[SJAAboard] Collimation tools for scopes

[Akkana Peck]

Rich N writes:
> We are looking into relatively inexpensive alignment tools
> that are effective.    
> 
> A scope with an OTA that must be assembled each time it is used
> should have an alignment tool.  IMO, all of the Newts should have an 
> alignment tool available

Agreed on both counts. Getting collimation tools for all the Newts
makes a lot of sense and doesn't cost much.

Lasers are really convenient and quick for
truss-tube scopes, and if the little Orion one (which works fine!)
is that cheap, it might be a good idea to get a few.

But lasers are hard to use on solid-tube scopes and don't do as good
a job as an Aline or Cheshire anyway, so getting the simpler ones
for the non-truss scopes makes sense.

Personally I always found the Aline easier to use than a Cheshire
(I own a Cheshire but I never use it). If you haven't used one, the
Aline looks a lot like the Orion little plastic cap with concentric
circles, but it works a lot better because it has some very
reflective material around the central hole, which the Orion ones
don't have. Plus they're only $4.99 (rigelsys.com).

Since Steve asked for an opinion on power sources, I'll say: I
don't really have one. :-)  I've used "tethered" scopes (need to
be plugged in to AC) and I've used DC scopes, and which is better
depends on where you observe. Some people like to stay in the
backyard where AC is available, other people always travel so
battery power is better. I guess you could get inverters for the
AC scopes and power supplies for the DC ones so everyone would
have a choice, but really I'm not sure it's worth the bother.

Having no power really isn't a big problem for an equatorial scope
anyway, if you're not doing photography. Just lock the declination
axis and nudge it in RA every so often, or use a manual slow-motion.
I frequently don't bother connecting the motors at all on my Great
Polaris,

	...Akkana