I put off collimating my scope thinking that I was going to misalign the optics beyond the point of no return. I just said to myself that "well, I'll mess with this on a day that I knew there was not going to be any clear skies soon", so I just got out the Allen wrench and started turning screws to see what would happen. Not the insurmountable task I thought it was going to be. Practice will make process faster in the field. Your videos are very helpful, Jason, thanks!
For anyone new to this hobby like me “””THIS CHANNEL IS THE BEST BAR NON””” Jason makes the information,tips etc so simple to understand, good work Jason my friend 👊👊
I have a Newtonian Telescope since more than 1 year and only now I understood collimation and checked mine 😃. Good news is that after many hours outside and travels all over the country the factory collimation still holds perfectly! Thank you very much Jason for the detailed explanation.
I collimated my 8” Dobsonian with a Cheshire and collimation cap. My friend had a super expensive laser (Howie Glatter) and brought it to mine to check my collimation for me. He was shocked at how precise it was and accused me of using a laser. The Cheshire and cap are the way to go
You know why all of use noobs obsess over collimation? Because every time we ask about a problem that we are experiencing in a public forum, at some point someone will ask about our collimation. And we often don’t have the experience to confidently say that our collimation is good to go. But I keep learning by watching videos like yours so that I can have a more balanced approach to the process. After all, I’m not building a scope from scratching. I’m massaging a bone stock 8”/F5.9 Dobsonian. Pretty common. And pretty easy.
I'm a beginner and I don't even have a telescope to start this hobby. 😊 but I'm glad I found this channel where I can learn a lot of basic things before deciding to get my first telescope. thank you very much 🙏🙏🙏
After a road trip my Newtonian tried the loose secondary mirror. I looked for several outlets to tidy up over months, including with laser collimator, but this video was my savior. Jason, thank you very much, especially for the lesson on collimation, endlessly resolving any deviation in observation. Salut from Brasil!
Hi jason finally got my skywatcher 130m up ready and collimated to the best of my ability quick thankyou for your informative videos on balancing telescope also was fighting it alot! Trial run tonight only waited 4 weeks for a decent night
Much better! Thank you so much. I was a bit confused as well with the first vid. My wife to be just bought me a Skywatcher 200P, and my first outing was a disappointment. I suspected something was not right and I hadn’t even heard of collimation. My neighbor introduced me to the term after discussing with him my frustration. Well I just went down to take a peak into my telescope and was surprised at how far off it was based on your terrific explanation. I ended up spending about 40 minutes playing around with it and got what I think is ‘very good’ collimation without even using a collimation eyepiece. Knowing what I know now, and being the somewhat lazy satisfaction seeker that I am, I doubt I will even bother making an eyepiece for the purpose. Thumbs up! Oh and the 200P has the target on the primary, and some nice spring loaded knurled adjustment knobs, no janky Philips screws.
Out of all the thousands of you tube videos about telescopes I always enjoy watching yours the most. Even when it is about something I am quite proficient at...lol...thank you I appreciate everything you do for our hobby
Wonderful vid on collimating, I used your cap technique and have nearly perfect collimation now, it makes a big difference. I have the Celestron Astromaster 130, and I will say my biggest gripe is the LACK of a center dot on the mirror, I feel like not having that there in advance is just setting up novice astronomers for a lot of headaches. I had to use a piece of graph paper to find that center dot, then added at ring binder reinforcing sticker (very carefully). But once I got it on there, collimating with the cap was SUPER easy, thanks so much for you dedication to astronomy for noobies like me lol!
Love to watch your videos to this day. You keep it fun and exciting and that's what's important to me. Thanks you for all the videos that you've put out.
Thanks Jason, amazingly helpful videos mate. Recently got myself a 6" Newtonian, and I have learnt more from your channel than anywhere else. Made my collimation cap and haven't looked back. I would strongly recommend this channel for anyone starting out.
Your videos are great. I'm very new to telescopes and was reading somewhere how to collimate. My head was ready to explode after the first page. Your video explained the same process but 1,000 times more understandable. Thank you
Some center screws on the secondary are not supposed to be loosened, refer to the instructions that came with your telescope to be sure. A star or dot is fine for marking the center of the primary, but will not work with a laser collimator, a donut shaped sticker is required for that. To avoid the possibility of damaging anything, have the tube of the scope as well as the focuser oriented horizontally.
Brilliant! I'm new to astronomy and bought a 2nd hand Skywatcher 8" Dobsonian which needed a bit of work (I found after I got it home), so in at the deep end! Now mirror cleaned of the dust and mould and all perfectly collmated. Thanks Jason. (On a Skywatcher 200P, 1200mm the allen screws are locking and the Posi screws are the adjusters.)
I was shying away from getting a reflector and sticking with my refractor but after seeing your video i've already ordered one.thanks again.Geoff from Ainsdale Southport.
Thanks Jason. I have a 5 inch Newtonian and Meade didn't provide a collimation cap. But I followed you through and that's it. Got it through to your second category though, the good collimation. 😅😅
I need to say the this video is brilliant. There is so much passion in you presenting this. And I as a complete beginner am now absolutely confident to be able to do that. Thank you so much.
Utoobz 'algorithm' caused this to come up for me and I watched it to see what you had to say. While I'm sure someone can do what you say to get a scope viewing 'capable' I'm not sure it gets it that good. I've been an amateur astronomer for over 50 yrs and I learned a completely different way to collimate a newt. It's not that hard and when you think about it it just 'makes sense'! A basic understanding of what we are trying to do with the mirrors makes the method I use just second nature. It does require a couple extra 'steps', but done once they rarely need to be done again. Step 1 - center your main mirror in the mirror cell. This requires you to remove it from the tube and check that it is in the center of its cell and placing shims if needed to center it. Replace it in your tube and remove the secondary from the spider. Step 2 - Now using a small scale measure each arm of the spider and see if the distance of the center hole in the spider measures the same along each arm to the tube wall... adjust by loosening and tightening the screws that hold the spider. Step 1 & 2 need not be done ever again, usually, unless it falls out of your car as you're driving to your dark site. Now to adjusting the mirrors. With a center dot/mark on your mirror (you did put one on it if it didn't have one when you had the cell out...right?) look thru the center hole in the spider and observe the spider against your main mirror. Use the adjusting screws on the back of the main mirror to center the spider hole with the center mark of the mirror. You will now NEVER touch the main mirror adjusting screws again! Why? The mirror is perfectly aligned with the tube axis! If at any time you turn those screws after this step you will change that tube alignment which makes the optical axis not 90° going out to your eyepiece. Replace the secondary mirror in the spider and center it in the eyepiece holder so you see the main mirror is aligned and not off to one side. Now using the adjusting screws on the secondary align the images so they all coincide correctly using the eyecap with the pinhole. 'Perfect' alignment! This is where 'knobs' are useful at the secondary as this is where all the adjusting happens. (Checking the mirror/tube axis alignment by removing the secondary should be done as the weather changes but I have found my scope seems to hold very well)
My clumsy self let go of my new telescope so that the front part of the “pipe” impacted my window, and now I see a reflection of the inner surface of the “pipe” when I look down the eye piece, I assume it’s not collimated anymore. This was my first scope and already it seems that I messed up. I will try this method, wish me luck :(
Hi Jason, I’m new to your channel and to the astronomy community, and I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your videos. I’m learning a lot from your knowledge and experience, and I’m really grateful for all the effort you put in. Thank you! Thumb up 👍
When in doubt about the Secondary it helps to take the primary mirror out and pointing the now open backend to a light in the room. Then look in the focuser via a collimation cap and adjust the secondary such that you do not see the end of the tube and only things behind the telescope.
I think it makes a huge difference with a decent quality telescope. I tried to collomate a cheep reflector which had only screws and no knobs. Needing to hold a screwdriver really does make things a lot harder, especially when I am trying to keep my 3d printed Cheshire in the homemade 0.965 to 1.25 adapter. It got good views of the eclipse in the end, but the whole process reminded me why I chose to get something better.
