How to collimate a telescope

By collimating your reflector you are fine tuning your viewing experience. The process of collimation involves lining up all the mirrors of your telescope so that the reflected light is directed directly up the focus tube to your eye

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My Search For My First Telescope

What prompted me to start this blog was the flood of information I got when researching my first telescope. At the moment I don’t have one and to be honest I am still learning all about the different components and capabilities on offer.

A few things considerations I have are,

1. This is most definitely a starter scope, I am not interested in spending thousands of pounds on a telescope (yet!)

2. I would like to be able to capture some photographs of the night sky without too much extra investment.

3. Needs to be relatively portable, in that I will be bringing it in and out of the house.

4. Not concerned with using the telescope for land viewing.

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Focal Ratio (f)

The focal ratio is the relationship between the diameter of the main optic (aperture) and the focal length. Lets use a Skywatcher Explorer 130 for the next example, the 130 signifies the aperture of the telescope and the length of this telescope is 650 so our focal ratio would be 650/130 = 5, so our f number would be f/5.

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