Reddit reviews Celestron Collimation Eyepiece 1.25"

1. Build a light shroud for it. The design permits too much stray light to be visible, which reduces contrast, so a light shroud is need to make sure you can easily see the faintest wisps of DSOs possible. The light shroud will also slow down dew formation on the secondary mirror.
   
   
2. For planetary viewing, you'll want to start with a 5mm eyepiece, and can go as short as a 3mm eyepiece if the atmosphere is steady enough. 5mm produces 130x, which is plenty to see planetary detail even in mediocre atmospheric seeing. I recommend the 5mm Agena StarGuider Dual ED. Excellent quality for the price. This same eyepiece is found under different brands, like BST and Astro-Tech. You can also use the same 5mm eyepiece to observe very bright DSOs (M13, M3 etc...).
   
   
3. For observing small bright DSOs (M27, M57, M82 etc), a 9mm wide angle is a good choice. For really cheap, the 9mm "gold line" is a good bet. These can be found on Ebay and Ali Express. Just search for "9mm 66 degree eyepiece".
   
   
4. For observing larger DSOs, you want the widest true field of view possible, which means either a 32mm Plossl (which is cheap), or a 24mm 68 degree eyepiece like the Explore Scientific 68 series (which is expensive). The 24mm will give a wider apparent field of view and more magnification.
   
   
5. If you live under light pollution, you'll want some filters. I recommend a UHC/narroband filter like the Orion Ultrablock, and an O-III filter. Don't buy cheap filters, as they won't work as well as quality filters. Either Orion, Tele Vue, Astronomik, or Lumicon are good brands. The Tele Vue, Astronomik, and Lumicon filters will cost you $100 each though, so they're expensive. Orion's are a bit less.
   
   
6. To get the best possible results from planetary viewing, make sure the telescope is collimated (get a cheshire collimation eyepiece if needed. Shop around for the best deal.), make sure it's thermally acclimated with ambient outdoor temperature, which takes about an hour or so, and make sure to view the planet when its highest in the sky. Some nights will have better atmospheric seeing conditions than others. If the planet looks like a blurry mess, and you know the scope is collimated and acclimated, it's because the atmosphere is really turbulent that night, so you just have to wait for a better night to see more detail. One downside is if you live at high northern latitudes (above 45 degrees). The low altitude of the planets will make it challenging to get a clear view.

I actually got this one. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00009R7RJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482765519&sr=8-1-fkmr1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=celestron+130+collimation. Very simple to use and comes with instructions.

He's right, I too own one. I struggled with this for a while before I realized what the problem is. If you feel like messing with it for hours you can get it close. That scope isn't really powerful enough that your going to notice if it's a little off anyway. That being said. It's a great beginner scope. Buy the RA drive for it and it can provide fun viewing of the planets and SOME dso's just get used to squinting and asking yourself, is that what I think it is?! Eventually I upgraded to a XT8 and now really know the difference between Bird Jones 1000mm Focal length and true 1200mm focal length.

Celestron R/A Single Axis Motor Drive for the AstroMaster Telescope https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00039R23G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Gvs3xbDQXJDN1

Celestron Collimation Eyepiece 1.25" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009R7RJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xws3xb7FXWMSM

(Edit: Links)

EDIT: What kind of scope do you have? I ask because the advice below only applies to Newtonian reflectors; collimation is a different procedure for refractors and Cassegrain telescopes.

While a collimation cap is a very cost-effective tool, I would highly recommend a cheshire collimating eyepiece (AgenaAstro, Amazon) if you can afford one. It works the same way as a collimation cap, but it also has thin wire crosshairs. These allow you to align the optics to a much higher degree of accuracy, or at least make it much easier to do so.

I find that an affordable laser is more trouble than it's worth (you have to collimate them before you can collimate your scope!), and reliable lasers are way too expensive (start at $120). I got a cheshire and it works great; it really is the quintessential collimation tool.

So with refractors, the lens are firmly mounted in place and should never move.

With a reflector, if you did the same thing the mirrors will break, so if you take a bumpy trip out to a dark site you you knock your telescope the wrong way, you need to collimate it.

Most of the time, the secondary mirror never needs to be collimated, but sometimes it does.

There are 2 things you can buy, a Cheshire eyepiece or a laser collimator. I personally prefer the latter due to ease of use, among other things.

Cheshire eyepiece
laser collimator

Thanks for the tip. I just bought this Collimation Eyepiece and will give that a try.

Glad to hear there is someone in the same boat as me! I will end up getting an additional eyepiece, but I would think that the one that comes with it would do way more than what I saw!

I'll take another look at the website when I have it here with me and just see what I can tell by just eyeballing it. Perhaps it is off far enough that I will be able to tell just by looking at it. Then I can fix it when the Collimation Eyepiece gets in.

1. Get the collimator
   
   
2. Get the collimator
   
   
3. Get the collimator
   
   See the pattern?
   
   Edit:
   Ok more info. Your telescope is a reflector just like mine. There are two mirrors, one at each end of the tube. Your eyepiece has to be lined up correctly with the front mirror, and the front mirror and back mirror have to be lined up properly. The collimator (Celstron calls it the collimation eyepiece) helps you to line up these optics. Without doing this first your experience is going to be like mine was, very disappointing. Unless you're incredibly lucky most everything will be blurry, or smeared to some degree. Once you have collimated the scope properly everything becomes much much sharper. The effect is kind of like shining a flashlight on a wall. If the flashlight is lined up properly the light is sharp and round, if the flashlight is at an angle to the wall the light becomes distorted, stretched out and oval shaped. This is similar to what I experienced with my scope. It's well worth the extra 30 bucks.
   
   Get yourself a set of eyepieces of various sizes. Celestron has a decent entry level one for about 130 bucks I think. This will allow you to really get the best use of your scope once it's collimated.
   
   Have fun!
   
   Edit 2: Here is the collimation eyepiece and here is the eyepiece kit