Thank you for both parts of this 'tutorial'. I was considering getting rid of my Newtonian for a different style so I didn't need to collimate. I am now more prepared to attempt any collimation if required. Keep up the good information. PS I have subscribed to your channel because of these videos.😀
I'm completely new at this, but basically, I'm interpreting that you have to point the reflected view from secondary mirror directly at the center of the primary to start. That makes sense. Wife bought a used 4.5 Newtonian from a friend who couldn't figure it out (probably not even the equatorial mount), and I've inherited the project. They even lost the longest eyepiece, the 10mm (and the collimating cap the manual claims was in the packaging), so I just today bought a set of eyepieces from 6mm to 40mm, plus filters and a 2x Barlow so we can perhaps see things in the sky after dark. I got it balanced and the mount set at our latitude and pointed to north so far using an iPhone compass (not Polaris because it was in the day), and focused on a 14,000' mountain peak about 20 miles away using the finder scope and 25mm eyepiece we got. I can dial it to the next peak over, so I can point the thing. I don't know if it's collimated at this point, so here I am. The secondary mirror is at 45 degrees so the viewer looks into the tube perpendicular to the target, the primary mirror, which then ideally looks directly up the tube to the wonders in the sky above. 45+45=90. Easy math. In this case, degrees, and then hopefully strait down the tube of the scope. 45 plus or minus anything else doesn't look at the center of the primary mirror. If you're not looking at the center of the primary mirror, images millions of miles away will distort, if you can spot a target at all. Continuing now with your video to aligning the primary. Your "flat to the wall" analogy is that the primary should be flat to the bottom of the tube to look directly out, but many things can affect that. As the secondary has to look directly to the center of the primary, the primary has to point directly down the center of the tube. If I'm way off with my understanding, please correct me. Thanks for the videos. I'm going to subscribe to your channel. ...dropping a washer to the floor is better than dropping a primary mirror, I'd think. ...backing off the adjustment screws on the primary before anything is a great idea, so it can be turned in both directions instead of "bottoming out" at stop. That alone is valuable information. Thanks again.
Great Detailed Video Jason. I love The Part where You showed the Demo of What a Newtonian Telescope is Made of. These Tips have You helped Me a lot in collimating my Own Scope! Well done, Clear Skies :)
Hello Avanteesh. Thank you my friend... It's amazing isn't it how just two pieces of glass can show us such amazing things.. Great to hear my tips have helped you, mission accomplished on my side then :) Take care buddy, clear skies. :)
Hi Jason. Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to make these videos. I'm gradually watching them all at the moment. Collimation is the one I'm dealing with right now. Just very recently bought s Celestron 130 Astromaster which I think was at least 3rd hand ... haha. I could see it was a little out and the primary needed a good clean so thought I might as well follow your guidance and get it collimated. Just looking for some clear sky at the moment down here in Kent. Did get a couple of cloud breaks a few nights ago and took some moon pics with the mob. phone camera. Soon found a problem with the gears on the finder. Eerytime I touched the eyepiece the tube went down .... hahaha .The tensioner was way too slack and there was no more adjustment in it so sorted that one today and the collimation. Bought a couple of the SvBony lenses that you reviewed and they really do seem to be excellent for the money !! Thanks again mate for all you do.
thank you for this tips i just got my self a used powerseeker 127eq , owner said it was collimated but i could be sure after watching this and other older videos of yours , i think he is telling the true i can't find any problem again thanks for the awesome video
Hello May, If everything checks out in the video than I'm sure your telescope will be fine.. As long as you treat it with care and be gentle with it the collimation will hold for quite some time, but do keep checking it from time to time to make sure it's in tip top condition.. Enjoy your new telescope, clear skies :)
Hey Jay, thank you for helping convey the message that anyone starting out doesn't need to worry too much about precise collimation of a Newtonian telescope. I feel that people talk themselves out of a Newtonian sometimes because of it. Although did I hear you mention you wont see more with an expensive telescope? Maybe I miss heard? I think it was near the beginning somewhere, because try telling that to my mate that got his 16" Dob out at the weekend (why does that sound so wrong lol), he was telling me that the Veil nebula looked like a detailed astrophoto through the eyepiece (OIII filter used), and certainly the only time I've ever seen the Whirlpool galaxy in it's entirety was with an expensive C8 Edge HD, it blew my socks off! Smaller affordable telescopes are great of course as they allow most of us to enter the hobby, however I feel it's great to dream of the dream scopes which we may own one day. I know you secretly do this Jason, go on admit it :D
Hey Chris.. Yes this collimation malarkey can put a few newbies off can't it? Which is a shame because as we both know it's a doddle...I had to watch the video back to see what you meant with the expensive scope.. It's my fault Chris looking back on it, it doesn't come across the way I meant it to had, the point I was trying to make was, the visual comparison would be negligible between an entry level 6" reflector for example and a top of the range 6" ..... And oh my word, a big fat YES to a big Fat dob..Absolutely.. Which sounds even wronger.. lmao..
Thanks mate, that is very helpful. Recently, I also made a video on how to collimate fast Newtonian scopes. It gets pretty critical to collimate when using fast apertures.
Again a good series on the subject but it still does not answer my question on how we know a cap barrel is any less a skew then the laser barrel? They both fit in the same barrel holder. Somehow it's assumed the cap is a perfect fit, that is the missing piece that I would like to know more about.
I just want to thank you for your kindness when explain this kind of things, seems that you really enjoying, and that's makes the video even more nice to watch, thanks for share the knowledge, I'm still reviewing which telescope to buy for Christmas, and the maintenance processes, and you make it more easy to understand, again THANKS for share the knowledge :) Maybe a quick question: "Celestron astromaster 114 eq"(423 USD at my country) vs "Celestron astromaster 130 eq" (545 USD at my country) vs "National Geographic 114eq 114mm F4.4 Eq"(325 USD at my country), all equatorial mounts, at first sight the Celestron astromaster 130 should be te "best" but really worth the price diffrence or not?
Hello there. Thank you for your kind words my friend it's my pleasure :) All the telescopes you mention are great starter scopes and I think you would be pleased with any of them, but if I had to pick one it would be the Astromaster 130. I always recommend to go for as large of aperture you can afford. When it comes to visual astronomy size really does matter.
Rather odd tech question about collimation... I have to smaller Newronians, (76x700mm and 114x900mm) both modified by me for use with a dslr with an attached t-ring adapter. My question is, since both are used ONLY for astrophotography, would it be ok to collimate them with the dslr in place using the screen on the camera rather than visually checking down the focuser tube?
Hey Jason I'm not a beginner in astronomy and I do love watching your videos and remembering the good old days when I first got interested and in this video I'd say for its subject its the best on UA-cam! This video I hope will help thousands out and make things more easy for people who just bought reflector! I prefer refractors as they just open box and setup then look through it and attach camera or smartphone and get images! Like you I'm always dropping things and so far not dropped my telescope star tracker or eye pieces and would like if you do video on tips to avoid dropping or stuff to use like non slip gloves etc. I do worry about this few times as I'd hate to drop my skywatcher ecoguide 50ed guidescope on ground as I know it would be broken. Do you prefer relectors or refractor? Any telescope that can give nice views or images will be great. Stay safe friend and I wish you clear skies!
Hey bushcraft, thank you so much buddy... If I had to choose I would have to go with a big refractor, there is just something about refractors that love apart from the ease of use. Cheers buddy stay safe, clear skies :)
18:07 also be careful that the 3 Allen screws don't mark the back of the secondary mirror holder, otherwise they'll cause 'ruts' or dimples in the soft alloy, making the points of these screws to fall into these dimples and making secondary mirror collimation much harder. I found out the hard way... Just put a piece of thin round PTFE sheet or cut of a section of plastic milk carton, to place between these 3 screw points and the back of the holder - this will negate the dimple or ruts buggering up the collimation of the secondary.
