> I think it should be possible to collimate with the CCD itself,
>dispensing
>with the eyepiece. The basic idea is to take images out of focus
>enough
>that the stars look like donuts, and adjust the collimating screws
>until the
>donuts in the center of the CCD are of uniform brightness all around.
>Of course the stars will move on the CCD as you adjust the screws- to
>get
>around this, look at a nice star cluster (M35 or M44 or Pleiades maybe
>for
>smaller scopes), so that there are lots of stars in the field.

Another method is to use the Hartmann 3-hole mask and CCD and plugging
different holes as you collimate. I have been working on this method for
over a year now and using a ConnectX camera. The idea is to be able to
turn the computer so you can watch the image and adjust the three
collimating screws.

ric
OPTAS President
San Marcos, California
OPTAS website http://members.aol.com/rlecker/optas.html

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