The artificial star is used for collimation during the day. Adjust the optics so that the diffraction rings are concentric intra- and extra-focal. This ensures that the optics of your telescope are perfectly adjusted.
The LED collimator is ideal for RC telescopes, as well as Cassegrain and Schmidt-Cassegrain optics!
For collimating a Ritchey-Chrétien optics, it is usually necessary to use it at night on a star. Thanks to this collimator, it is possible to achieve optimal collimation results during the day. This means that you always have an optimally adjusted RC telescope at your disposal during the night. Collimation is simple and can be carried out by anyone. It is only important that the secondary mirror of your telescope has a central mark.
Simply proceed as follows:
Place the optical tube on a table or set the telescope horizontally on its mount. It is helpful to align the telescope with a homogeneous, bright surface (paper, house wall, etc.). Now insert the collimator into the 2" sleeve of your focuser. Press the collimator slightly from behind with your hand. This ensures that the collimator is seated optimally in the focuser. Now tighten the clamping screws slightly. Now switch the collimator to Newton/reflector mode (red LEDs). Now look through the hole.
If the image looks like image A on the right, you can stop the collimation process; your telescope is optimally adjusted and ready for the night. However, if the image does not look centred (image B), you should start collimating to achieve the best results with your telescope.
Collimation:
- Step 1 – Adjusting the secondary mirror: Adjust the secondary mirror using the adjustment screws until the central mark on your secondary mirror is exactly in the middle (image C). You will immediately see minimal deviations, which you can easily adjust. Please make sure that the counter screws are loosened beforehand (if present) and that the secondary mirror is not loose after collimation.
- Step 2 - Adjusting the primary mirror: By adjusting the primary mirror, you can now centre the outer ring. Please ensure that the counter screws are loosened beforehand. Loosen the counter screws only slightly, then adjust the primary mirror and tighten the counter screws slightly. This procedure prevents excessive pressure from building up on the cell or anything from becoming completely loose. Do not tighten the counter screws too much. Image D shows the ideal result.
RC telescopes with a TILTING mechanism on the focuser: Many Ritchey-Chrétien telescopes have a third collimation option, which is to tilt the focuser. People have often tried to compensate for poor collimation with this tilting mechanism, but it doesn't work well. You should therefore set the tilting mechanism to the stop position before collimating. This ensures that the optics are optimally adjusted to the focuser.
You should use the tilting mechanism to optimally adjust the camera sensor to the telescope. This allows you to compensate for minimal misalignment of the sensor or slight tilting of the focuser.
TS Optics is a brand of Teleskop-Service.
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