If collimation is a huge thing that is required, youd think that all primary mirrors would be manufactured with a "cetre spot" built into the centre of the primary mirror
Nice video Jason. I wanted to try collimation on a newtonian, and i bought the heritage 100/400 and seems this telescope did not require any collimation yet. and i went outside more than 15 times already. Just incredible :)
What is your recommendation on installing a upgrade collimation kit from High Point Scientific? The kit includes, 3 secondary collimation "knobs", flocking paper and 3 primary collimation "springs". Is it worth the extra $$? Thanks.
Hi Jason nice video but I am a bit confused about how to collimate my secondary mirror without a laser. Also really enjoyed the livestream last time you should do another one😃
Hi, I've managed to make a collimation cap and have all 3 clips visible, but there are two other circles (the secondary and the focuser) that are off center, it also seems like no matter what I do, they will not move, do I need them to be centered or is that normal?
So, I haven’t gotten my telescope yet but am trying to learn the some of the maintenance items for a Newtonian scope. You mentioned the bad, good, and precise. You also mentioned temperature fluctuations can distort the collimating. So am I guessing correctly that to have “precise” collimation you would need to collimate these mirrors in the field after the entire telescope has acclimated to the conditions to which you are observing at that time?
Hi Jason. I’ve followed all your instructions and have a perfect view but!! The cross hairs are off center . Perfect in the center view with the symmetry in the eye. But it bugs the heck out of me that the cross hair thing. Solutions? Thanks
Hey Jason first of all you're my favorite guy on UA-cam..I love your attitude and enthusiasm for astronomy. Second, I know this is an old video and u may not ever even read this message but I just have a question. How do u get the secondary lined up perfectly under the focuser.. in other words, how do I know if my secondary should be closer or further away from the primary if u get what I mean...I enjoy collimating my telescope and don't have any issues at all with it but let's say I'm a little too close to the primary or I'm not quite close enough, I feel like I can still get my scope in collimation.. the reason I'm asking is because I recently took both mirrors out to clean them and I had never done that before so I wanted to make sure I put my secondary back in the correct position forward and back if u get what I mean.. tilt and rotation I have no issue with.. thank u and please don't stop making videos..I think I've watched every one of yours at least twice if not more
Jason, my primary mirror screws are Phillips. Can I switch them out for finger screws? Correct me if I'm wrong, lol. Wouldn't it be easier and more precise with finger screws than Phillips head screws?
Hi there, I've a question if you can please answer?. I need to do some work on my secondary mirror as the central screw to be able to rotate the secondary has rounded. When I put it back in I need to make sure it's correctly positioned through the viewer. However, in your video you've basically just looked down the viewer without any lens or collimating tools in it. I thought you had to use a tool? Generally very useful video and I've taken some key points from it. I'm just concerned I won't get the secondary positioned correctly to catch all the light and angled correctly to the viewer
Just got my first telescope, and I can't see the edges of the Primary mirror when I don't have an eyepiece in. Could it be that my focuser is to long for the tube? It's a Bushnell 789540. Would a wide angle eye piece compensate for this issue? Thanks great video 👍
Hi from Olney Maryland in USA - thanks for your simple down to earth videos - I have a Celestron Powerseeker 127mmEQ Reflector - plan to collimate by your method - but it apparently has a corrector lens? in the focus tube - because it is a Bird-Jones design - my question is - do I have to remove the corrector lens? When I look down the focus tube - with nothing in the tube - I actually see myself in the small center circle of the spider - not sure how that is happening? Maybe a Halloween ghost is messing with me.
Hello I have a tasco reflector telescope I am getting close to using the telescope i think but when I look through the eyepiece all I see is black. I don’t know if it’s because I’m putting on the eye peice wrong or does it have to do with primary mirror. I remember i tightened the screws really tight too
Collimating is an ordered operation, follow the steps in order and it works every time. Anyone can learn to do it. I’ve collimated my scope twice now and I used a laser both times but I did the roughing by eye. 90% of the work was done before I put the laser in the focuser and even with the laser I was doing what you did with the collimating cap, just with a laser to make the alignment easier to see. The laser also added steps to the process that are easy to get wrong. Still, anyone can learn.
Is it possible for the secondary mirror to be out of line with the focal tube? For example someone backs the three adjusting screws all the way out then tightens the middle screw until it is just almost butted up against the mount then uses the 3 adjusting screws to collimate will it throw everything out of wack?
Can temperature change affect collimation? If I collimate my telecope inside at room temperature, then take it outside in -5 degree celsius weather, would I have to re collimate it outside? Thanks for the video
How do you get the star exactly in the centre of the primary mirror. Also I have a Sky-Watcher SkyMax-127 which has the eyepiece in the middle of the bottom of the scope. Any idea how to remove this bottom end to get to the mirror?
If we don't have a spare cap lying around, is it possible to do the primary collimation without it? I imagine you can similar to how it was done for the secondary or am I missing something?
I have just bought an optus reflector telescope on line and it is being delivered next week. Will I have to collimate it before I can use it? I have had an interest in astronomy since I was very young, so this will be my first experience of stargazing and I am very keen to get started. I am also hoping to get my granddaughter involved. Thanks. Duncan
Hello Duncan. Not necessarily, telescopes are collimated before they leave the factory. Transit does knock them out of collimation a little but shouldn't effect your viewing experience ... Love the idea of getting your granddaughter involved, hope she takes to it.. All the best my friend :)
Hi Jason. Greetings from Yorkshire. Great videos! An easy way to imagine how collimation works is to get the viewer maybe to look at their phone screen while it's off. If you imagine the phone screen is the secondary and the reflection of the face in it is the primary, then when you tilt the phone screen in different directions in very small ways the face appears to move away from centre. Isn't this essentially what is happening when the telescope is out of collimation? Cheers Jon.
Ok. Next question. It occurred to me after adjusting the primary that the focal point position relative to the secondary could be impacted. How critical is that? I think I have an idea as to how to confirm that using my camera and a stationary photo target.
Thank you for the informative video. I have since attempted visual collimation of a 12" meade lightbridge. So when I am just looking in the eyepiece holder, If the reflection of your eyeball on the primary is covered by the mirror center mark and all other circles are concentric around your eye = is this not collimated?
Collimation is not easy. For this UA-cam video: You really need to have a video camera in the focuser and then adjust each of the screws and show what happens to the person watching. The spider hub has a central screw which can do rotation - 3 screws for tilt and the primary mirror has 3 screws too. It's easier to use a properly aligned laser. At worst case you can rotate the hub so that the view looks reasonable but a laser put in the focuser can go down to the primary mirror and not even hit the secondary mirror upon returning - then you are in a lot of trouble. These sort of UA-cam videos are only good when the telescope is already close to a good collimation and the 2 offsets were set up correctly in the factory. One offset is towards the primary and the other is away from the focuser.
As a newbie, I really appreciate your videos. I was given an older Polaris 114 mm telescope, which I have been rebuilding, as the mirrors were both corroded (new ones installed). Now I have been given an all metal R & P 1.25 in focuser to replace the original 0.965 in focuser. Any advice on how to balance/calibrate the new focuser? It doesn't sit fully on the tube (maybe for a slightly bigger tube), and has 4 nuts and bolts instead of the original 3 bolts. So how do I know it is square/perpendicular to the diagonal mirror? Any advice is appreciated
Hello Mary Ann. Great to hear you are restoring an old telescope and by the sounds of it you are doing a great job.. It would appear the focuser you have bought is from a different size telescope and to be honest with you, you'd be better off getting the correct one for your telescope... You probably could engineer some method to make it fit but to be honest I've never had to do it, so that's about the only advice I can give you, I've just simply not come across this problem before, I've always installed the correct focuser, if you get what I mean. Sorry I can't be of more help with this one. if you have Facebook come and join the group there is some quite knowledgeable folk on there that may help you more, You'll be more than welcome. Good luck. facebook.com/groups/223807419299994/?ref=share
Question: can't see the entire mirror (3 clips) on the secondary. is the secondary undersized? is it because I have a spherical main mirror? or it's related to fast scopes?
