Ratlet

Why stop at 2? I'm sure there was someone on Astrobin who had a quad setup with 4 x takumar 200mm doing mono.

Just wondering if anyone has used any of the erecting prism diagonals on FLO for astronomy?  Lot of the stuff online seems older and possibly doesn't reflect (hah) the current state of things.

I'm going to slap one on the back of my Tair 3 300mm f4.5 and see how it fairs and would like to not have the diagonal be a weak link.

As it's a telephoto there's only about 45mm, maybe 50mm when I remove the m42 mount to play with.

I realise this isn't the greatest idea ever but the Tair has great image quality and low chromatic aberration so from dropping a few quid on a diagonal I could get another scope to play with.

Looks good mate.

What scope/camera?

Lashing with rain but clearedd up just before midnight.  Tried to test out my 135mm lens but I can't get focus.  Will need to see if I can change the infinity stop as I'm not buying more spacers.  Swiftly gave up imaging and went on to do some visual.

I'm pretty garbage at star hoping so decided to try and hunt down Uranus with the 130PDS.  Took me a lifetime starting from M45 and I could feel my soul leave my body a couple time using Stellarium when it decided to swap to pointing mode on my phone but got there in the end.  Probably wishful thinking but I would say it had a very cool green/blue colour.

Next up was M31.  I think of all the things I've looked at so far M31 is the one that is giving me aperture fever.  I want to see some detail.  I managed to find my sketching head torch and the red light is incredibly feeble so I think it helped me pull out a bit more detail by not blowing my dark adaption.  I managed to see M101 and M32 too which was a nice bonus.

I finished off with a quick look at M42, but not a sketch.  I think I'd have been out for another hour if I did.  What a difference a day makes!  I think the seeing was much better tonight.  I'm confident I could make out 3 members of the Trapezium  in my 32mm plossl and there was hints of texture in the nebulosity.  M43 also presented much more nebulosity than last night.  Looking forward to later in the season when I don't have to stay up to stupid oclock to see it!

15 minutes ago, josefk said:

nice sketches and great picture 🤜🏼 

...i hear your "stingray" and "swift" and raise you a rabbit - i think the nebulosity at M42 (in a star diagonal) looks like the Donnie Darko rabbit - the trap stars are the near eye - once you've seen it you can't unsee it. argh.

I'll need to keep an eye out for that.  I'm going to experiment with trying to draw what it looks like and Donnie darko rabbit is definitely destinctive.

Personally I don't understand why they didn't name thors helmet the bunny nebula. Its even got an eye!  If it looked any more like a rabbit, Art Garfunkel would be singing a song about it.

Just figured out how to invert the images.  Much better I think!

Last night was looking spotty but early evening showed promise with the cloud rolling away.  This was a false hope though as by the time I set up my imaging rig (testing a 135mm lens) the clouds had well and truly rolled in.

Fortunately my sleep pattern is like the Pleiades:  a cluster.  And so I was awake at 0400.  On with the warm clothes and a coffee and back out to see what was happening.  Turns out there was more clear sky than cloud!

Much like Gandalf in Moria, I had absolutely no idea where I was.  Last time I was out this early Orion was in the East and now it was very much South and I’ve no idea what Cassiopeia and Ursa Major are doing, but I do not approve.  Oh well.  M42 it is!

32mm Plossl in the 130pds for x20 was nice and bright and it’s an absolute pleasure when the nebula scrolls into view.  It might be wishful thinking but it looks like I can see more when it’s moving?  Perhaps it’s a survival thing…

I dropped in the SVBONY UHC filter and got a more contrasty view of the nebulosity and a some dimming of the surrounding stars which made it a worthy candidate for sketching.  The nebulosity looked like a stingray to my eyes although the pencil would seem to disagree.  I wasn’t completely sure if I could see much of the structure in the ‘back’ of M42 although after the sketch I realised that tapping the tube makes it stand out more, but not in time for the sketch.  Definite sighting of nebulosity around M43 though.  I think the scope was still cooling and I'm sure I can pick out more nebulosity although I could have sworn I saw more than I sketched so me still learning the smudging stick is also an option.

The clouds were making periodic appearances so I went north and decided to try and split Polaris.  I tried with my 8mm BST and 2 x barlow and the seeing just wasn’t there.  Polaris looked a lot like when they try show string theory on a documentary.

At this point I broke out my Nikon TC-E2 DIY widefield binos for an awe inspiring x2 magnification.  This was easily the best idea I’ve had this week.  They’re just fun to use and great for waiting for sucker holes.  Vibration isn’t really an issue so you can hand hold easily and they show a lot more of the background than eyes alone without the magnification making it hard to relate it to the sky.  What’s weird is that quite often I found if I saw something with them I could still see it after, even if I couldn’t see it before.  I got a bit excited (and still don’t know what I’m doing really) so I didn’t really observe I just mostly looked.  I did observe the Pleiades though with them and it was fascinating.  It was almost like in Stellarium where they have the generic background and then a photo image of the cluster.  I didn’t look real.  The binos are likely to either prove a hit for outreach or scare small children.  Pictoral evidence attached.

