fwm891

Altair do a 115 Wave series APO

I'm wanting to get an 8 inch f8 RC Francis Please delete

Interested in comments on an 8 inch f8 RC, looking to get one. I had a few years back an Altair Astro (GSO clone) which I sold (why!!!) and I'm now looking at it's replacement. I see FLO do their StellaLyra, RVO do an iOptron Photon and there are others. Just wondering on other good/not so good views on them... Cheers

Thanks Peter, I was hoping skies would be a little more transparent - maybe next time...

After waiting for these to get out from behind trees the weather turned quit murky so I'll put this down as a Mk1 attempt and try again on another night... Shot 25x 300s subs but could only use 16. Just about make out the tails but definitely needs clear dark skies.

Well it is galaxy season so I just had to have a go at this... 20x 300s subs, ASI533 MC Pro cooled to -12°C, Baader UV/IR cut filter RASA 8 on an iOptron CEM 60 standard Link to annotated image: https://www.astrobin.com/fhmsiu/0/ Hope you like

It turns out that the WO version of a Vixen dovetail bar is narrower than a standard Vixen dovetail bar so when mounted the whole optical train is shifted over to one side and unless you add extra weight to the opposite side it won't balance. A loolly stick shifted the OTA assemble back to it's central point...

The mono DSLR. The sensor has been striped of all filters (bayer matrix) and all glassware. The chip is essentially bare. Ultimate full spectrum mono mod.

I've had a couple of issues with PHD and balance with my CEM25P / WO ZS73 combination lately and spent quite some time getting the balance right yesterday and put it to a test last night. (A lolly stick proved the best solution!). 12x 300s subs were shot at 1600 iso on a mono modified Nikon D5100. Images were processed in PI then resized in PS before posting here. Plate solved image: https://www.astrobin.com/xodxry/?nc=user

Yes I remember blowing the lens off the front too. Lots of tape I remember using now...

About 60 years ago (in a galaxy far far away!) my Dad bought me a Charles Frank refractor which consisted of two cardboard tubes. At the front of the bigger tube was a single bi-convex objective lens (uncoated) at the other end of the smaller tube a lump of rubber with a tiny little eye lens molded into it. It was advertised in one of the daily papers in a little ad in the classified section. Everything viewed showed red and blue fringes but It got me hooked on this hobby. Anyone else have the same beinnings?

Take a look at this series - modified 2 450D's using the method. No soldering required. http://dslrmodifications.com/rebelmod450d12.html

Seeing your image I'm just setting up a sequence in SGP for my 85mm f2.8 and ASI533 combination....

Grand image there Adrian. Great combination.

I just added 2 extra subs and omitted them

Dear Sir, Are you responsible for these gate crashers last night? Consecutive 300s subs.

Thanks Gav, This is part of 'The volcano nebula' and centred around RA 09hrs 30min Dec 70° 11mins

Good session last night, sheltered from the wind I continued my current fasination with IFN's in Ursa Major. This image captured last night (5th - 6th April 2021) comprises 40x 300s subs and processed in PI using luminance masks. Scope: RASA 8, Mount iOptron CEM60, Camera ASI533, Filter Baader UV/IR cut Software: capture SG Pro, image PI. Hope you like

Hi Goran - I'm under Bortle 4 skies. I keep forgetting to flip images from the RASA. Your IFN image containing M81-M82, have you dropped in another image of 81/82 onto your IFN image to retain the details?

Like that Adrian. Good luck with the RC

Mmmm, In P.I. I tend to stack each of the panes first,, use STF and Histogram Transform. Then SCNR to remove the green. DBE comes next to even out the backgrounds (pull the DBE process to the desktop and apply to each pane for consistancy). I then save as 16 bit tiffs and open them in PS CS3 to assemble the mosaic. Alternately if using APP just throw all your subs in the lights box, make sure you have mosaic mode selected and go and make coffee/watch a film while it sorts the whole image out for you...

Hi Goran, The ASI 533 only has an anti reflective coating on the chip cover glass and I've found that the UV/IR cut filter really reduces star bloat. Plus having removed the Celestron supplied protective filter it needs those 2mm of glass as part of it's optical train. Francis

I have two intervalometers. They're both different so the best thing is to experiment. Your initial delay is for everything to settle down and stop vibrating. Next will be your exposure then the delay between exposures, then the count down through the exposures. One of my intervalometers wants me to set a time of 'x' seconds between each exposure - I normally set this as 8 seconds that gives the camera time to download/save the image. The other intervalometer wants me to set an exposure time (say 60 seconds) but when I set the delay between exposures it wants me to enter th