collimated star question, scope out now! (with pic

First, I am a total newbie- and my pic is a drawing from ms paint.

I have a meade 127ed f/9 with collimation screws. I was getting star patterns that looked like
0)))) when in focus, so after a few hours of figuring out how to adjust it with an artificial star I made out of a pinhole and an LED headlamp at 50 yards, it went away. My views dont have comet tails anymore once the scope cools off. What i have resembles the attached image, which I drew up in about 5 seconds in PAINT. Is this from centering? overtightening? cheapo eyepieces? I get this with my TMB planetary 6mm.

Anyone happen to be in NH and wants to tutor me?

Regards;
Keith Garrett
Wolfeboro NH

Attached Image:

bump

Hi:

Your question might be more appropriate for the refractors forum. My uneducated guess is that you could be distorting one of the lenses by over tightening it. This would not be permanent.

Jon

Keith, I can't tell much from your drawing. At, the face of it, I would say that there may be something wrong with the scope; but, it may just be your artwork. ;-)

I would suggest contacting your local astronomy club, and taking the scope down to their next event. They should be able to tell whether what your are seeing through the eyepiece is correct for that scope; and, likewise you will be able to see what stars look like through some of the other ED scopes. Sometimes bad seeing conditions, or a defective eyepiece can cause such a problem. But, if is a collimation issue; adjusting a refractor is not as easy as a reflector, and guys at the club may recommend sending the thing back to the manufacturer for fine tuning.

A few years ago, I had the same problem. I sent it to Meade and they corrected everything for me for and $80. fee. You might call them and see if they still provide this service. You have to get a work order from them before you can ship it. I had to go through a lot of extensions and answering machines before I finally spoke to a technician. I had to leave a message finally and the technician called me back. Good luck.

Demetrios