Hey. Could you do a video on the need (or lack thereof) for thermal equilibrium out of dobs? I have a ad12. And don't use it since I'm convinced scope needs time to cool
Hello Jack, I covered this in other videos all telescopes need to cool before using including refractors, simple rule of thumb , the larger the telescope the longer it will need to cool. For something like a 4-5 inch reflector will need a least 20-30 minuets to fully climatise a 12 inch reflector at least 40 minuets to 1 hour.
I removed the secondary and marked the exact center with a permanent black marker using a paper template of the shape of the mirror, folded to find center point and a hole created by cutting the folded tip of the template, and then placing it on top of the mirror, then using the marker to place a small dot. I reinstalled the secondary mirror, ensuring it was relatively centered within the view looking down the tube, and using a Collimation cap, I aligned the black ink dot of the mirror with the reflection of the center point of the Collimation cap, then locked everything down (never to be touched again). Next, I then aligned the primary which has an adhesive ring placed at the center (again having used a paper template and a permanent marker dot-- the dot removed after applying adhesive ring prior to reinstalling the primary mirror). In short, the dot of the secondary is aligned with the center of the reflection of the center of the cap that is surrounded by the reflection of the primary adhesive ring. Yes, you can see them all. Absolutely perfect alignment! I tweak the primary alignment using a laser collimator every time I use the scope but since the laser tool has too much "wobble" and doesn't sit correctly I ensure the laser is first shining on the primary center ring (because my secondary is perfectly aligned with the optical axis of the focus tube!) and only then locking it down and proceeding with primary mirror alignment tweak. Be sure to remove ink dot from the secondary mirror by reaching in the telescope using a soft cloth with isopropyl alcohol.
Hello Walter.. Interesting method thank you for sharing, I will give that a try ... I agree with you on lasers ...Not to be trusted in my book.. Take care.
The marking the centre of your secondary only centers it up/down and left/right it doesn’t set the tilt and yaw of the mirror. So you could have the dot centre to your collimation cap and still be way out
Thank you for all advices Jason realy like to watch your chanel. So far I collimate my Astromaster 130 EQ only with looking through focuser that both mirrors were aligned, centered and on the end final collimation with a star. All views were nice and crisp. So after watching your video I give it a try with collimation cap and final results were not good. Test on a star show that mirrors were out of collimation. I checked collimation cap and center mark on mirror. Both on center. So I went back to my previous method for collimation (recomended by Celestron) and results were OK. I suspect that colimation cap is not centered correctly in eyepiece? I even borow a laser collimator to give ut a try. Waste of time like you descrice. Clear skys.
Hello there, Your more than welcome. Sorry to hear the cap method didn't work for you, the only thing I can think of is what you already said about it not been centred, but I'm please to hear you managed to sort in the end. Take care, clear skies.
@@smalloptics753 Hello again. I made some measurements on the telescope tube and focuser was not aligned properly. It was pointing slightly off center. It was realy hard to notice. I assemble focuser and align it properly. Now is all like it should be. Maybe some accident during transport in the car at night.. Collimation cap is a wery usefull tool.
I Have a skywatcher Explorer 130 like you and i dont have everything to make a collimation cap and im affraid to mark the middle of my mirror, im not sure what to do, do you have any suggestions?
Thamks for that video. I should have watch that video before collimating my 10inch dob. I think I overtighten the screws of the secondary and my allen key got stuck in the screw, I had to remove the screw, My allen key is still stuck, and I will have to replace the screw. I will replace it with thumb screws instead. I tried several time to collimate, the center spot was in the center of the reflection of the collimation cap, but the reflexion of the ''washer'' of the collimation cap didn't seem to be in the center of the secondary, so I tried again and again till, when i thought that it was finally pefect, i realise that i forgot my allen key, it was still in a screw of the secondary and stuck...
Hello there.. Oh dear, unfortunately this is a common problem in future loosen the centre screw a little as this will release tension on the small Alan grub screws making them easier to turn. Have you heard of Bob's Knobs? If not it's a store were you can buy all kinds of nut's and bolt's for your telescope I'll leave a link for you. Hope you get it sorted my friend. www.bobsknobs.com/
Hello there, It sounds as though your finder is not correctly aligned with your telescope.. Have a look at this video on how to set-up your finder and you should be fine then, don't worry, it's easy to do :D ua-cam.com/video/5txNTmc0-hY/v-deo.html
Do reflectors and refractors both need collimation? I have a simple celestron astromaster 70az. I haven't used it yet, it rains here almost every day. If there is any problems can they be corrected? Or are these scopes not made to be collimated? Also do you know the best pratice for collimating binoculars? 😃Cheers from cloudy Newfoundland
Hello Scott, Sorry for the late reply buddy. No not usually, the higher end refractors do come with collimation grub screws but only on high end telescopes. For telescopes like the Celestron 70 you can own one for a life time and never need to collimate. For binoculars it's best left for the experts you really can ruin them if you don't know exactly what you are doing.
Hello there, yes. Start off by getting the secondary mirror positioned so you can see all the retaining brackets on the primary mirror when looking directly down the focaser. Then collimate the primary using the star test method.. This is the easiest way to do it and this is the method I use often also no additional tools are required which is always a bonus when your in the dark🙂
@@smalloptics753 thanks so much, I'm just beginning to use my 5 year old telescope so im just starting to learn about this. Something kind of weird about the brackets is when the focuser knob is fully pushed in, I can see all of them but the more it goes back, I cant see them, is that normal? Also when aiming at something like jupiter, no matter how much I focus, it stays blurry and overexposed, is that a symptom of bad collimation?
Im trying to get the secondary mirror aligned. Even tho I get everything aligned or what looks aligned, I can never get all 3 clips. Could it be my eyes as I am far sighted, or am I still doing something wrong. I can't get all 3 clips in sight no matter what I do... can someone please advise me...
I put off collimating my scope thinking that I was going to misalign the optics beyond the point of no return. I just said to myself that "well, I'll mess with this on a day that I knew there was not going to be any clear skies soon",
so I just got out the Allen wrench and started turning screws to see what would happen. Not the insurmountable task I thought it was going to be. Practice will make process faster in the field. Your videos are very helpful, Jason, thanks!
For anyone new to this hobby like me “””THIS CHANNEL IS THE BEST BAR NON””” Jason makes the information,tips etc so simple to understand, good work Jason my friend 👊👊
@Neil-j4w Thank you for your kind words Neil, very much appreciated.
@ just speaking what I saw Jason lad 👍
No need to apologize. Your videos are great.
I have a Newtonian Telescope since more than 1 year and only now I understood collimation and checked mine 😃. Good news is that after many hours outside and travels all over the country the factory collimation still holds perfectly! Thank you very much Jason for the detailed explanation.
I collimated my 8” Dobsonian with a Cheshire and collimation cap. My friend had a super expensive laser (Howie Glatter) and brought it to mine to check my collimation for me. He was shocked at how precise it was and accused me of using a laser. The Cheshire and cap are the way to go
Hello Ian. I've had a similar experience were we've compared laser to cap/cheshire and the results are so negligible.
You know why all of use noobs obsess over collimation? Because every time we ask about a problem that we are experiencing in a public forum, at some point someone will ask about our collimation. And we often don’t have the experience to confidently say that our collimation is good to go. But I keep learning by watching videos like yours so that I can have a more balanced approach to the process. After all, I’m not building a scope from scratching. I’m massaging a bone stock 8”/F5.9 Dobsonian. Pretty common. And pretty easy.
I'm a beginner and I don't even have a telescope to start this hobby. 😊 but I'm glad I found this channel where I can learn a lot of basic things before deciding to get my first telescope. thank you very much 🙏🙏🙏
After a road trip my Newtonian tried the loose secondary mirror. I looked for several outlets to tidy up over months, including with laser collimator, but this video was my savior. Jason, thank you very much, especially for the lesson on collimation, endlessly resolving any deviation in observation. Salut from Brasil!
