Re: ATM Laser Artifical Star

[Brian Boothman <brian@boothman.net>]

 I used a borrowed device made from a microscope objective
and a laser pointer at a recent star party. It worked well
for daytime collimation on my 6" Mak.
Only very minor tweaks were required after dark.

Brian

Les and Cheryl Chambers wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I was at a star party this past weekend (AstroBlast in PA) where I heard
> that it is possible to create an artificial star using a laser and a short
> focus lens.  The person I was speaking with suggested that such a method
> could be used to "star test" a newly made mirror before sending it off to be
> aluminized. He said that if the laser and lens were placed 150 feet from my
> 6 inch f/7 mirror I could check the mirror's figure by "star testing" using
> the illustrations in Dick Suiter's book.  Does anyone know where I can find
> additional details on this method.
>
> Les
>
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