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Figure 7-3
A collimated telescope
should appear
symmetrical with the
central obstruction
centered in the star's
diffraction pattern.
To verify collimation, view a star near the zenith. Use a medium to high power ocular — 12mm to 6mm focal length.
It is important to center a star in the center of the field to judge collimation. Slowly cross in and out of focus and
judge the symmetry of the star. If you see a systematic skewing of the star to one side, then recollimation is needed.
To accomplish this, you need to tighten the secondary collimation screw(s) that move the star across the field toward
the direction of the skewed light. These screws are located in the secondary mirror holder (see figure 10-1). To
access the collimation screws you will need to remove the cap that covers the secondary mirror holder. To remove
the cap, gently slide a flat head screwdriver underneath one end of the cap and twist the screwdriver. Slide the
screwdriver underneath the other side of the cap and twist until the cap comes off. Make only small 1/6 to 1/8
adjustments to the collimation screws and re-center the star by moving the scope before making any improvements
or before making further adjustments.
To make collimation a simple procedure, follow these easy steps:
1. While looking through a medium to high power eyepiece, de-focus a bright star until a ring pattern with a dark
shadow appears (see figure 7-2). Center the de-focused star and notice in which direction the central shadow is
skewed.
2. Place your finger along the edge of the front cell of the telescope (be careful not to touch the corrector plate),
pointing towards the collimation screws. The shadow of your finger should be visible when looking into the
eyepiece. Rotate your finger around the tube edge until its shadow is seen closest to the narrowest portion of
the rings (i.e. the same direction in which the central shadow is skewed).
3. Locate the collimation screw closest to where your finger is positioned. This will be the collimation screw you will
need to adjust first. (If your finger is positioned exactly between two of the collimation screws, then you will need
to adjust the screw opposite where your finger is located).
4. Use the hand control buttons to move the de-focused star image to the edge of the field of view, in the same
direction that the central obstruction of the star image is skewed.
5. While looking through the eyepiece, use an Allen wrench to turn the collimation screw
you located in step 2 and 3. Usually a tenth of a turn is enough to notice a change in
collimation. If the star image moves out of the field of view in the direction that the
central shadow is skewed, than you are turning the collimation screw the wrong way.
Turn the screw in the opposite direction, so that the star image is moving towards the
center of the field of view.
6. If while turning you notice that the screws get very loose, then simply tighten the other
two screws by the same amount. Conversely, if the collimation screw gets too tight,
then loosen the other two screws by the same amount.
7. Once the star image is in the center of the field of view, check to see if the rings are
concentric. If the central obstruction is still skewed in the same direction, then
continue turning the screw(s) in the same direction. If you find that the ring pattern is
skewed in a different direction, than simply repeat steps 2 through 6 as described
above for the new direction.
Figure 7-2 -- Even though the star pattern appears the same on both sides of focus, they are
asymmetric. The dark obstruction is skewed off to the left side of the diffraction pattern indicating
poor collimation.