JonHigh
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Everything posted by JonHigh
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Hi Roy. As you know I have been tinkering around with my 150 Mak which has got me thinking about getting a Classical Cassegrain or a RC. Do you have any experience with an RC as I’m not sure which to start looking for? I understand that collimating an RC is a bit of a business, is the CC easier/more straight forward? The results look extremely good on your 10” though! Would need to upgrade the mount for that!
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Very nice. Been thinking about buying this filter to replace my Altair Tri-band. Out of interest, what were your settings used?
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Hi All, Taking advantage of clearish skies last night, I went out with my SkyMax150 to do some more experimental DSO imaging with it; this time on M57 and IC 5146. I was shooting at prime focus rather than using the diagonal like last time (M27 posted the other day). I definitely had a few issues with it this time around. Mainly with back focusing and I believe mirror slop especially when it slewed from The Ring Nebula to the Cocoon Nebula. I let the plan run and should have checked itI Oh well, learning curve and all that... However, I think I will go back to using the diagonal next time out as the results were noticeably much better. Thought I would share my almost failed attempts with you all. They aren't great but the potential is most definitely there! Either way, having fun with it and that's the point is it not? 😂
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A quick shot of Jupiter with a 4” Refractor
JonHigh replied to JonHigh's topic in Observing - Planetary
Yup. Had a tiny ROI. Just one 3 minute video before the seeing got so bad I couldn’t see it. Processed in Autostakkert and Registax with colour correction and RGB Alignment due to the filter being in place LOl. It’s just an awesome camera and can’t recommend it enough. Just handles anything you throw at it! Only issue is the FPS is very slow compared to my ASI585 or any other dedicated planetary camera. I did take an unplanned video of the moon as well on the same evening that I posted up. That’s impressive too! Going to put it my Mak just to see how it performs once the skies clear enough for good captures. -
Hi all. I took a very quick, unplanned shot of Jupiter following a cancelled nebula plan due to horrible skies that rolled in. I even forgot to take the Triband filter out! I know it’s not great but hey just wanted to share…
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I think somewhere in between the two. Lovely image nonetheless.
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Definitely between the two. I personally find that stars can sometime detract from the object you are taking a picture of. Nothing wrong with tuning them down a bit to allow the nebulosity pop out and showcase it. Awesome image!!!
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Hi. Just seen this. That’s something you don’t see often at all! Thank you.
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Splendid image considering this awful weather. Was going to go out myself but decided not too. Wish I did now!
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Go for it. It’s a lovely scope for observing with especially the Moon, planets and double stars. The detail it produces is fantastic. The images I have are outstanding as well! Now with lots of patience and after seeing what it can produce on DSO’s I’m even more pleased with it! People told me you can’t use it for DSO as it’s so slow and narrow FOV. I think I have proven a point. Of course you can! If you want to convert it to use a mounted guide scope, the 150 is relatively easy to do. The 180 might be harder to get rings at a reasonable cost. How it compares to a faster SCT I’m not sure as I don’t have one but was almost double the price at the time. I will however, at some point be comparing it with my 4” Triplet with the same camera. But for the smaller objects I just wanted to fill the frame rather than having to crop heavily.
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Retro wallpaper!!! 😂
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Thanks for the reply. I must give it a go next time out. Unfortunately the weather doesn’t give you too many chances to experiment a lot. Hopefully that will change in the coming crisp months ahead. Yes. It’s actually quite worrying just how many are up there!
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Very nice again! Just out of curiosity. Do you think it’s better to have short and many exposures or longer and fewer exposures? Which come out better for you?
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That really is an awesome camera! Lovely image. We are all suffering but the results from short acquisition times are amazing. These cameras are getting so good now!
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That is superb!
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Hi all. So after my 20° or so offset framing of Gamma Cygni Nebula I thought, why on earth don’t all ‘Pro’ telescopes and indeed all scopes not have index markings on the rotator? So with a little help from my mate, he produced degree markings print out from my calculations of the circumference of the rotator for my Altair Wave 102 (33cm!). It looks crude but works. Looking forward to using it in the field! IMG_1037.mov
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Hello and welcome. Everyone is very helpful and more than happy to help out. Are you an imager or observer?
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Yes. It’s very annoying especially in my Bortle 6 skies.
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Hi All, Been busy modifying my SkyMax 150. I must admit I was concerned about taking the meniscus lens off the OTA but with some advice it wasn't that difficult in the end. I liberated the vixen dovetail and was surprised just how small the mounting screws were and no load bearing brackets either! Got a pair of Skywatcher 6" Newt tube rings and two Losmandy plates; short one for the top to hold the guide scope and the long one for the bottom. Happily enough it was warm out last night so I could take my time trying to set everything up. However after mucking about for 2 hours I finally got there. This is my very first DSO image taken with a 6" Maksutov. I only managed to get 25 4 minute subs before the transparency made it impossible to continue. Shame really.
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Hi all After finishing up on some nebulae acquisition, I couldn’t resist to slew across and take a video of the moon with the Hypercam 26C. Considering I set it up relatively quickly, as it was 3am plus the seeing was so bad I had to stop my nebula plan. I was quite pleased with the results.
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Yup. I agree. There are plenty of focusers out there. Baader do a very nice one for Newtonian scopes but not sure if it will fit the 150? How much weight are you putting on it? If it’s just a corrector and camera, the skywatcher one should do the trick without spending more than the scope is worth. For a bit more than the Baader focuser you could upgrade the scope to an 8” depending on the mount you have.
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Tell me about it!
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Hi all, Well the seeing was awful last night but managed to get just 2.5hrs integration time before it had become too overcast to continue. My first attempt at photographing IC1318. Need to sort framing out next time. Shame there aren’t index markings on the rotator!
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That’s really odd, why some mounts behave as it should while others don’t. Maybe it is all to do with success of the firmware update? I must of tried to load it 50 times before it finally did it. In EQ mode the mount tracking is very good although I have not hooked it up to PHD as yet. Will soon though. When I have a bit of time I will reinstall the firmware and I test it again. Thanks for the reassurance that it might just work!
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Very Nice! 👍🏻 Thank you. That has spurred me on to get a filter for my triplet instead of using my old ETX 90!