I did some observing of Mars with my SVBONY 8-24mm with the 2xbarlow (54-162x) but I couldn’t really see much apart from my oft repeated “it’s orange”.  I’m being a bit harsh really, but I could make out that it was a disk and with some wishful thinking some slight variation in the darkness.

I also took a peak at Sirius.  From my latitude it’s 15° and I could just make it out between the houses so it was as much to say I’ve observed it as anything.

I finished of the morning with another look at M42, this time with the 8mm BST (162x).  I could resolve the Trapezium comfortably although one (B I think) was very faint.  I’m much happier with this sketch despite the increasing haze.  I think at this point I doubled down on the ‘sketch what it looks like not what you see’ and tried to make it look like a swift.  I did see some very faint ‘nebulosity’ off to the left of the eyepiece although with hindsight I think this might have been dew.

Going to pay for it later in the day, but good fun all round and a nice boost.  I’m very happy with the UHC filter and will need to try it on some other targets.  I also need to dial in my star charts for using the scope as it’s own finder.  There are so many stars it makes getting lost very easy.  The widefield binos were the winner though. Just perfect for those gaps in the clouds.

12 minutes ago, Paul M said:

All great images. This area is perhaps one of my favorite galaxy groupings. 

As interesting as the Quintet is (are?), I always think the wider field including Deerlick gives it (them?) greater appeal. And all those lesser galaxies! Can't say I've noticed a lot of that stuff previously.

 

I imaged this area earlier in the year with my 130pds and it is absolutely hoaching with galaxies.

Looks like you've got a decent number of frames over Stephan's quintet too.  Might be a nice wee crop there

Personally I'd avoid a Newtonian on an eq mount.

I went for a second hand GEM28 and an az5 with 130pds.  The az5 and 130pds get used for visual and the GEM28 gets used for imaging with vintage lenses, although I got the 130pds so I could use it for imaging if I wanted.  I've tried it for imaging but it's a lot more setup and requires guiding and a decent guide scope. 

I tried the PDS on the GEM28 but very quickly got frustrated with where the eyepiece ended up.  Its not just a rotation thing, it's a height thing too.

I'd try to think of the imaging and visual as separate and not try to double duty, after all if you are using your scope for imaging you can't look through it!

They've generally been pretty quick with responses I've sent, same or next day.  Also dealing with their help and pretty good response so far.

Generally these mirror lenses arent brilliant and have softer focus than a conventional lens.  Not to say it won't work, it just might not be great.

You'll be best of using an FOV calculator such as this or stellarium.  Just make sure you use imaging mode and select your camera and just the focal length.

Hyugens Optics on YouTube did a good video today on mirror lenses.

https://youtu.be/x2BiM7BGQMU

Personally I wouldn't for the money.  Rather I didn't.  You can fit loads of DSO in 200-300mm focal length and pick up a super takumar or tair 3 for about half the cost of the mirror lens.

Not to say I'm not going for some unknown entities.  I've got a couple 135mm lenses I'm waiting on clear skies to test out.  But those cost £10 a pop.

1 hour ago, PeterC65 said:

Interestingly the Svbony camera's LCG / HCG switching point is at 250, like the ZWO camera.

2 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

I see that Player One have announced the recall on their website (here). Not great news, but at least they are dealing with it quickly.

Looks like they're also releasing their own imx533 sensor camera too

Got the lens cleaned up.  Came up alright (bit of surface dust on the element).  There is some definite damage to the coatings although it is minimal.  Test with an artificial star at least shows no chromatic aberation though no idea how it'll look in an actual image.  I'll have to look at some tube rings from FLO to mount it to something as the mounting point is pretty shallow.

Aye, it almost certainly does have fungus.  I've given as much as I can of the body a wipe down with iso propyl and will give it a blast with a UV light to help kill any spores.

I'm planning pretty much as you describe for the lens.  I'll soak it to make sure the spores are dead then give it a good clean.

The one downside of buying vintage lenses.  An apparently 'lenses look good' tair 3 from eBay.  Should probably have asked for a refund, but I quite fancy having a go at servicing a lens so will give it a shot.  Was only £50 so not a major loss.  Provided it's not etched to coating...

Will give it a clean once my air blower arrives from Amazon.  There is a good tear down video on YouTube that walks you through the process.

I use the 130pds on an az5 mount for my visual.  I bought it as it would be a good option for imaging (as per the above linked thread) if I wanted to use it for that.  I also owned a 127 mak which I just sold.  I've only been going for a couple months. 

Visual

The bulk of my use with this has been visual.  It provides very very good views.  The short focal length means I basically use it as it's own finder with a 32mm plossl in, although I do struggle a bit for some targets as it picks up so many stars some star charts can be hard to match.  It's great for the moon though you'll absoloutely want an ND filter.  I tried looking at the moon once without a filter and just about blew a hole through the back of my head it was so bright lol.  Planetary is also really nice.  My 8mm BST with a 2x barlow is very nice for jupiter and saturn.  Banding is clearly visible on Jupiter, although I've not been able to spot ithe GRS I'm not sure if that's because of timing or magnification.  Saturn has been good too and I think I've been able to spot the Casini division, although I won't say for certain as I'm inexperienced and Sautrn always appears low over my roof which affects viewing.  I think the images are perhaps a bit too bright on planetary but I'm going to try my variable polarising filter on my SVBONY 8-24mm zoom to see if that is the case.  I'll say that the mak provided better views for planetary and the moon.  I'm not much of a planetary guy though.

