Collimating your reflecting Telescope in just a few minutes
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- Опубликовано: 15 ноя 2011
- The A&NTV's Ralph Bell shows you how to quickly collimate a Newtonian reflector telescope using a '2nd generation' laser collimator. Scroll down for purchase links.
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Presented by Ralph Bell and Robert J Dalby.
Produced by DB Video Services for Astronomy and Nature TV 
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Five years it's taken to fix my Newtonian, and you guys helped me fix it in 8 minutes. Thanks a million!
Nice to read that my dad Ralph is still helping people out years after his passing. He would be really pleased to know this. Wishing you clear skies :)
@@SimonBell78 condolence
@@SimonBell78 Sorry to hear that, it really helped me out too.
@@SimonBell78 your Dad just helped me out today too 👍
This video is 9 years old now, and it's still one of the best videos on the subject!
Warning!
Not mentioned, was the importance of not working on the secondary mirror adjustment unless the telescope is horizontal. As shown, with the telescope pointing upwards, any tools dropped, would likely hit the primary mirror. As the mirrior is fragile and made of glass, this could be an expensive mistake.
So when adjusting the secondary of a Newtonian, ONLY do so when the telescope is horizontal.
(Edited in October 2021: I note the original posting above has been edited into a more reasonable statement regarding the secondary mirror. However, I have not edited my original reply - RJD.). Hi there, we've answered this quite a few times below over the years. We appreciate the good intentions behind your post but your advice is not as sound as you may think. Lots of Newtonian's simply won't collimate well in anything near the horizontal position. Gravity needs to be pulling the primary mirror down on the mirror supports in a way that is as close to the use position as possible (say an elevation of 35 to 55 degrees at least) otherwise the collimation adjustments won't correlate well with the actual usage position. The dropped tool 'issue' is a bit of a red herring to be frank. Apart from the rare tightening or slackening of the secondary mirror's central retainer with a screwdriver - most adjustments to commercial Newtonians in this critical area are usually accomplished with a small 2 or 3mm hex key. And with the tube angled at about 45 degrees its not easy to see how this little key is going to imperil the mirror surface unless you stand back and hurl it at the mirror! Normally if dropped it will obediently head towards the center of the Earth, be arrested by the telescope tube and slide down, slowing all the while due to friction, to end up in the gap between the mirror and the tube. I don't see much to worry about here. And what about that rarely used wilful screwdriver mentioned above? Here's an idea - don't drop it. Thanks for posting. KR RJD A&N TV
but mistakes happen, and by having the tube horizontal, it's *very* hard even with an accident to screw your mirror up...I get what you're saying about flexure etc, but I suspect most mass made Newts aren't going to be that bad in this respect. ymmv.
@@RocketPlanet I'm glad you brought this up because when collimating my new scope perfect at level is way off once pointed upward. I wondered what the hell was going on. Now I see why.
@@davepastern Thanks for posting, and I'm sure you mean well by it, but the critical reader (there are a few even here on YT) is going to see the open door in your argument left by that 'I suspect'. I speak from the perspective of rather a lot of other 'milage'. I first started using Newts when I was 14, selling them from age 19 and I'm now 60 - and your suspicions are simply incorrect. There is a big difference between perceived risk and actual risk. I have been involved in the servicing, repair, collimation, re-aluminising etc, of quite literally thousands of Newtonian telescopes and in over 40 years I've seen no more than 5 that were 'screwed up'. And not one of them was due to dropped tools - in fact, nesting mice caused most of the damage - and 'I suspect' you'll trawl the internet in vain to find someone urging you to guard against these little bewhiskered blighters of astronomical karma in their top five tips for Newt users! Again, thanks for posting and letting me reiterate the importance of having gravity acting in the same vector in collimation as for usage. KR RJD A&NTV
@@RocketPlanet newts tend to hold their collimation better than most other types of scopes (cats/RCs), even with travelling. You'd have to be pretty damn rough with your newt to continuously be knocking it out of collimation. As to collimating your new horizontally or at an angle, I highly doubt that doing it horizontally will make as much of a difference as you claim. I simply disagree with your claim.
This is one of the simplest examples I have seen in years. When I first started 12+ years ago, I wanted a larger dob for the Messier objects. However, My first 10" dob and a cheshire collimation tool by myself, left me wanting. I actually didn't go to a star party for over 5 years because I thought everyone would look through one of my reflectors and laugh. I am glad new comers to amateur astronomy have nice guys like you to take the mystery out of (what I now know) such simple things.
