Collimating a Newtonian Scientifically

About the Book

In 2003 my partner Kathleen, proposed a bungalow with a great view of the night sky. December 2005 and one year into telescopes, the optics of the length halved again 8” Cape-Newise got me tasting my own medicine unwittingly and gladly. The confident advertising style mirrored mine for Bailey designed hi-fi speakers, making 100 in the 70’s, exporting 30 to Germany. My approach has been that of being Isaac Newton through the ages, and after each advancement writing down the achievements at the eyepiece. The 3rd edition of March 2014 was still only 16 pages, 6 of which were the instructions and still are. 50 pages of interest were enabled by 2 months in a recliner chair waiting for surgery. Edition numbers change only with improvements to method. They settled down in October 2014 and the 4th edition printings began in March 2015 and have been selling an average of 6 a day at events since 2012. Intuitive adjustments, too easily fallen into, are prevented by following the instructions chapter in this book. The first 2 sentences of stage [1] and all of stage [4] work equally well for Cassegrain type in-line optics. Mirror cleaning, vetted by a mirror manufacturer, has always been included.

About the Author

At age 15 in 1953 at the Boulevard Nautical School, Hull, Yorkshire, it was noted that I had risen from 13th to 3rd in General Science and remember the extra effort made at home. The view of the night sky from our back garden led to the Boy Scouts’ Astronomy badge. My mother bought me a Norton’s Star Atlas, but I had no reason to check out the telescope section until 2014. Astronomy started with Dad’s 2” night glasses on variable stars until a pulsating cargo liner on my first voyage ended astronomy for 50 years and I became a Master Mariner. The Decca Navigator wasn’t performing well off the Bombay transmitter. The Radio Officer hid behind, ‘Nothing to do with Marconi.’ As the tanker’s Navigating Officer down came chartroom deck head panels until finding a break in the aerial cable, then 12 years later between ships stumbled into solving TV and radio reception problems, including installing EQ mounted satellite TV dishes, self-employed.