Hi jason finally got my skywatcher 130m up ready and collimated to the best of my ability quick thankyou for your informative videos on balancing telescope also was fighting it alot!
Trial run tonight only waited 4 weeks for a decent night
Dude, as an enthusiastic noob to astronomy, I love your passion and your generosity in sharing your knowledge on the subject. Thank you so much.
Much better! Thank you so much. I was a bit confused as well with the first vid. My wife to be just bought me a Skywatcher 200P, and my first outing was a disappointment. I suspected something was not right and I hadn’t even heard of collimation. My neighbor introduced me to the term after discussing with him my frustration. Well I just went down to take a peak into my telescope and was surprised at how far off it was based on your terrific explanation. I ended up spending about 40 minutes playing around with it and got what I think is ‘very good’ collimation without even using a collimation eyepiece. Knowing what I know now, and being the somewhat lazy satisfaction seeker that I am, I doubt I will even bother making an eyepiece for the purpose. Thumbs up!
Oh and the 200P has the target on the primary, and some nice spring loaded knurled adjustment knobs, no janky Philips screws.
Out of all the thousands of you tube videos about telescopes I always enjoy watching yours the most. Even when it is about something I am quite proficient at...lol...thank you I appreciate everything you do for our hobby
Hello James. Thank you for you kind words my friend. Really appreciate it. Take care buddy :)
Wonderful vid on collimating, I used your cap technique and have nearly perfect collimation now, it makes a big difference. I have the Celestron Astromaster 130, and I will say my biggest gripe is the LACK of a center dot on the mirror, I feel like not having that there in advance is just setting up novice astronomers for a lot of headaches. I had to use a piece of graph paper to find that center dot, then added at ring binder reinforcing sticker (very carefully). But once I got it on there, collimating with the cap was SUPER easy, thanks so much for you dedication to astronomy for noobies like me lol!
Love to watch your videos to this day. You keep it fun and exciting and that's what's important to me. Thanks you for all the videos that you've put out.
Thanks Jason, amazingly helpful videos mate. Recently got myself a 6" Newtonian, and I have learnt more from your channel than anywhere else. Made my collimation cap and haven't looked back. I would strongly recommend this channel for anyone starting out.
Thank you for your kind words Jimmy, much appreciated pal😊
Your videos are great. I'm very new to telescopes and was reading somewhere how to collimate. My head was ready to explode after the first page. Your video explained the same process but 1,000 times more understandable. Thank you
Some center screws on the secondary are not supposed to be loosened, refer to the instructions that came with your telescope to be sure.
A star or dot is fine for marking the center of the primary, but will not work with a laser collimator, a donut shaped sticker is required for that.
To avoid the possibility of damaging anything, have the tube of the scope as well as the focuser oriented horizontally.
Brilliant! I'm new to astronomy and bought a 2nd hand Skywatcher 8" Dobsonian which needed a bit of work (I found after I got it home), so in at the deep end! Now mirror cleaned of the dust and mould and all perfectly collmated. Thanks Jason.
(On a Skywatcher 200P, 1200mm the allen screws are locking and the Posi screws are the adjusters.)
Were you able to repair your second hand telescope?
Eventhough i understand collimation perfectly, i highly enjoy watching these video's. Just as a form of reminder.
Thank you! 😄
I was shying away from getting a reflector and sticking with my refractor but after seeing your video i've already ordered one.thanks again.Geoff from Ainsdale Southport.
Thanks Jason. I have a 5 inch Newtonian and Meade didn't provide a collimation cap. But I followed you through and that's it. Got it through to your second category though, the good collimation. 😅😅
Thsnk you... I can visualize it. Cant wait to be successful...
I need to say the this video is brilliant. There is so much passion in you presenting this. And I as a complete beginner am now absolutely confident to be able to do that.
Thank you so much.
Utoobz 'algorithm' caused this to come up for me and I watched it to see what you had to say. While I'm sure someone can do what you say to get a scope viewing 'capable' I'm not sure it gets it that good. I've been an amateur astronomer for over 50 yrs and I learned a completely different way to collimate a newt. It's not that hard and when you think about it it just 'makes sense'! A basic understanding of what we are trying to do with the mirrors makes the method I use just second nature. It does require a couple extra 'steps', but done once they rarely need to be done again. Step 1 - center your main mirror in the mirror cell. This requires you to remove it from the tube and check that it is in the center of its cell and placing shims if needed to center it. Replace it in your tube and remove the secondary from the spider. Step 2 - Now using a small scale measure each arm of the spider and see if the distance of the center hole in the spider measures the same along each arm to the tube wall... adjust by loosening and tightening the screws that hold the spider. Step 1 & 2 need not be done ever again, usually, unless it falls out of your car as you're driving to your dark site. Now to adjusting the mirrors. With a center dot/mark on your mirror (you did put one on it if it didn't have one when you had the cell out...right?) look thru the center hole in the spider and observe the spider against your main mirror. Use the adjusting screws on the back of the main mirror to center the spider hole with the center mark of the mirror. You will now NEVER touch the main mirror adjusting screws again! Why? The mirror is perfectly aligned with the tube axis! If at any time you turn those screws after this step you will change that tube alignment which makes the optical axis not 90° going out to your eyepiece. Replace the secondary mirror in the spider and center it in the eyepiece holder so you see the main mirror is aligned and not off to one side. Now using the adjusting screws on the secondary align the images so they all coincide correctly using the eyecap with the pinhole. 'Perfect' alignment! This is where 'knobs' are useful at the secondary as this is where all the adjusting happens. (Checking the mirror/tube axis alignment by removing the secondary should be done as the weather changes but I have found my scope seems to hold very well)
My clumsy self let go of my new telescope so that the front part of the “pipe” impacted my window, and now I see a reflection of the inner surface of the “pipe” when I look down the eye piece, I assume it’s not collimated anymore.
This was my first scope and already it seems that I messed up.
I will try this method, wish me luck :(
Hi Jason, I’m new to your channel and to the astronomy community, and I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your videos. I’m learning a lot from your knowledge and experience, and I’m really grateful for all the effort you put in. Thank you! Thumb up 👍
@CoachLoay Thank you for your kind words and welcome to the community, my friend.
When in doubt about the Secondary it helps to take the primary mirror out and pointing the now open backend to a light in the room. Then look in the focuser via a collimation cap and adjust the secondary such that you do not see the end of the tube and only things behind the telescope.
I think it makes a huge difference with a decent quality telescope.
I tried to collomate a cheep reflector which had only screws and no knobs. Needing to hold a screwdriver really does make things a lot harder, especially when I am trying to keep my 3d printed Cheshire in the homemade 0.965 to 1.25 adapter.
It got good views of the eclipse in the end, but the whole process reminded me why I chose to get something better.
