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Collimation
•Move the telescope until the star image is at the edge of the field-of-view
in the eyepiece, as in
Figure 9.
•As you make adjustments to the
primary mirror tilt screws
(fig. 3, #3),
you will notice that the out-of-focus star disk image will move across the
eyepiece field. Choose one of the 3
primary mirror tilt screws
and slightly
move the shadow to the center of the disk. Then slightly move the telescope
to center the star disk image in the center of the eyepiece.
• If any further adjustments are necessary, repeat this process as many
times as needed until the out-of-focus star disk appears as in
Figure 10,
when the star disk image is in the
center of the eyepiece field.
• With the star testing of the collimation complete, tighten the 3 slotted-head
primary mirror locking
screws
(fig. 3, #2)
Figure 10
Meade also sells a Laser Collimator accessory that will simplify collimation of the optics. This
device works by shining a red laser onto the optics and viewing the reflected light. If the reflected
light beam is not centered on the device, it can be easily adjusted using the telescope adjustments
until the beam is centered.
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