Ratlet

1 hour ago, Skyline said:

A smelting new Quattro 150P with the included bespoke coma corrector.

I bought my 130pds just before this got released.  If I'd known it was coming I would have waited!  It's a phenomenally good price for the kit when you consider it comes with the coma corrector.

Not a major improvement and probably quite situational, but I 3D printed a small adapter so I can mount my guide camera in a Vixen dovetail mount.  I'm picking up a side-by-side mount so this should make it easier to get everything I need on and not have to spend more money on more bits.  It's friction fit so very snug but fits on my SVBONY 30mm guide cam, RDF and my skywatcher finder scope.  Once the mount is tightened up it is very secure.

finder to vixen rev 1.stl

Bits beget bits...

The Gods of Astronomy clearly approved of my Hypercam purchase and showed their approval by having this canon Eos filter drawer adaptor show up on the forum for a great price.  Now I can use my vintage glass easily.

Further approval was yesterday when I found a side by side mount so I can get a bit cleaner setup for the mount (once it arrives)

Having played with my new camera on my 130pds (650mm/f5) I've been looking at imaging opportunities with my 200mm (takumar 200) and 300mm telephotos.

I was wondering though, is there a point where I get better data doing a mosaic with the 130pds with its larger aperture Vs trying to capture the image in one go with a smaller aperture?  My 200mm would be stopped down to f5.6.

Would I get more/better data doing a 9 panel mosaic with the 130pds 1 hour per panel Vs doing 9 hours of a single panel with the takumar? I feel there should be a simple answer but I can't wrap my head around it.

A small update for everyone:

I got The Deep Sky Atlas and Turn Left at Orion.  Both of these books are fantastic and are great for planning an evening and for just figuring out what is up there.  However, once I've decided on what to look for I go full on Mr Spock and print narrower FOV views of the object I'm trying to find.

This coupled with the 32mm Plossl in my 130pds makes it very intuitive to find things.  Dare I say the finding is almost more fun the actual observation. 

I've primarily been using the 130pds for visual being treated as a pocket dob of sorts, however, I bit the bullet and bought a dedicated astro cam (Hyperstar 533C) and the only thing I could fit it to was the 130pds.

There was a lot of troubleshooting but I managed to get some decent data.  Each image is 25 minutes of 90s exposures, stacked in siril and stretched using asinh and normal stretching 

Woefully underprepared would be the best way to describe my evening.  But the much vaunted clouds climaxed too quickly (I feel ya bud) and the storms earlier in the day blew away by darkness.

Really want to give the new Hypercam 533 a shot since the weather looks garbage all week.  Early results look very promising (once I figured out the focusing).

Wee bitty more zoomed in than I was used to with the canon and 300mm tair!

Did a sharp cap sensor analysis.  Turns out most of my lcd screens have flicker which isn't ideal so had to point it at the ceiling with a bit of paper over the sensor to get a good run

Ordered a packet of Haribo and got a rather fetching free hat.  Must say I was surprised by the Peli case.  Seems a bit OTT.

Also came with a Hypercam 533c which probably explains the cost of the Haribo.  I just put it down to inflation.

7 minutes ago, Elp said:

Think I tried it, but at the time left the Takumar on the DSLR and a Samyang on the astro cam. What size rings are you after, you have a couple of options:

1. Get the adjustable 3 screw double ring type which typically comes with finder/guide scopes, this is a bit of a fiddly way of doing it but provides you scope for accomodating a variety of diameters. Can hold the lens or the camera.

2. Get rings to clamp onto the OD of the camera. I've got two different diameter ones, one of which I repurposed from my WO scope, in order to use that one with one specific camera I ordered some o rings to fit around the eos lens adaptor thus increasing its diameter and it now clamps tight.

3. I assume it's an m42 takumar. If you were to utilise Eos lens adaptors you could get the filter drawers or lens adaptors and clamp around them. This has the added benefit of keeping any filters enclosed and away from stray light hitting it at angles if they were mounted on the front of the lens.

I've been using one of the adjustable 3 screw ones with my DSLR, mostly just to keep it lined up correctly.  I'd discounted that for the dedicated camera as I had visions of the whole lot sliding out and landing on the floor, but then I guess you use those rings to mount a guide scope so there isn't much of a difference.

I do have an Eos extension with filter drawer on its way.  I'll see what other opportunities that presents for mounting when it turns up.

20 minutes ago, Elp said:

Think abs or nylon are the best mechanically. If an astro cam is attached ask yourself would you trust a 3d print to secure this (I know many do). Personally I don't so I stick to metal rings.

Do you use a dedicated astro cam to image with the takumar?  Part of the reason I'm looking at this is because I'm struggling to find proper rings.

I'm due to be taking delivery of one of these tomorrow.  There seems to be very little information out there on the unit so I was wondering if there is any tests I could run on it that would provide useful information for the community at large.  Would it largely just be sharpcap sensor analysis?

I'm pretty sure with temperature control I should be able to build some dark masters too not sure what other masters I can make, although that would obviously be only for the camera.

