TIL I was collimating my telescope mirror off by a mile for 6 months

I got a dobsonian last spring and spent every clear night blaming the cheap eyepieces for fuzzy views. Last week a guy at the park looked through my scope and asked if I'd ever checked the secondary mirror alignment. Turns out I was only adjusting the primary and the whole thing was way off. Does anyone have a good trick for keeping the secondary collimation steady in a budget scope?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret_singh114d ago

Hell no, it's a huge deal. You're basically looking through a blurry mess no matter what eyepieces you buy. That secondary mirror being off throws everything out of whack. You could spend a thousand bucks on glass and it'd still look like crap. Cheap scopes flex like crazy when it gets cold so the secondary walks itself out of alignment. Best trick I got is to mark the center screw with a sharpie and check it every few sessions until it stops moving. Once it settles, just leave it alone.

skyler_white9514d ago

Doubt it's that big a deal unless you're doing planetary work.