Hello,


I have an orion xt 8 w/intelliscope. I have recently attempted, i believe with some success, to collimate my mirrors. However, now my intelliscope computer shows a warp factor of 33-34, way higher than the previous number of .2-.9.



basically this means the computer cant show me where the stuff is, what did i do wrong? i called orion customer service and had to leave a voicemail.


any help is appreciated!!



thanks,
Aaron

What?

Are you sure you were collimating your mirrors? There is no way that the computer and the mirrors are connected. The problem has to be completely unrelated, because there is no way collimating a mirror will throw off the Push-To capabilities of a normal scope.

__________________
You can't really tell the difference between drunken rambling and sober blogging.

Having just read the Intelliscope alignment instructions online, my guess is that your zenith entry in the first step is maladjusted.

I would take the scope back into the shop, level the platform carefully, set the tube exactly vertical and if necessary adjust the vertical stop. I would use a spirit level to level the base and a plumb bob to get the tube vertical.

If this does not help you will need assistance from customer service.

Pretty sure I was collimating the mirrors, just followed the instruction manual. Collimating the mirrors is the only change that I made that I am aware of.

If the computer is doing what I think it is, changing the alignment of the mirrors can affect the alignment calculations for the mount.

It appears that the system is measuring the zenith distances of the two stars, and calculating as needed from there. If you raise the tube to 90 degrees and the optical axis is parallel with the tube, you will get accurate measurements. However, if some fault in the placement of the secondary mirror results in having the optical axis a bit out of parallel, there will be a loss of accuracy. Any change you made while collimating could have changed the alignment of the optical axis.

My educated guess is that the computer is using the azimuth angle between the two stars to test the accuracy of the altitude measurements. I am not up to speed on the spherical trig for calculation purposes, but I can see by plotting on a globe that inputting zenith angles other than the actual ones will throw the azimuth off. This may well be the basis of the warp factors shown by the system.

Here is something I think is worth trying, once you are satisfied with the collimation. Change the position of the vertical stop a small amount and repeat the alignment process. If the warp factor gets smaller, keep going in the same direction. If it gets worse, reverse the direction of your adjustments. With a few iterations you might be able to get it right if my idea is any good. If my idea turns out to be bunk, turn to customer service.

hornblower,


thanks for the idea, but it did not seem to have any affect. I guess I am at the mercy of customer service on this one...



thanks,
Aaron