I am re-entering the astronomy hobby after a 20 year hiatus. I bought what was advertised on eBay as a used Celestron c6-N but turned out to be the 150HD (which uses the lens in front of the seconday mirror to lengthen the focal length) I am stuck with the scope since the seller will not respond to my emails. So, I am trying to make the best of a bad situation. I bought a collimator from a local shop that went out of business a few weeks later. Now, I have tried to Collimate the scope with the collimator, but it does not seem to work with this type of scope. Am I doing something wrong? I need all the help I can get.
Celestron 150 HD Collimation Difficulties - HELP!!
Started by jstrandberg, 06/10/2006 03:18AM
Posted 06/10/2006 03:18AM
Opening Post
Posted 06/10/2006 08:47AM
#1
What type of collimator do you have there? Is is something
with a laser beam, or does is have a small hole you
look through? Does the collimator have some mirror
inside it? Due to the lens in the secondary
assembly, I think the laser type will not work.
Check the celestron website. There is some minimal
collimation info in the manual
http://www.celestron.com/c2/images/files/downloads/C6N_31056.pdf
with a laser beam, or does is have a small hole you
look through? Does the collimator have some mirror
inside it? Due to the lens in the secondary
assembly, I think the laser type will not work.
Check the celestron website. There is some minimal
collimation info in the manual
http://www.celestron.com/c2/images/files/downloads/C6N_31056.pdf
Posted 06/10/2006 09:45AM
#2
>>I have tried to Collimate the scope with the collimator, but it does not seem to work with this type of scope. Am I doing something wrong? I need all the help I can get.
=====
Hi John:
Sorry to read of your plight, in my book Astromart is the place to buy used stuff on the net, too many similar stories from that other site.
I have never had much luck collimating this type of scope but some folks have. I believe I remember that Dave Bonandrini, one of the equipment forum moderators has had some luck collimating a similar scope, you might post your question over there...
I believe Charles Sands owned one of these for quite sometime, he might be able to help...
In any event, while this scope might not perform as nicely as the C6N at high powers, you should be able to get reasonable medium power and lower magnification views. The scope that really got me over the hump in this hobby was a similar design, corrector in front of the secondary 125mm Newtonian, never was able to split the double-double and barely made Castor. Still, I had many great times with that scope.
In the end, I think the lesson with any telescope is to enjoy what it can do and not let it's limitations turn to disappointment frustration. Every scope has limitations, a perfect 4 inch APO refractor will suffer badly when compared to simple DOB when looking at Globular clusters.
Jon
=====
Hi John:
Sorry to read of your plight, in my book Astromart is the place to buy used stuff on the net, too many similar stories from that other site.
I have never had much luck collimating this type of scope but some folks have. I believe I remember that Dave Bonandrini, one of the equipment forum moderators has had some luck collimating a similar scope, you might post your question over there...
I believe Charles Sands owned one of these for quite sometime, he might be able to help...
In any event, while this scope might not perform as nicely as the C6N at high powers, you should be able to get reasonable medium power and lower magnification views. The scope that really got me over the hump in this hobby was a similar design, corrector in front of the secondary 125mm Newtonian, never was able to split the double-double and barely made Castor. Still, I had many great times with that scope.
In the end, I think the lesson with any telescope is to enjoy what it can do and not let it's limitations turn to disappointment frustration. Every scope has limitations, a perfect 4 inch APO refractor will suffer badly when compared to simple DOB when looking at Globular clusters.
Jon
Funding Member
