Last weekend, I tested the collimation on my StarMax 127. I had been
concerned that it might be misaligned, because images tended to go "soft" at
~100x. There's nothing in Orion's instruction manual about collimation; it
wasn't until I read Rod's book that I realized I could collimate it myself.
I called Orion, and they pointed me to a handout that I downloaded. As it
turned out, the alignment was near perfect (and now, I'm quite aware of the
diffraction rings)--which led me to ponder what the true nature of my
problem was. I knew the mount wasn't terribly steady; I finally found the
one thing I hadn't thought to tighten, and it seems to have made a big
difference. Previously reluctant doubles split more easily, and early Monday
I got my first look at Mars with it; the air was rather steady in a "cirrus
haze" and Mars near its highest, and I was able to go up to 300x without it
becoming hopelessly fuzzed out. I had almost written the StarMax off for any
high-power or planetary work; my verdict is still out, but I feel much more
favorably about the scope than I did a few days ago.

Clear (and hopefully not too light-polluted) skies,

Tony

********************************************
http://home.earthlink.net/~tonyhoffman/astronomy.htm

Amateur Astronomers Association
of New York: (www.aaa.org)



"GoldfishPanda" wrote in message
...
I have a Orion StarMax 127mm, and I had a quick question.

When I focus in on a star and focus clearly, should I see little circles
around it. Sort of like a star test, but the star is in focus.

Someone previously told me that this means I have good optics. Just wanted
to double check.

As a side note, I've done the star test, and it looks great even with a
7mm
lens (the circles are even)

Panda