ATM Not the poor Man's collimator

[Clive Milne <milnecd@yahoo.com>]

    I must confess that I am quite seduced with the
ease of collimation afforded by holographic lasers.
It's an interesting exercise to walk around the field
of a star party (in daylight hours) assessing the
collimation of different people's telescopes.  The
vast majority of amateurs I come across, maintain that
their optics are perfectly aligned.... right up to the
point where I turn the laser on.   I guess that is the
real beauty of a holographic projection reticule. The
errors of alignment & the centering of  components
within the optical system are obvious, not only to the
person collimating, but also to any bystander.  
    As with anything though,  it is important to
understand the limitations of collimating with lasers.
And for that, I find the obvious nature of a projected
pattern (from a holographic laser) to be an invaluable
teaching tool.
    Ultimately of course, the star test has the final
word.  But judging from the number of people that have
come up (later in the night) to thank me for their
scope's new found optical performance, (and their
re-assessment of the true nature of collimation), Well
I guess you can infer that (being mindful of their
limitations) a projection style laser collimator is
not a bad piece of kit to own.  (imho)
     Clive.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Photos - 35mm Quality Prints, Now Get 15 Free!
http://photos.yahoo.com/