don't get discouraged guys... i'll try to help you out as best i can.. i too was fraid to do it myself. but, i realize that it is MUST precedure we all owners should know. i got my 8ingps blue baby in Nov. of 02. when, i first received it i refused to believe that the manufacture would send me $2000 scope w/ misaligned scope??
for many nights in cold weather, i blame it on atmospheric turbulance. the "seeing" condition is bad...until i found a site where this author was describing exactly what i went through. so i've decided to learn how to collimate. for 2 months i was in the internet or reading books about collimation before i decided to "perform" it myself. last thing i don't want to do is to break >$2000 scope that i work hard paying for....
following sites helped me greatly.
first word of advice: when you "see" what your looking for then, the rest is EZ.
http://aberrator.astronomy.net/index.html
live images of collimation and software.
http://perso.club-internet.fr/legault/collim.html
first two step/pictures are w/ about 24mm eps, imo.
third step/picture is w/ less than 8mm eps. as you magnify more and more that central dot becomes brighter. once it becomes a dot you should see the halo or diffraction ring become visible. BUT, when dot and ring is shifted one side to another then, you need to turn one of the bob's knob to center.
http://www.cleardarksky.com/
good site. shows you what your sky is going to be like. make sure you star test in good seeing condition sky.
http://www.cmc.ec.gc.ca/cmc/htmls/seeing_e.html
familierize yourself on the picture. w/ perfect collimation, if your scope is not at ambiant temp or seeing is not good than, expect seeing scale to be "boiling" like image 1 and 2.
http://www.meadelx200gps.com
great site. well managed and organized. for meade owners.
http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html
make your own artificial star. when i first looked thru the scope w/ this method, i found what collimation is all about. caution: artificial star testing is great for knowing but, make sure you do final collimation on a real star. mine was different but, i knew which screw to turn. that reminds me, when you are doing this w/ 24mm eps, write down which screw turns which direction. it will become helpful during final process. which only requires 1/8th of an inch. after every ajustment put the star in the center. it's easier if you have reticle.
this is long enough. we'll continue as needed. hope this helped and get you going. trust me, there is nothing to it. you will not break your scope. when you have well collimated scope and good seeing night, you should be able see transit of jovian moon w/ clear around black shadow, GRS clearly visible, and crisp cassini's division on saturn.....i think i even saw encke's division on jan 8, 2003. good luck to you. keep pointing up when weather allows.
steven
for many nights in cold weather, i blame it on atmospheric turbulance. the "seeing" condition is bad...until i found a site where this author was describing exactly what i went through. so i've decided to learn how to collimate. for 2 months i was in the internet or reading books about collimation before i decided to "perform" it myself. last thing i don't want to do is to break >$2000 scope that i work hard paying for....
following sites helped me greatly.
first word of advice: when you "see" what your looking for then, the rest is EZ.
http://aberrator.astronomy.net/index.html
live images of collimation and software.
http://perso.club-internet.fr/legault/collim.html
first two step/pictures are w/ about 24mm eps, imo.
third step/picture is w/ less than 8mm eps. as you magnify more and more that central dot becomes brighter. once it becomes a dot you should see the halo or diffraction ring become visible. BUT, when dot and ring is shifted one side to another then, you need to turn one of the bob's knob to center.
http://www.cleardarksky.com/
good site. shows you what your sky is going to be like. make sure you star test in good seeing condition sky.
http://www.cmc.ec.gc.ca/cmc/htmls/seeing_e.html
familierize yourself on the picture. w/ perfect collimation, if your scope is not at ambiant temp or seeing is not good than, expect seeing scale to be "boiling" like image 1 and 2.
http://www.meadelx200gps.com
great site. well managed and organized. for meade owners.
http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html
make your own artificial star. when i first looked thru the scope w/ this method, i found what collimation is all about. caution: artificial star testing is great for knowing but, make sure you do final collimation on a real star. mine was different but, i knew which screw to turn. that reminds me, when you are doing this w/ 24mm eps, write down which screw turns which direction. it will become helpful during final process. which only requires 1/8th of an inch. after every ajustment put the star in the center. it's easier if you have reticle.
this is long enough. we'll continue as needed. hope this helped and get you going. trust me, there is nothing to it. you will not break your scope. when you have well collimated scope and good seeing night, you should be able see transit of jovian moon w/ clear around black shadow, GRS clearly visible, and crisp cassini's division on saturn.....i think i even saw encke's division on jan 8, 2003. good luck to you. keep pointing up when weather allows.
steven
