the whole collimation process just to make sure things lined up correctly. They didnt.

It was only then that i noticed the secondary "arm" was not completely screwed in tight and was offsetting alignment.

I simply twisted it by hand until it (secondary mirror) was pointing directly down the centre of the tube towards the primary.

Since then i have had everything about 95% aligned within the donut on the primary.

Good enough for me.

I have had the scope for over a year now and cant complain about the views.

[Astro_Baby]

Look at rhe collimation guide on my websirte in my sig....see if the view is thevsame as the pic of a fast reflector at bottom og page

[tms48]

Yes the picture looks exactly like what I am seeing, so it appears I have collimated correctly thanks very much.

[Astro_Baby]

Sorry about abominable typing - I was on a mobile earlier Glad its sorted.

What your seeing is the natural offset of a fast reflector and very annoying it is too - its quite normal for a fast scope to show that but very confusing because just about every collimation guide shows the classic concentric circles view of a slow reflector - I well rememver my own confusion on this topic which is why I wrote the guide and had actual pcitures rather than idealised drawings.