There is supposed to be some clear skies over the weekend so I'll be giving it a burl.  Not got the adaptor for my canon lenses but will be trying it on the 130pds without coma corrector which should hopefully provide some interesting information (and seagul stars)

1 minute ago, Mike Q said:

Ok.... Where did you find that?  I need that in my life. 

If you do get one and take it on the road, it (and you) might not be in your life for long 🤣

13 minutes ago, Dave scutt said:

@Roog has the best idea.

Ditch the bike and get a ride on dob 

I can only imagine you riding that like the dude on the bomb in Doctor Strangelove

Just got a perusa mini and have had a good time printing some bits and pieces so far.

I would like to print some tube rings for my takumar 200mm lens as I'm moving to a dedicated astro camera.  I've found a reasonable STL to work from but the design mentions that it cracked as he printed it flat rather than vertical (makes sense, you want the layers to be perpendicular to the stress). 

This I can handle, but wanted to check the best choice for filament.  It's never going to get hot enough for pla to melt but perhaps petg might be a better choice.

I do plan to modify the design slightly by including imbeded nuts for clamping and attaching to the vixen dovetail.

STL attached below:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4918789

7 hours ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

I see you've already made your purchase so this is a largely pointless addition to the conversation 😀

Visible light goes from about 400 - 700nm, so the UVIR cover window only cuts a tiny section at the extreme end of red, and all the major nebulae emission lines (Oiii/Ha/Sii) will pass through to the sensor. 

Thanks for that.  It's nice to get confirmation.  They also sell a clear glass window too if it presents any problems.  I suspect that it will work out well as I'm using vintage lenses at the moment so bloat and chromatic aberation will likely remain an issue.

4 minutes ago, jjohnson3803 said:

Interesting.  My AZ5 has performed as expected for the past couple of years.  

 

I also have a ScopeTech Zero and I'm not sure it was worth the price.  It's good, but seems to have some idosyncracies like many mounts.  But it could just be my Manfrotto 475B tripod.  Might try an Innorel RT90C just to see...  😉

I've got a baby brother version of the RT90C with an az5 and 130pds.  Hang a bang of engineering bricks of the bottom for stability and it's pretty darn stable.

Ah well, panic set in and I just got the hypercam.  Need to pick up a couple of adaptors and I should be cooking.

First observation of the double cluster.  I'm starting to realise that you can see some of this stuff naked eye, including this.  Which is a good thing because I'm awful at star hopping.  Andromeda.  Very faint, but a definite cloudyness there about the size of the moon.

A very pleasing sight.  I would love to have attempted to sketch this, but I've lost my head torch.

Also M31 and Albireo because honestly I don't think I can get bored of them.

I'm quite enjoying naked eye stuff.  Hopefully get my 2x42 binos built shortly if I can find another tc-e2 cheap.

I think my only concern with the hypercam is the optical window which it says "Colour UVIR filter 400-690nm AR coated" not sure if that will impact on nebulas

7 minutes ago, Dark Raven said:

Player One has Active Cooling System (ACS) for uncooled cameras

Active Cooling System (ACS) for uncooled cameras – Player One Astronomy (player-one-astronomy.com)

 

 

Alternatively you can use smartphone coolers. They will never be as good as dedicated AP camera cooling but they can help somewhat and do not cost much.

 

Cheers.  I di see that, but the hypercam is £25 more than the saturn at that point so it seems a better option just to buy an all in one unit which is designed from the ground up for active cooling

I believe that the hypercam should allow a configurable set point on the temperature tho, and I'm not sure if that would work on the Saturn.

With the crash of the £ and what's likely coming up I've decided I would like to pull the trigger on a dedicated astro cam before prices rise.

I was thinking about the palyer one Saturn or Uranus, but the Altair hypercam is not much more than the Saturn so will probably get that as it features active cooling.

Mostly my imaging will be 200 to 300mm through prime focus lenses but I will eventually rope my 130pds into service down the line.  Using astronomy tools I see that this will be undersampled on the shorter focal lengths most likely.

I've seen the thread on the Uranus but was wondering if anyone has experience of the hypercam?  I think the larger sensor size and larger pixels will be better all in all.  Any thoughts.

37 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I used a Concentre for collimating my secondary, and a Cheshire for making sure my laser was aligned properly. This you need to do in daylight.

I'd like someone to demonstrate how you use a Cheshire, in the dark, from the bottom of 12" Newt...  

 

 

How do you use a Cheshire to align a laster collimator?

After months of badgering me from the wife I've decided to buy a 3D printer.  She wants it for her boardgames and make small toys and stuff for my daughter.

I'm looking to get a Saturn c camera so I'm hoping to print so parts to help fasten it to a vixen.  And bahtinov masks, and an extension so I can mount my guidescope to my gem 28 and....

2 hours ago, Dark Raven said:

Oh look, some bloke made a video about the same exact thing. What are the odds? 😂

Joke aside, great video Chris. 👍

Like the idea for the background.  Looks really good.