Apertura 150mm collimation screw length

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astrowolf67
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Apertura 150mm collimation screw length

#1

Post by astrowolf67 »


I'm not sure how popular the Apertura 150mm f/5 OTA is within the community, but, I recently purchased one a couple months ago. For visual use, I had to add a 35mm extension tube, in order to achieve focus. Visual images are fantastic with this scope.

This past weekend, I tried to couple my Canon T5, but, could not get enough inward travel to achieve focus. I was using the T5, a Celestron T ring, with a Blue Fireball 1.25 nose piece. With the extension removed, it seemed to almost reach focus, but, not quite. I've ordered a Blue Fireball 2" nose piece, in hopes that eliminating the 1.25/2" adapter (10mm thick) will give me just enough inward travel to achieve focus. In the event that the 10mm is not enough, I'm wondering how much farther the collimation screws will allow me to gain, without sacrificing primary stability, or collimation ability. I'd prefer not to cut length off the tube, and remount the cell, well, admittedly, I'm scared of really messing it up :twitch:
David
Celestron 8" Starhopper Dob, Meade Starfinder EQ 8", Apertura 6" F/5, Meade 114NT, Edmund Astroscan, ES AR102, Sky Watcher 102mm Mak, ETX 80, ETX 60, Orion ST80, Sears Discoverer 4 6333a, Meade LXD75, ES Twilight 1, Star Adventurer 2i
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Richard South Africa
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Re: Apertura 150mm collimation screw length

#2

Post by Richard »


Before cutting the tube one should try with longer screws , did you need the extension tube for focus on near objects only?
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astrowolf67
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Re: Apertura 150mm collimation screw length

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Post by astrowolf67 »


Richard, I needed the extension for visual focusing, on infinity. My 2" nosepiece arrived yesterday, and, I am happy to report, removal of the 1.25"/2" adapter, gained enough travel to achieve focus for AP. No reconstruction needed.

I got lucky, and was gifted a couple of hours clear skies early in the evening. I had a very short window, before clouds started moving in, Orion was setting in the West, and I managed to get a few good images. I am now considering upgrading to a dual speed focuser, as I could still use a little fine tuning. Here is one of the images achieved with my Canon T5. It's a 10 second exposure, ISO 3200, with no processing, other than shrinking the file size down considerably.
orion nebula 3.jpg
David
Celestron 8" Starhopper Dob, Meade Starfinder EQ 8", Apertura 6" F/5, Meade 114NT, Edmund Astroscan, ES AR102, Sky Watcher 102mm Mak, ETX 80, ETX 60, Orion ST80, Sears Discoverer 4 6333a, Meade LXD75, ES Twilight 1, Star Adventurer 2i
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