Pointed my telescope at Orion for 45 minutes and got nothing but blur

I spent a whole evening trying to get a sharp shot of the Orion Nebula with my 8 inch Dobsonian and a cheap webcam. Thought I had it all lined up right, but every frame came out like I was looking through a fogged up window. Turns out I forgot to collimate the mirrors after moving the scope to my back porch. Learned that you can't skip the basic setup steps even if you are in a hurry. Has anyone else messed up a whole imaging session by forgetting something simple like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

smith.anna1mo ago

Collimation's like the number one rule for Dobs though, rookie stuff.

thompson.finley10d ago

Honestly, is collimation really that serious for a quick backyard session? Ngl, I've forgotten to check mine plenty of times and still had a decent enough view of the moon or Jupiter to enjoy the night. Tbh, the whole hobby is supposed to be fun, not a checklist of perfection for every single outing.

lily_ramirez41mo ago

Forgot to collimate" is kind of a big deal though lol. I mean yeah it sucks you wasted an evening but it's like forgetting to put gas in the car before a road trip. Not exactly a little mistake.