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Old 28-02-2022, 12:42 PM
StargazerMan (Frank)
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Join Date: Feb 2022
Location: Ireland
Posts: 8
How to collimate a Dob with a laser collimator.

When I was starting out, I thought collimation was this really super-complex thing. Then when one of our astronomy club members showed me physically with their scope how to do it, I was surprised at just how simple it was!

So I made a video as a basic guide for laser collimating a reflector,
(in this case a 16'' GSO Dobsonian with a Kendrick laser collimator).

Obviously there's a lot involved in collimating and this video is not attempting to cover all those facets. It's intended as a quick explanation of the principle. I found that seeing the basics explained in simple terms without complication was key for me to then use that as a base to learn more.

For beginners, there's a fine line between giving enough info to do the process correctly versus information overload.

Once you get the basics down, it becomes clear over time the different areas that affect the outcome such as mirror springs, focuser slop, mirror quality, laser misalignment... the list goes on, they all certainly need to be understood but only by getting started and doing can you really learn.
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