Just realized my telescope collimation was off for 6 months

A guy at the local astronomy club told me to check my laser collimator's alignment first, and sure enough it was off by a hair. Has anyone else had their tools drift without noticing?

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stellam894mo ago

Yeah, are you running lithium or alkaline in your laser? I've seen alkaline batteries swell just enough to throw alignment off.

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grayw324mo ago

Just realized my telescope collimation was off for 6 months" - dude that hurts. I spent a whole summer blaming bad seeing when my secondary was just slightly tilted. Checked my laser collimator against a wall at 20 feet and the dot was walking all over the place. Replaced the batteries and it tightened right up. Now I do that check first thing every few months. Better than blaming the sky for all those fuzzy nights.

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