Quote:
Originally Posted by voitty
Hi there I am just new to the Astronomy bug and having just picked up a telescope ( celestron astromaster 130 ) am after the best way to check and align the mirrors. I have watched a couple of youtube clips of a guy doing it with an eyepiece laser which looked easy to me but will this method work on this tele and where is the best place to pick a laser up from to fit the 1.25" eyepiece? I also live on queenslands sunshine coast and could maybe give our local obsevatory a call if they would do it for a small fee chers Andrew.  |
A cheshire and a laser as you've mentioned will definitely get you started. There are a lot of tutorials online about collimating newtonians. The process is iterative.
1_ center the secondary in the focuser
2_ tilt the secondary so the laser hits the center of the primary
3_ tilt the primary so the laser reflected from the primary hits the center hole of the laser.
4_ Check with the cheshire and go through 2 to 4 again.
If you have joined a club locally many people will be able to advise you and show you how to do it.