SharpCap Forums

Hi, I have been using SharpCap pro for a good few years now and always finding new things to tryout that helps imaging in general.
I was just interested to know if there is a function that i am yet to find that helps in collimation of Newtonians, and also is there a tool for helping determine camera tilt in Reflectors?

I have a Skywatcher Esprit 150 that i would like to find out if my asi2600mc camera has any tilt errors that i need to correct and also have a 16" Dobsonian that i am trying to work out how to square the focuser to the tube spot on.

Any advice on if these tools are in SharpCap Pro that i have missed would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Hi,

Try the 'Collimation (Experimental)' tool. This does star detection on the image and then plots a contour graph over the image based on how the star sizes change across the image. If you have tilt then you would expect a sort of stripe pattern where you have a band of good stars with less sharply focused ones to either side where the focus is a bit out due to the tilt. Of course, this pattern would be overlaid on any coma from the telescope that typically leads to larger stars away from the center point of the image, so that can make it harder to judge.

cheers,

Robin

Appreciate the reply and advice,
I wasn't aware of this collimation tool, I will have to go back and have a look for this.
Very much appreciated.