Thank you for both parts of this 'tutorial'. I was considering getting rid of my Newtonian for a different style so I didn't need to collimate. I am now more prepared to attempt any collimation if required. Keep up the good information. PS I have subscribed to your channel because of these videos.😀
Thank you so much! Your video was so helpful. The washer in the collimating cap was a game changer. 👍
I'm completely new at this, but basically, I'm interpreting that you have to point the reflected view from secondary mirror directly at the center of the primary to start. That makes sense. Wife bought a used 4.5 Newtonian from a friend who couldn't figure it out (probably not even the equatorial mount), and I've inherited the project. They even lost the longest eyepiece, the 10mm (and the collimating cap the manual claims was in the packaging), so I just today bought a set of eyepieces from 6mm to 40mm, plus filters and a 2x Barlow so we can perhaps see things in the sky after dark. I got it balanced and the mount set at our latitude and pointed to north so far using an iPhone compass (not Polaris because it was in the day), and focused on a 14,000' mountain peak about 20 miles away using the finder scope and 25mm eyepiece we got. I can dial it to the next peak over, so I can point the thing. I don't know if it's collimated at this point, so here I am. The secondary mirror is at 45 degrees so the viewer looks into the tube perpendicular to the target, the primary mirror, which then ideally looks directly up the tube to the wonders in the sky above. 45+45=90. Easy math. In this case, degrees, and then hopefully strait down the tube of the scope. 45 plus or minus anything else doesn't look at the center of the primary mirror. If you're not looking at the center of the primary mirror, images millions of miles away will distort, if you can spot a target at all. Continuing now with your video to aligning the primary. Your "flat to the wall" analogy is that the primary should be flat to the bottom of the tube to look directly out, but many things can affect that. As the secondary has to look directly to the center of the primary, the primary has to point directly down the center of the tube. If I'm way off with my understanding, please correct me. Thanks for the videos. I'm going to subscribe to your channel. ...dropping a washer to the floor is better than dropping a primary mirror, I'd think. ...backing off the adjustment screws on the primary before anything is a great idea, so it can be turned in both directions instead of "bottoming out" at stop. That alone is valuable information. Thanks again.
That was very helpful! Thanks so much!
Great Detailed Video Jason. I love The Part where You showed the Demo of What a Newtonian Telescope is Made of. These Tips have You helped Me a lot in collimating my Own Scope! Well done, Clear Skies :)
Hello Avanteesh. Thank you my friend... It's amazing isn't it how just two pieces of glass can show us such amazing things.. Great to hear my tips have helped you, mission accomplished on my side then :) Take care buddy, clear skies. :)
@small optics Thanks for taking the time to help people with this. You're the man!
Hi Jason. Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to make these videos. I'm gradually watching them all at the moment. Collimation is the one I'm dealing with right now. Just very recently bought s Celestron 130 Astromaster which I think was at least 3rd hand ... haha. I could see it was a little out and the primary needed a good clean so thought I might as well follow your guidance and get it collimated. Just looking for some clear sky at the moment down here in Kent. Did get a couple of cloud breaks a few nights ago and took some moon pics with the mob. phone camera. Soon found a problem with the gears on the finder. Eerytime I touched the eyepiece the tube went down .... hahaha .The tensioner was way too slack and there was no more adjustment in it so sorted that one today and the collimation. Bought a couple of the SvBony lenses that you reviewed and they really do seem to be excellent for the money !! Thanks again mate for all you do.
thank you for this tips i just got my self a used powerseeker 127eq , owner said it was collimated but i could be sure after watching this and other older videos of yours , i think he is telling the true i can't find any problem again thanks for the awesome video
Hello May, If everything checks out in the video than I'm sure your telescope will be fine.. As long as you treat it with care and be gentle with it the collimation will hold for quite some time, but do keep checking it from time to time to make sure it's in tip top condition.. Enjoy your new telescope, clear skies :)
Thanks for the long explanation! As you say, it's not difficult.
I think this is the best collimation video i've seen. Simplified but comprehensive if that makes sense. thanks.
Thank you my friend, and your more than welcome :)
@@smalloptics753 I mangaed to collimate my scope in about 10-15 minutes thanks to your video explaining the process, it was badly out. thanks again.
0:00 Theory of collimating
13:27 Secondary Mirror (top)
18:45 Primary mirror break down
26:27 How to use culmination cap
As beginner your video helped me so much, now collimation is easy thing for me. Thank you!
That's great to hear my friend and your more than welcome. 😊
Hey Jay, thank you for helping convey the message that anyone starting out doesn't need to worry too much about precise collimation of a Newtonian telescope. I feel that people talk themselves out of a Newtonian sometimes because of it.
Although did I hear you mention you wont see more with an expensive telescope? Maybe I miss heard? I think it was near the beginning somewhere, because try telling that to my mate that got his 16" Dob out at the weekend (why does that sound so wrong lol), he was telling me that the Veil nebula looked like a detailed astrophoto through the eyepiece (OIII filter used), and certainly the only time I've ever seen the Whirlpool galaxy in it's entirety was with an expensive C8 Edge HD, it blew my socks off! Smaller affordable telescopes are great of course as they allow most of us to enter the hobby, however I feel it's great to dream of the dream scopes which we may own one day. I know you secretly do this Jason, go on admit it :D
Hey Chris.. Yes this collimation malarkey can put a few newbies off can't it? Which is a shame because as we both know it's a doddle...I had to watch the video back to see what you meant with the expensive scope.. It's my fault Chris looking back on it, it doesn't come across the way I meant it to had, the point I was trying to make was, the visual comparison would be negligible between an entry level 6" reflector for example and a top of the range 6" ..... And oh my word, a big fat YES to a big Fat dob..Absolutely.. Which sounds even wronger.. lmao..
Thanks mate, that is very helpful.
Recently, I also made a video on how to collimate fast Newtonian scopes. It gets pretty critical to collimate when using fast apertures.
I shall take a look my friend :)
Again a good series on the subject but it still does not answer my question on how we know a cap barrel is any less a skew then the laser barrel? They both fit in the same barrel holder. Somehow it's assumed the cap is a perfect fit, that is the missing piece that I would like to know more about.
i am building my own . so this was very helpful thank you.
Described very well and easy to follow thank you
I just want to thank you for your kindness when explain this kind of things, seems that you really enjoying, and that's makes the video even more nice to watch, thanks for share the knowledge, I'm still reviewing which telescope to buy for Christmas, and the maintenance processes, and you make it more easy to understand, again THANKS for share the knowledge :) Maybe a quick question: "Celestron astromaster 114 eq"(423 USD at my country) vs "Celestron astromaster 130 eq" (545 USD at my country) vs "National Geographic 114eq 114mm F4.4 Eq"(325 USD at my country), all equatorial mounts, at first sight the Celestron astromaster 130 should be te "best" but really worth the price diffrence or not?
Hello there. Thank you for your kind words my friend it's my pleasure :) All the telescopes you mention are great starter scopes and I think you would be pleased with any of them, but if I had to pick one it would be the Astromaster 130. I always recommend to go for as large of aperture you can afford. When it comes to visual astronomy size really does matter.
I 3d printed a collimation cap and its worked great for me :)
Great idea, like it :)
From Australia Thanks. I just check and I do need to collimate my telescope. Thanks
Hello Andrew, take your time keep checking the video and you'll be fine.. Good luck buddy.
Rather odd tech question about collimation...
I have to smaller Newronians, (76x700mm and 114x900mm) both modified by me for use with a dslr with an attached t-ring adapter. My question is, since both are used ONLY for astrophotography, would it be ok to collimate them with the dslr in place using the screen on the camera rather than visually checking down the focuser tube?
Hey Jason I'm not a beginner in astronomy and I do love watching your videos and remembering the good old days when I first got interested and in this video I'd say for its subject its the best on UA-cam! This video I hope will help thousands out and make things more easy for people who just bought reflector!
I prefer refractors as they just open box and setup then look through it and attach camera or smartphone and get images!
Like you I'm always dropping things and so far not dropped my telescope star tracker or eye pieces and would like if you do video on tips to avoid dropping or stuff to use like non slip gloves etc. I do worry about this few times as I'd hate to drop my skywatcher ecoguide 50ed guidescope on ground as I know it would be broken.
Do you prefer relectors or refractor? Any telescope that can give nice views or images will be great.
Stay safe friend and I wish you clear skies!
Hey bushcraft, thank you so much buddy... If I had to choose I would have to go with a big refractor, there is just something about refractors that love apart from the ease of use. Cheers buddy stay safe, clear skies :)
18:07 also be careful that the 3 Allen screws don't mark the back of the secondary mirror holder, otherwise they'll cause 'ruts' or dimples in the soft alloy, making the points of these screws to fall into these dimples and making secondary mirror collimation much harder. I found out the hard way...