If you are looking at the heavens alone, get a laser collimator, and go to a star party. The dumbest thing I did was to think these older more experienced geezers would be mean. It is the opposite. They love sharing knowledge, but they are still geezers!
Wow, your experience is far different than mine! I went to a locally-advertised (radio and newspaper) "Star Party" a couple of years ago, and the local astronomy club had a security guard there to prevent people from getting within 10 feet of any of the telescopes. Not one member of the general public who showed up got to even get within arm's length of a scope. And the people with the scopes were rude beyond belief.
Wow - 11 years ago and you are still priceless.
I had forgotten how to set mine up after many years. Remembered you back then and here we are today once more 👍👍👍
I have an 8 inch Skywatcher. Thank you.
Anyone reading this, please also not MrSqueak's comments below. It is so easy to drop something. Dont be overconfident with your skills here!!
Old video but was the only one I could find that fully and simply explained the process. Very helpful, thank you.
This tutorial was truly amazing, and I'm talking from the point of view of a teacher with decades of teaching experience. My childhood dream was to be able to afford, someday, a decent telescope. This year, my 62nd birthday, I decided to reward the inner child in me, I bought a Celestron. Imagine my shock when I nervously assembled it and could not see anything, not even a bright moon! This was 2 days ago! This morning, I browzed youtube, trying to find the cause and stumbled upon your tutorial. My confidence and hope is back. You made it sound so easy as well as reassuring me that the new telescope yet to be enjoyed, is not broken, just needs fine tuning. Wish me luck. I hope I can fix the problem before the lunar eclipse on April 4th, days away. I don't have a lazer tool, not sure if I could buy one online before then. I live in a small town in Taiwan, no telescope store for hours of driving.
iamintaiwan hey, were you able to fix it?
You ok now ?
I hope this guy got his scope to work, and saw everything he ever dreamed existed in the heavens.
I recently completely disassembled my 45 year old neglected and abused 6" dynascope to repair a hole in the tube, and repaint everything. though I did remove the spider and the main mirror, I left the adjustments as they were. When I hastily reassembled it, the finder was only off by a few degrees, and it focused well enough to see craters on the moon, the moons of Jupiter, and Saturn's rings. Line up all the circles in the circles is all I ever did. This laser thing looks really awesome, I am sold.
thanks for this... you made it so simple... the difference it makes with my telescope is astronomical...
Thank you guys very much. You've taken a ton of worries off my mind.
Best example by far. Thank you for the straight forward directions!
Man this video is so simple to follow and understand. My scope I bought second hand was out my a mile, didn't think it'd be this easy to sort thank you so much!
I was searching for a video to collimate my telescope, I’ve watched several. Your video by far and large was the best one. Thank you!!!
Great video. My wife just bought me a Zhumell Z12. It arrived last night. Your video taught me to collimate it in less than 5 minutes. Thanks again.
Absolutly brilliant video. Have just bought a 5" Celestron reflector and after centre spotting and washing the primary followed your video. Spot on is all I can say, easy to follow really took the "scariness" out of collomating thanks to both of you. Would even feel confident in trying it out on a larger instrument :)
Thank you guys i was worried about collimation, but im not anymore! Gonna buy the Newtonian i´ve been dreaming of :-) Greetings from Slovakia
Thanks. Seeing it done makes it easier to understand the written instructions.
Just started watching video and I love you guys right away! Thank you. ☺
Thanks for taking the time to make/post this, & all your videos!
As an absolute beginner ( bought my first telescope this morning ) thank you so much , it made the whole process of setting up my dobsonian so much easier . 😉👍
Thanks, guys - way clearer than the instructions that came with the collimator!
To sum up.....
Easy to follow video.
Please keep the vids coming... 10/10
I just washed my primary Mirror after putting it off for too long... Now I'm about to collimate it and was so glad to take your refresher tutorial... Thankyou so much! Cheers!
I just re-collimated my dob properly for the first time this weekend. I just used the collimation cap that came with the scope to do it before. I also star tested and things looked ok to me. I bought a cheshire for $20 I believe and it was better than the cap for sure. My secondary was only out a little bit but i chose to make it perfect both as a learning exercise and, well to make it perfect. It took me about 20 minutes to finally get it. the secondary would always go out when tight.
Excellent Video. I haven't used my Orion XX-12 in over a year and had to clean the main mirror. This video will help me get it back in shape. Thanks!
great simple easy to understand stuff, TY!
Excellent instruction. Thank you.
