ATM Laser Collimation

["Asaf S.-T." <dark_observer@yahoo.com>]

Hi,

I was thinking of getting ot building a laser
collimater, and a few thoughts came up in my mind.

First of all, why should I buy a 100$ laser
collimater, when I can buy a regular cheap laser, and
built for it, a 1.25" tube to fit into my focuser?

Second of all, I thought about it a little, and I got
to the conclusion that laser collimaters are only good
in open-tube telescopes! when you have an open tube,
you can easily see that the laser hit the middle point
of the mirrors, and when the tube is closed, you can
only look from abovem and the secondary blocks the
view of the laser from you, so the laser could of hit
not exactly in them middle. Got me?

When I was in Cleveland I saw Dave Sopchak collimate
his OPEN-TUBE telescope with a laser collimater. I
thought it was very cool, but I'm not sure it's worth
the money in many cases.

Well, is it true? just wondering.

Thanks, Asaf.
===
Asaf Shtull-Trauring, Amateur Astronomer
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