Just put a piece of thin round PTFE sheet or cut of a section of plastic milk carton, to place between these 3 screw points and the back of the holder - this will negate the dimple or ruts buggering up the collimation of the secondary.
I found out the same way!
I feel your pain...
The dimples can be a godsend if they are in the correct position of secondary mirror rotation.
If collimation is a huge thing that is required, youd think that all primary mirrors would be manufactured with a "cetre spot" built into the centre of the primary mirror
Nice video Jason. I wanted to try collimation on a newtonian, and i bought the heritage 100/400 and seems this telescope did not require any collimation yet. and i went outside more than 15 times already. Just incredible :)
Well spotted, yes indeed, guitar is another passion of mine :)
Hey John sorry about that, that comment was meant for someone else.. I bet you thought what on earth I was talking about lol..
@@smalloptics753 Hi Jason. No problem. Was funny! :) I remember you wrote something of playing guitar
What is your recommendation on installing a upgrade collimation kit from High Point Scientific? The kit includes, 3 secondary collimation "knobs", flocking paper and 3 primary collimation "springs". Is it worth the extra $$? Thanks.
EXCELLENT. Thank you very much. M.
Thank you.. Your more than welcome my friend.
I loved every minute of your video 😄
What an entertaining explanation that does the job perfectly
My spider have only three branch, how is that possible ? I can't see the whole square un first mirror, it's a newton telescope what can i do ?
Hi Jason nice video but I am a bit confused about how to collimate my secondary mirror without a laser. Also really enjoyed the livestream last time you should do another one😃
Hi, I've managed to make a collimation cap and have all 3 clips visible, but there are two other circles (the secondary and the focuser) that are off center, it also seems like no matter what I do, they will not move, do I need them to be centered or is that normal?
So, I haven’t gotten my telescope yet but am trying to learn the some of the maintenance items for a Newtonian scope. You mentioned the bad, good, and precise. You also mentioned temperature fluctuations can distort the collimating. So am I guessing correctly that to have “precise” collimation you would need to collimate these mirrors in the field after the entire telescope has acclimated to the conditions to which you are observing at that time?
Hi Jason. I’ve followed all your instructions and have a perfect view but!! The cross hairs are off center . Perfect in the center view with the symmetry in the eye. But it bugs the heck out of me that the cross hair thing. Solutions? Thanks
Hey Jason first of all you're my favorite guy on UA-cam..I love your attitude and enthusiasm for astronomy. Second, I know this is an old video and u may not ever even read this message but I just have a question. How do u get the secondary lined up perfectly under the focuser.. in other words, how do I know if my secondary should be closer or further away from the primary if u get what I mean...I enjoy collimating my telescope and don't have any issues at all with it but let's say I'm a little too close to the primary or I'm not quite close enough, I feel like I can still get my scope in collimation.. the reason I'm asking is because I recently took both mirrors out to clean them and I had never done that before so I wanted to make sure I put my secondary back in the correct position forward and back if u get what I mean.. tilt and rotation I have no issue with.. thank u and please don't stop making videos..I think I've watched every one of yours at least twice if not more
Jason, my primary mirror screws are Phillips. Can I switch them out for finger screws? Correct me if I'm wrong, lol. Wouldn't it be easier and more precise with finger screws than Phillips head screws?
Hi there, I've a question if you can please answer?. I need to do some work on my secondary mirror as the central screw to be able to rotate the secondary has rounded. When I put it back in I need to make sure it's correctly positioned through the viewer.
However, in your video you've basically just looked down the viewer without any lens or collimating tools in it. I thought you had to use a tool?
Generally very useful video and I've taken some key points from it. I'm just concerned I won't get the secondary positioned correctly to catch all the light and angled correctly to the viewer
Just got my first telescope, and I can't see the edges of the Primary mirror when I don't have an eyepiece in. Could it be that my focuser is to long for the tube? It's a Bushnell 789540. Would a wide angle eye piece compensate for this issue? Thanks great video 👍
Hi from Olney Maryland in USA - thanks for your simple down to earth videos - I have a Celestron Powerseeker 127mmEQ Reflector - plan to collimate by your method - but it apparently has a corrector lens? in the focus tube - because it is a Bird-Jones design - my question is - do I have to remove the corrector lens? When I look down the focus tube - with nothing in the tube - I actually see myself in the small center circle of the spider - not sure how that is happening? Maybe a Halloween ghost is messing with me.
Hello I have a tasco reflector telescope I am getting close to using the telescope i think but when I look through the eyepiece all I see is black. I don’t know if it’s because I’m putting on the eye peice wrong or does it have to do with primary mirror. I remember i tightened the screws really tight too
Collimating is an ordered operation, follow the steps in order and it works every time. Anyone can learn to do it. I’ve collimated my scope twice now and I used a laser both times but I did the roughing by eye. 90% of the work was done before I put the laser in the focuser and even with the laser I was doing what you did with the collimating cap, just with a laser to make the alignment easier to see. The laser also added steps to the process that are easy to get wrong. Still, anyone can learn.
Is it possible for the secondary mirror to be out of line with the focal tube? For example someone backs the three adjusting screws all the way out then tightens the middle screw until it is just almost butted up against the mount then uses the 3 adjusting screws to collimate will it throw everything out of wack?
Can temperature change affect collimation? If I collimate my telecope inside at room temperature, then take it outside in -5 degree celsius weather, would I have to re collimate it outside? Thanks for the video
How do you get the star exactly in the centre of the primary mirror. Also I have a Sky-Watcher SkyMax-127 which has the eyepiece in the middle of the bottom of the scope. Any idea how to remove this bottom end to get to the mirror?
If we don't have a spare cap lying around, is it possible to do the primary collimation without it? I imagine you can similar to how it was done for the secondary or am I missing something?
I love this guy...😁
I have just bought an optus reflector telescope on line and it is being delivered next week. Will I have to collimate it before I can use it?
I have had an interest in astronomy since I was very young, so this will be my first experience of stargazing and I am very keen to get started.
I am also hoping to get my granddaughter involved.
Thanks.
Duncan
Hello Duncan. Not necessarily, telescopes are collimated before they leave the factory. Transit does knock them out of collimation a little but shouldn't effect your viewing experience ... Love the idea of getting your granddaughter involved, hope she takes to it.. All the best my friend :)
Hi Jason. Greetings from Yorkshire. Great videos! An easy way to imagine how collimation works is to get the viewer maybe to look at their phone screen while it's off. If you imagine the phone screen is the secondary and the reflection of the face in it is the primary, then when you tilt the phone screen in different directions in very small ways the face appears to move away from centre. Isn't this essentially what is happening when the telescope is out of collimation? Cheers Jon.
I have an old plastic 35mm film can with a cap. Do I drill a hole in the cap or the bottom of the can?
Great explanation. 👍🏻
Thank you Roderick. All the best for 2022 :)
What are your thoughts about collimating fast scopes f4, where there is no way of seeing the clips?
Good job
Great video! I really enjoyed that
Great to hear my friend. Thanks for watching.
Ok. Next question. It occurred to me after adjusting the primary that the focal point position relative to the secondary could be impacted. How critical is that? I think I have an idea as to how to confirm that using my camera and a stationary photo target.
Thank you for the informative video. I have since attempted visual collimation of a 12" meade lightbridge.
So when I am just looking in the eyepiece holder, If the reflection of your eyeball on the primary is covered by the mirror center mark and all other circles are concentric around your eye = is this not collimated?
Hello Kevin, your more than welcome my friend. Yes, you've got it buddy. 👍😃
😂 love your special effects.
Collimation is not easy.
For this UA-cam video:
You really need to have a video camera in the focuser and then adjust each of the
screws and show what happens to the person watching.
The spider hub has a central screw which can do rotation -
3 screws for tilt and the primary mirror has 3 screws too.
It's easier to use a properly aligned laser.
At worst case you can rotate the hub so that the view looks reasonable
but a laser put in the focuser can go down to the primary mirror and
not even hit the secondary mirror upon returning -
then you are in a lot of trouble.