Great, helpful (as always) video. Thanks for taking the time to make this video! A BIG 'thumbs up'.
Thank you to share it, It was the first time I did the colimation and resulted easy. Good Sky from Argentina!
Gustavo C.
Thanks for posting this. I Have just bought a new 150mm reflector, my first reflector telescope and couldn't collimate it with a centering eyepiece. Using the laser i found the primary was so far out I had to fit a longer adjusting screw. Now all is good thanks.
Much better instructions than the manual that came with the Laser Collimator II thank you!
That was very helpful for my Meade Lightbridge. Thank you a lot!
Bought a 10in Newtonian, thank YOU for making me lose my fear of messing up!
awesome straight forward, no bullshit video! Thank you
Great video, best i've seen on this topic.
I'm VERY new to the hobby. I'm just trying to figure out what type of telescope will be best for me. I've shied away scopes that require collimation b/c I thought it would be very difficult. This video makes it far less intimidating.
Very informative video. Thanks for your efforts.
Thank you very much guys!
You guys are awesome. Thanks!
You both are legends.!❤️
Good instructions! Thanks much.
Thank-you. Took me quite a bit longer but got it in the end!
Very helpfull. Great video. Thank you.
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to make it
Thanks guys more help then the place I bought my 8 inch sky watcher from
Thank you very much!
Superb informational video 🙏💖 thank you for sharing 💖💖💖🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thanks. I missed the big screw on secondary mirror in other videos. Good thing I didn't force it too much. :)
WOW, a video on youtube with no dislikes....that is amazing. That is great because there is nothing to dislike about the video. They made it look so easy I want to get my own colimater...if I had the money.
Thank you for explaining how to collimate the primary and secondary mirrors from an almost worst case scenario. Often people explaining things don't realise even the simplest things can be a mystery to those who have never been anywhere near them. Now, thanks to you, I see how simple collimation is.
Thank you. Good job.
Thank you so much.
A nice series of videos.
Wonderful video, you're great, keep up the good job...
Thank you :) Just got me sorted with my new 10" Skywatcher!
Perfect tutorial !
GREAT video , thanks
Thanx for the upload, very helpfull, Ive just got into Astronomy and i hear its something ill have to do soon, just got my SkyWatcher Explorer 200p today, but ill wait for a lazer collimater to it
Just one thought, firstly I love the video ...shared it to my Facebook page, but remember when using a laser to check and see if he laser is missing the secondary and coming out the open end. Couldn't actually tell you what a laser is capable of doing to a human eye, but guessing it isn't good?,.
I just got my 12 inch Sky Watcher 12 inch collapsible dobsonian reflector and this video made collimation actually easy. Thanks for the video guys.
For getting the main mirror into the ballpark - Laying a circular sheet of ordinary white paper on top of the spider, and observing the laser spot striking it from the adjusters with the aid of a mirror or 'selfie' mode phone will allow you to quickly move the reflected spot onto the secondary mirror, rather than indiscriminately fiddling the adjusters and hoping you see the spot pop onto the target at some time or other.
awesome video
Thank you, Thankyou, Thank You, I just bought a meade lightbridge and you two gentlemen have saved me man hours of arguing with the wife. Nice and simple!
Great tutorial.
"Do your worst" says the guy who did his worst. 😂 Poor guy, you even shooed him away! I'm new to astronomy and initially wanted to stick with a refractor for simplicity's sake. But it seems like collimation isn't as scary as I initially thought. Another great video.
Very good video - thanks.
very helpfull.i was putting off collimating but scope really needs it doing.so here goes.........thanks
Superb!
Thanks for the vid
Thanks so much for the instruction and spot on you are.
Tom
this rocked our world
This is super helpful and made the process less intimidating. I'm getting the hang of collimation now (I think haha).
this was the easiest , best way to do it that i could find , thanks :D where do you get that laser?
Brilliant 👍
Wow! This makes collimation quite easy to understand, this is very helpful.
Thank you.
Is that the 10"/1200mm?
This is the 12" judging by the base. Same as mine, but my tube is the Flextube version. :)
That was perfect. I'm off to buy a little lazar thingy.. as my telescope can now see the dark side of the moon.
Gr8 vid. Many thanks gents.
