Thanks for all your advice!
I bought the 10" collapsible Skywatcher today, along with York's Laser collimator. Here's hoping for some clear skies tonight! Can't wait to try it out.
I have a question about the laser collimator. I took one look at it when he was showing it to me and I asked him if it was safe to look at. He said, yes because you're not looking into the beam. I also looked to see the red dot in the centre of the primary mirror, which you're also supposed to do. My question is, how to stay safe with the laser collimator? I'm hoping I didn't do any damage already when looking at the beam in the store. But particularly because I'm doing it for the first time by myself tonight, I should really know how to operate the thing safely.
I was particularly concerned by
wikipedia's page on laser safety - you can do damage in a fraction of a second.
Help!
Cheers
- DSB