These sort of UA-cam videos are only good when the telescope is already close to a good collimation
and the 2 offsets were set up correctly in the factory.
One offset is towards the primary and
the other is away from the focuser.
As a newbie, I really appreciate your videos. I was given an older Polaris 114 mm telescope, which I have been rebuilding, as the mirrors were both corroded (new ones installed). Now I have been given an all metal R & P 1.25 in focuser to replace the original 0.965 in focuser. Any advice on how to balance/calibrate the new focuser? It doesn't sit fully on the tube (maybe for a slightly bigger tube), and has 4 nuts and bolts instead of the original 3 bolts. So how do I know it is square/perpendicular to the diagonal mirror? Any advice is appreciated
Hello Mary Ann. Great to hear you are restoring an old telescope and by the sounds of it you are doing a great job.. It would appear the focuser you have bought is from a different size telescope and to be honest with you, you'd be better off getting the correct one for your telescope... You probably could engineer some method to make it fit but to be honest I've never had to do it, so that's about the only advice I can give you, I've just simply not come across this problem before, I've always installed the correct focuser, if you get what I mean. Sorry I can't be of more help with this one. if you have Facebook come and join the group there is some quite knowledgeable folk on there that may help you more, You'll be more than welcome. Good luck.
facebook.com/groups/223807419299994/?ref=share
Great video, thankyou for your teachings
Question: can't see the entire mirror (3 clips) on the secondary.
is the secondary undersized?
is it because I have a spherical main mirror?
or it's related to fast scopes?
Hey. Could you do a video on the need (or lack thereof) for thermal equilibrium out of dobs? I have a ad12. And don't use it since I'm convinced scope needs time to cool
Hello Jack, I covered this in other videos all telescopes need to cool before using including refractors, simple rule of thumb , the larger the telescope the longer it will need to cool. For something like a 4-5 inch reflector will need a least 20-30 minuets to fully climatise a 12 inch reflector at least 40 minuets to 1 hour.
Thanks a lot
Your more than welcome my friend.
I removed the secondary and marked the exact center with a permanent black marker using a paper template of the shape of the mirror, folded to find center point and a hole created by cutting the folded tip of the template, and then placing it on top of the mirror, then using the marker to place a small dot. I reinstalled the secondary mirror, ensuring it was relatively centered within the view looking down the tube, and using a Collimation cap, I aligned the black ink dot of the mirror with the reflection of the center point of the Collimation cap, then locked everything down (never to be touched again). Next, I then aligned the primary which has an adhesive ring placed at the center (again having used a paper template and a permanent marker dot-- the dot removed after applying adhesive ring prior to reinstalling the primary mirror). In short, the dot of the secondary is aligned with the center of the reflection of the center of the cap that is surrounded by the reflection of the primary adhesive ring. Yes, you can see them all. Absolutely perfect alignment! I tweak the primary alignment using a laser collimator every time I use the scope but since the laser tool has too much "wobble" and doesn't sit correctly I ensure the laser is first shining on the primary center ring (because my secondary is perfectly aligned with the optical axis of the focus tube!) and only then locking it down and proceeding with primary mirror alignment tweak. Be sure to remove ink dot from the secondary mirror by reaching in the telescope using a soft cloth with isopropyl alcohol.
Hello Walter.. Interesting method thank you for sharing, I will give that a try ... I agree with you on lasers ...Not to be trusted in my book.. Take care.
The marking the centre of your secondary only centers it up/down and left/right it doesn’t set the tilt and yaw of the mirror. So you could have the dot centre to your collimation cap and still be way out
Thank you for all advices Jason realy like to watch your chanel. So far I collimate my Astromaster 130 EQ only with looking through focuser that both mirrors were aligned, centered and on the end final collimation with a star. All views were nice and crisp.
So after watching your video I give it a try with collimation cap and final results were not good. Test on a star show that mirrors were out of collimation. I checked collimation cap and center mark on mirror. Both on center.
So I went back to my previous method for collimation (recomended by Celestron) and results were OK.
I suspect that colimation cap is not centered correctly in eyepiece?
I even borow a laser collimator to give ut a try. Waste of time like you descrice.
Clear skys.
Hello there, Your more than welcome. Sorry to hear the cap method didn't work for you, the only thing I can think of is what you already said about it not been centred, but I'm please to hear you managed to sort in the end. Take care, clear skies.
@@smalloptics753 Hello again. I made some measurements on the telescope tube and focuser was not aligned properly. It was pointing slightly off center.
It was realy hard to notice. I assemble focuser and align it properly. Now is all like it should be.
Maybe some accident during transport in the car at night..
Collimation cap is a wery usefull tool.
Although much harder to find a 35mm film tube is also 1 1/4 inch and fits a normal telescope. They may still be around so check around your house.
I Have a skywatcher Explorer 130 like you and i dont have everything to make a collimation cap and im affraid to mark the middle of my mirror, im not sure what to do, do you have any suggestions?
Thamks for that video. I should have watch that video before collimating my 10inch dob. I think I overtighten the screws of the secondary and my allen key got stuck in the screw, I had to remove the screw, My allen key is still stuck, and I will have to replace the screw. I will replace it with thumb screws instead. I tried several time to collimate, the center spot was in the center of the reflection of the collimation cap, but the reflexion of the ''washer'' of the collimation cap didn't seem to be in the center of the secondary, so I tried again and again till, when i thought that it was finally pefect, i realise that i forgot my allen key, it was still in a screw of the secondary and stuck...
Hello there.. Oh dear, unfortunately this is a common problem in future loosen the centre screw a little as this will release tension on the small Alan grub screws making them easier to turn. Have you heard of Bob's Knobs? If not it's a store were you can buy all kinds of nut's and bolt's for your telescope I'll leave a link for you. Hope you get it sorted my friend.
www.bobsknobs.com/
Very good...Thank You!
Thank you. Your more than welcome friend :)
Than you so much.
Your more than welcome :)
I don't understand I centre a object in my finderscope but nothing appears in the eyepiece😥
Hello there, It sounds as though your finder is not correctly aligned with your telescope.. Have a look at this video on how to set-up your finder and you should be fine then, don't worry, it's easy to do :D
ua-cam.com/video/5txNTmc0-hY/v-deo.html
Do reflectors and refractors both need collimation? I have a simple celestron astromaster 70az. I haven't used it yet, it rains here almost every day. If there is any problems can they be corrected? Or are these scopes not made to be collimated? Also do you know the best pratice for collimating binoculars? 😃Cheers from cloudy Newfoundland
Hello Scott, Sorry for the late reply buddy. No not usually, the higher end refractors do come with collimation grub screws but only on high end telescopes. For telescopes like the Celestron 70 you can own one for a life time and never need to collimate. For binoculars it's best left for the experts you really can ruin them if you don't know exactly what you are doing.
Could I use star collimation for the back mirror? I dont have a center spot on my telescope and I really dont want to break my mirror lol.
Hello there, yes. Start off by getting the secondary mirror positioned so you can see all the retaining brackets on the primary mirror when looking directly down the focaser. Then collimate the primary using the star test method.. This is the easiest way to do it and this is the method I use often also no additional tools are required which is always a bonus when your in the dark🙂
@@smalloptics753 thanks so much, I'm just beginning to use my 5 year old telescope so im just starting to learn about this. Something kind of weird about the brackets is when the focuser knob is fully pushed in, I can see all of them but the more it goes back, I cant see them, is that normal? Also when aiming at something like jupiter, no matter how much I focus, it stays blurry and overexposed, is that a symptom of bad collimation?
Also while looking at a star out of focus, the entire spider of the telescope is not shown, like part of it has been cut off, what does that mean?
Im trying to get the secondary mirror aligned. Even tho I get everything aligned or what looks aligned, I can never get all 3 clips. Could it be my eyes as I am far sighted, or am I still doing something wrong. I can't get all 3 clips in sight no matter what I do... can someone please advise me...