First off, I’m in no way an expert astronomer. Probably the exact opposite. But, I am very interested in astronomy. I’ve had a consumer 130mm newtonian telescope for several years. For some time I’ve suspected it was very much out of alignment. I’ve heard of collimating, and laser collimators. So, I finally decided to purchase one. I found your video on how to use it. All I can say is you guys were super helpful. I Would have had a much harder time figuring it out without your instruction. Thank you so much! :-)
Very helpful
I miss your videos
I no longer fear that word...collimating! I had images in my mind of rendering my telescope useless if I adjusted anything
Its almost like fearing to say.....Voldemort...isn't it!
Makes the whole process seem so much less daunting :D
Wonderful video helped me a lot! Thanx! Let me ask a qustion though. Collimating my telescope will reduce/eliminate coma abberation?
I would like see a part 2 of this video on how to collimate a bird jones type reflector/dobsonian telescope such as the celestron powerseeker 127eq. Collimating bird jones style reflector telescopes requires a little bit more work, and some of these telescopes do not have a center dot mark.
I recently bought a meade 10 inch dobs'
I was so looking forward to the views.i had quality eyepieces a good barlow and above average viewing conditions.
First light I was very dissapointed.and felt like I wasted my hard earnt ££££££.
In the back of my mind I knew collimation was the suspect.
Collimation to an absolute novice (me) is very daunting.
So many questions...I was even considering hiring someone.
Then I came across this vid.
Really easy to do.my kid could do it I think
Of course I`ve knocked my scope over so looking forward to the laser arriving. It was well out and I`ve just set it by a hand held laser. I`m new to it all so thanks for showing me how to sort it out.
YES. Got it lined up with the laser. It was out by a lot and the focus is so much better now. Hopefully have a break in the clouds tonight.
Thanks for the information can I use this laser collimination on the Celestron 14 HD ?
You are the man of science 😁👍
Great! Thx! Where can I buy that spider mount?
Dear Sir. Great video. Thank you. But ¿how do I do if the primary mirror has no mark at the center? thank you !!
This is the best collimation video I've seen. I guess you have to have a laser tool to do this then? I can't imagine how its done without one
jack002tuber there are ones that aren't lazers but you might prefer those over a lazer collimator.
Brilliant
When making the adjustment from the rear of the telescope, I get a laser light but it appears as a wide elipse and not a central dot?
Hi Ralph / Rob. Great video. I am new to all of this and have a start up skywatcher 130 which does not have a centre spot on the primary mirror. I have seen a comment / instruction from a year ago regarding adding this to the primary mirror. I have tried several marker pens and sharpie seems to work on a cormer of one of the wife's make up mirrors!!! (ha ha ) so I will use this when follwing your instructions. Looking down the tube at the primary mirror I can see there is a lot of dust on the mirror.
Question? As I need to add a small mark, the area for this should be clean I presume. Is it worth cleaning the primary mirror at the same time? Have yoyu guys any videos or instructions for doing this? Any help would be appreciated. PS. I am confident taking things apart and re-assembling them so would be happy to give this a go.
I want to know how to align the focuser to the secondary mirror, any tips? I have a 10inch dob and feel I should be getting better images of Saturn w 6mm and 2x barlow. Any tips would be appreciated.
This is absolutely perfect. Thank you. My wife just bought me a 10 inch sky watcher, it’s my first telescope, and I am trying to figure out how to use this damn thing 😂
Align the site with the scope, in the daytime on a far away fixed object
Thanks for the video. I am new to this. I have just purchased an 8" dob. 2 questions that I have. First, what is the center screw for on the secondary mirror? If you adjust it with the other 3 screws, I don't understand what he screw in the middle is for. Second, I have the laser collimator, and every time I move the scope from the garage to outdoors, and then check it, it is way out of collimation. Is it normal to go out of collimation with any movement, or am I doing something wrong?
Hello! Could you please do a tutorial on how to adjust the Telescope in the Background of the Video? Thanks!
Nice video, I have a question. Once I done the collimation and move the focusser (with laser still attached), it's moving out the hole again. It's OK?
Thanks for the video, I have a mismatch between the collimation cap and the laser settings, which is more reliable please?
hello. Do I have to collimate telescope while the telescope tube is at an angle with the horizontal? should it be inclined? and btw i studied in 2008 in Cairns Australia.
Hi hope you can help. I have a skywatcher 10 inch collapsible and a hotech laser collimator. I first adjusted the secondary so the laser disappears inside the donut in the center of the primary. Then center the primary so the laser dot is centered in the grid on the collimator. BUT when I then go back the laser dot reflecting on the primary mirror is no longer in the center of the dounut, it is on the edge of the donut. When I observed my airys disc seemed centered, but the scope stars just did not focus cleanly. Is there something I am doing wrong? Thx