I've been very happy with DSO views.  M27, M45, M13 and M42 were excellent with the 8mm.  The combination of M27 and @MarkRadice are entirely responsible for me starting sketching which I enjoy immensly.  I do struggle finding things as I use it manual only but that's part of the point for what I'm looking for with observing.  Part of the joy for me is the hunt.

Yoou will need to use an extension tube for visual.  The one that it comes with is perfectly functional, although I found that without my glasses it provides too much extension for me to get focus so I need to wear my glasses when using it.  I did buy an M54 screw on extension but it had a defect and didn't work particularly well.

I tried doing visual with the 130pds on an EQ mount once.  I found that the eypiece ended up in strange and bizarre positions which required rotation of the tube or me in odd crouching positions or stretching.

Imaging

I've tried it once for imaging and it is excellent as the linked thread above shows.  I'm not looking for hubble like images (yet) and was incredibly happy with what it produced.  Depending on the sensor size I think you can get away without a coma corrector if it is small.  I've attached my M27 which is 20 x 90s exposures on a 533 sensor.

Conclusion:

My opinion is that the 130pds is a great scope for visual.  It has its quirks though.  If you are primarily going for planetray then I would go for the Mak though.  I personally found the 130pds a mare to use for visual on an EQ mount though.  If the EQ5 can do Al-az then go for it.

1 hour ago, Clarkey said:

Neither for galaxies. These filters are for emission nebulae. You could add Ha using and Ha filte to a RGB image, but galaxies should be imaged in broadband.

Quad band and Tri band filters are very similar, but the quad is used where there is less light pollution as I covers a broader area of the spectrum. The names are a bit misleading really as both are actually dual band. It is just one covers Ha and Oiii plus H beta, the other covers Ha and Oiii, H beta and SII.

Perfect. I'm relatively light pollution free in bortle 4.  I meant to say for adding h-alpha to a galaxy, but my brain was running on fumes earlier.  I like the bit of extra flavour that the emission spectra gives to galaxy images.  Its very exciting to think that from millions of light years away you are imaging what could be some other lifeforms Orion nebula.

I wasn't sure if you could do it with the the broader pass of these filters.

Need to see what later in the year brings.  Both in terms of budget and releases.  I believe svbony are entering the market with some new filters and I'll be interested to see what their dual band looks like.

5 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Tiny Tak part. Finderscope Illuminator 

Finally, a Tak I can afford.

Question for the group:

If I were going to image a galaxy using a osc multi pass filter, would I be better or worse off getting a triband or dual band?

I'm debating about picking a filter up for just general is imaging (nebulas as well as h-alpha on galaxies) but not really sure whether to go for a more narrow dual band or wider Tri or quad band.

3 hours ago, Whistlin Bob said:

Nice one. I love these things- a proper lump of a lens. I found quite a bit of chromatic aberration with mine, but stopping down to f5.6 helped a lot (so long as you don't mind funky star diffraction). Also pretty handy with narrowband filters  

I think they are quite variable in quality.  My last was a 3A (focuses like a normal camera and has a tripod socket built in for 1/4") which had some astigmatism.  I'm hoping this one will be better.

I'm going to contact the seller as the description says the lenses are clear when they obviously aren't.  They put no guarantee on the listing too, but I don't think that absolves them.

One thing I do notice is that the lenses are also coated which the 3A wasn't.

If it's no use for astrophotography I think the photosniper is mechanically simple enough I could convert it into a poverty triplet for visual.

I've got a set of Stepdown rings to take it down to f5.6 whilst maintaining circular stars.

Another day, another tair 3.  This time the photosniper.  This one is a bit rougher and has a small amount of fungus and will need a clean which hopefully won't affect imaging.  Also a tokina 135mm f2.8 to test out for some wide angle because I am not made of samyang money.

What power magnification were you using?  I find my 130pds wobbles quite a bit if I try to use it at x160 (8mm and 2xbarlow) on my az5.

Are you running your az5 at an angle or with the mount set vertical?

I wonder if I can convince the wife to get me one for Christmas.

I look forward to hearing how you get on with dso's.  I love my 130pds but it is a bit wobbly on my az5, especially for planetary and doubles.  It's also doing double duty for imaging so for some nights I'm basically sat in a shed watching YouTube.  That is not what I signed up for!

What software are you using?

It could be that the ethernet is one network and the WiFi is another, this might prevent you from accessing using remote desktop connection in Windows.

I use power line all over my house and used to use them for providing WiFi to remote spots.  My current rig has internet sent out to my shed through power line.  I connect both my mount mini pc and a laptop for control using a WiFi block out there.

But have a check to see if remote desktop connection on the observatory computer is configured to allow connection from outside on its internal network