Russe

The only challenge I find with the 130PDS is with a finder guider, DSLR and dew shield on it really needs a counterweight at the back as it is so short you can't shift it in the tube rings enough to compensate and balance, Thats the next project though and should be a simple fix

Cheers

Ross

Just had this problem for the first time after fitting self made dew shields.

Any idea what weights to attach to the backside??

Revised edition of M81/82 NGC3077:

Got M81/82 and NGC3077 (6hrs 40min - 300s at ISO800)

I love the focuser too - holds the Canon 450D proper like.

The supplied 2" EP is a beast! Amazing... But it doesn't come with a lens cover - only a bottom cover.

_{some cracking results... makes the 130 look very attractive, a much cheaper all rounder compared to the 80ed too. Russe, is this moon not really a sw127 mak? a great sharp shot all the same!}

Argh - my mistake!!!! Please ignore me!!!

And a single M52 60s shot:

Got another one.

Full moon with a Canon 450D. 50 frames stacked at ISO400. Didn't use darks/flats/bias...

+1 SW 0.9 coma corrector

How big was the difference between the full spectrum modded Canon and the Atik 383L?

This is the one I've been thinking about. Or the QHY8... (but it's not mono...).

All images have been made with a Canon450D (unmodded), on a HEQ5 PRO goto, 9x50 finder guider (QHY5).

Me and my garden gnome:

several M51 crops:

M97 & 108:

M81 & M82 (& NGC3077):

M81 & M82 pre-SN:

few M74 crops:

dragon fly cluster:

and M33 crops:

Hi guys,

having fallen in love with my 130pds, and seeing that I'm not the only one recently, I was thinking it would be nice if we posted our images made with a 130pds here.

It gives a nice reference point as well, as to what could be achievable (with better guiding, better camera, better weather...).

Well, here goes:

M82 - and yes - still there!

Excellent quality for first attempts!!

Sara, you should drift align anyway.

But separate guidescopes nearly always suffer from flexure to one degree or another.

There is a method you can determine the cause of the eggy stars, detailed here:

http://deepskystacker.wikispaces.com/Measuring+differential+flexure

Great link! Thanks for putting this up. Will have a look at my data again. Is 0.5px/min a reasonable estimate for DF then?

Cool idea!!

What I do is I keep one laptop running ASCOM close to my rig and control it with Comodo or Logmein from inside the house.

My first DSO M42 :

My first LRGB DSO M82:

Both done with an SPC880 (mono).

This was about the point in time when I decided to upgrade to a DSLR.

Yep, I'm thinking it must be the simulator...

The only problem we're left with after plate solving is rotating the camera to the right angle...

mhm - it slews nicely to my target if I fool around with stellarium - but it doesn't put an alignment point into EQMOD even though I ticked sync scope and re-slew to target...

any idea what's that about? I'm using the simulator mind!!

Just now playing with AT and recent photos. It's great - in vitro. Have to try out in vivo...

I must say I'm less than keen on using AstroTortilla for polar alignment purposes. I polar align using EQMod and then I may correct the polar alignment by using Alignmaster (which is dirt cheap at €19). I use AstroTortilla strictly for plate-solving and it's absolutely fantastic - no complaints whatsoever. 

that's what I do too - although - recently I just PA with EQMOD, slew to my target, frame/focus and then start PHD...

but by using alignmaster I could guide longer

Good luck and welcome!!

You'll get more steps if you change the EQMOD pulse guide settings from 0.9 to 0.1 and go down from 50ms to 20ms.

Unless you're guiding per ST4, then you'd reduce the rate from 1x to 0.25x

By the by, I now usually calibrate at 0.5s, which usually gives me nice SNR's around 30 or more. This speeds up the process quite nicely as well.