All Activity

Hello, I have come across an old telescope after my dads brother passed away. seems to be missing eye piece can any one help with where I would get one so I could have a go. also not that I would consider selling but are they of any value these days.

I was about to say a sct or mak gives a very compact form for FL, but that Dall example is incredible!

How good is the photo tripod as that will determine if you can go with a Newtonian design, they are also wind sails so your mounting has to be very solid. I've managed to store a 130pds and accessories inside a 70L backpack, tripod and mount head will need to be in a separate bag. My C6 AP rig now fits into that bag including the goto mount, only separate item I need is the tripod, being a CF one it's not a burden at all. But for ultimate portability I'd go with a 50/60mm refractor, in that case everything can then fit in one bag including the tripod (I've got a shorter CF one that will fit).

The key to star colour is usually a saturation boost (like a lot of you want nice blue red stars in the field) without clipping the data, if you move the white point you'll certainly wash them out into bright white. An hour or two capturing LRGB stars is usually enough to use as star only data. Also don't use a light pollution filter, luminence filter only to minimise IR bloat.

Beautiful telescope! I have always had an attraction to LZOS telescopes. What is the FL on the 115? I’m guessing around 800.

Aperture usually comes with more focal length. You want portable + aperture: https://www.galaxypix.com/Dall/ Nigel

Top solution if your car is small- Get a trailer for the wife and all her stuff. This gives you 100% of the car for you and your scope. Can’t see any problems with the above, can you?

The trick to bring out colour in stars is use Asinh stretches. Photometric colour calibration also helps.

I had a look atnthe sunspots this morning and was surprised at the changes in less than 24 hours. The complex of Sunspots near the centre of the disk is quite amazing. I look forward to seeing so e more sketches. Cheers Ian

I normally take several binoculars with me, can share the view and grab gaps in the cloud etc. Makes family time even more enjoyable, sometimes, less is more.

Windows based software ImPPG is free to download. Within it is a tone curve function that allows you to invert the image, amongst other adjustments. The Woodland Hills YouTube video goes through this.

+! to taking flats. The other things to watch for with your scope are light leakage around the primary (black swim cap combats leakage, if it stretches enough) and primary mirror misting. Rigging up a DIY 5v usb powered fan will take care of the latter. eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noctua-NF-A4x10-5V-PWM-Premium/dp/B07DXS86G7/ref=asc_df_B07DXS86G7/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=205267456752&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2642092141730500132&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046128&hvtargid=pla-700140532537&psc=1&mcid=34c4ad86cdb43a598ac7f89e54db59d0 Affix to a piece of plastic cut to the diameter of the base with indents for the collimation screws, then attach with some velcro/tape. The swim cap also helps hold the fan it in place. These mods are something to do next time its cloudy.

@michael8554 threaded connections from the corrector backwards. The corrector itself is secured by the standard SW focuser thumb screws. 55mm backfocus is where I've started, though I'm fairly happy with the stars at this point so won't fiddle just yet. I guess I was surprised that I'm not even getting a fully illuminated 11mm image circle, seems kind of strange. I dread to think what each sub frame would look like from a larger sensor - you'd assume the scope practically unusable. I'll gradually chip away at blackening mirror edges, corrector edges maybe(?), mirror clip mask etc and see where it ends up.

Here's the 120mm in action. One word of caution: Wedges have a much longer light path than normal diagonals. This 2" Baader only just comes to focus with a few mm to spare as you can see in the image. You need to check how much in focus you have before using one. It may be that a 1.25" wedge is your only option. I previously used a Lunt - it was excellent. But it doesn't have anywhere to fit a Continuum; that had to go on the eyepiece.

have you used your ASI224 with the Askar FMA180?

Hi John I have managed to get my 8" dob in the car as well as a dog & teenager. I only have a medium sized hatchback. It is amazing what you can fit in a car. sometimes 🙂 Usually I just take my ST80 + Horizon tripod. If you could find something similar size and weight wise to an ST80 but with a bit more aperture then I think it would be ideal. Cheers Ian

I use a Baader Coolwedge II- it has the continuum fitted internally rather than attached to the eyepiece. With a small scope you don't need a polariser. I don't use one with my 120mm...

They are both excellent Chris. Really good colour and detail on M106 and you can just start to see the Ha regions popping out, including the fainter stuff. I recently shot this with my 150P-DS and some Ha helped even though it wasn't much. If you can get a lot - it reveals some really great structures.

Hiya guys Just a quick update on the leveling feet So I've added extras and this seem to work a treat The feet are detachable and go in little holders as can be seen in the photos Any questions!

Only 75% space, you are so lucky to get that 25% John!

The wedge will be better than the film. With a camera I dont know how much of an effect the filter will have, I've never used one when imaging in WL, only a green filter when looking visually which does give slightly more contrast separation. The suggestion of the film was simply for trial purposes as it's the most low cost of entry and you can decide there and then if you want to continue with it. I decided to go the HA route very quickly.

I have travelled with my baby Vixen, it and it's 'folding all inside itself mini tripod' all fit into a tiny plastic tool box I bought for it. Here it is in action when I took it to Scotland I have also sat it onto a proper tripod and I was respectably impressed with its performance the night I viewed Saturn with it at home. It was at that point I realised that most apparent magnification seems to come from the EP that is deployed rather than the width of the mirror - which seems to come into play more if you go chasing feint fuzzies. B.t.w. I like the little wheeled adjustment links to do the tracking with - they were so easy to use compared to shifting a Dob.

Ha, still young enough (sort of) to get away with it!

Looking at the center of the Sun through a 2.5x Tele Vue Powermate we have (L-R) AR13667, AR13668, AR13664, AR13661 and AR13663. Captured using the following equipment and software; Lunt LS60THa/B1200/CPT and Lunt 60mm front mount double stack H-alpha etalon. ZWO ASI174mm. Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro. 2.5x 1.25" Tele Vue Powermate. SharpCap Pro, Autostakkert4!, ImPPG and PixInsight. 200 from 2,000 frames stacked in AS4!. Exposure time 3 ms, FPS 130.

Brilliant work, I wouldn't know where to start! I don't think I'd be able to get any more out of those short subs. Some stacking applications didn't like my lights, DSS would only stack 1 file! ASIstudio DeepStack worked sort of OK but even with Siril doing the stretching the amp glow was obvious. However I try to get round it Astro Pixel Processor always works like magic for me. The Light Pollution/Background Extraction module is brilliant as is the Calibrate Star Colours module, I suppose you get what you pay for! I'm so pleased with that image I'm thinking maybe I should keep the 50ED and sell my lovely little Askar FMA180 instead!