Takahashi Collimating scope for Ritchey-Chrétiens, Dall-Kirkhams, and refractors TKA00443

The collimating scope requires an optional Takahashi S coupling #TSP0030 to connect directly to Takahashi refractor focuser drawtubes. To use it with the 2" focuser of Takahashi reflectors and other brands and types of telescopes, such as the Astro-Tech Ritchey-Chrétien astrographs, you will need to add an optional TCN0050 2" adapter.

The collimating scope threads into the optional S coupling, which threads into your Takahashi telescope focuser drawtube. It cannot be used with a star diagonal. The focusing eyepiece at the top of the collimating scope is pulled in and out to focus on the different components within the telescope being collimated. 

A highly polished mirror is threaded into the front of the objective lens of the collimating scope. The mirror has a sighting hole in its center that the collimating scope looks through. The reflecting surface of the mirror faces the telescope being collimated, and is set at a 45° angle to the scope's light path, similar to the polished surface in a Cheshire collimating tool. Its face is illuminated by shining a light through an opaque white window in the side of the collimating scope.

The illuminated mirror in the scope forms a circular white target with a central sighting hole that is used to align the optics of the telescope being collimated. Because the collimating scope slips into the focuser of the telescope being aligned, it is always precisely centered in the light path. This, combined with the magnification of the collimating scope, assures a high level of accuracy during collimation.

The Takahashi collimating scope comes with a well-illustrated instruction manual, although the Japanese to English translation of the instructions may occasionally require a moment's extra reflection to grasp completely.