Jarvo

It’s bigger brother is reviewed in the August Sky at Night Magazine. It gets a good review. 

Its a work of art - I went to view one at Rother Valley Optics. I really don’t think you would be disappointed if you bought one (especially if the accessories are all the same colour ). 

In the end I opted for an esprit 100 because I got the accessories included (finder/diagonal/ flight case). 

Let us know what you decide  

Jarvo

21 hours ago, Louis D said:

So, do you still have and use the 32mm TV Plossl after all these years?  I still have my 5.2mm Pentax XL from 1998 that I use regularly.  The 14mm XL has been supplanted by multiple others in that range, as has my 9mm Vixen LV, both from 1997/1998 when I started out.

I sure do Louise. It’s the first eyepiece I use on an evening. When I first bought it it was the lowest mag I could practically use and having a mak ie a slower scope meant I didn’t need a nagler or a panoptic at the time (yes I am a slave to the green and black). Now with the Esprit 100 it’s made it the biggest finder scope in the world but still fabulous to use for wide field stuff. 

Im currently waiting like a crouching tiger for a TV sale to kick off as I’ve got my eye on an Ethos Sx  

Jarvo

There’s no such thing as too many Bubbles on this hallowed Site Rodd. To my eyes it’s perfect. 

Cracking image. 

Jarvo

Ok so I need to quantify that upfront. I bought the Esprit specifically because the big boys were too far south for the next few years and wanted to turn my attention to astrophotography. 

The Esprit is billed as an astrograph but I think it is a very capable bit of kit for visual use (the Moon looks fab and my Retinas are healing nicely). 

Anyway I wanted to see how big a disk was created so I fired up the Esprit with an 8mm Radian giving me a whopping 68x Power. 

And guess what I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the disk which may well make my 150 Mak even more redundant when Jupiter and Saturn return. 

As for detail well the observatory’s lower frame means the lowest declination is slightly higher than where Jupiter is. This means that when I defocus I literally have a sliver of light to work with. No belts or Red spots but I could just make out the Galilean Satellites. 

So whilst is sit envious of Mr Astrovanis extraordinary images I will remain crouched for another couple of years until Jupiter peeps over my observatory door again. 

And we’ve got a decent Mars opposition next year haven’t we?

Thanks for looking. 

Jarvo 

Love it. Can you push those wavelets in Registax a bit further? Looks like there’s more detail lurking in there. 

Jarvo

Where have the last 10 years gone !

Jarvo

See if you can tweak the gain and brightness settings in the capture software as the images look a bit dark. 

Im at nearly the same latitude 52 degrees and given up on Jupiter and Saturn for a couple of year but that’s mainly due to the observatory doors hampering the view. 

Jarvo 

These images never fail to impress. 

Great work!

Jupiter is too low down to clear my observatory window at the moment  

jarvo

Like that!

jarvo

Love a good Bubble! Brilliant image. 

Jarvo

On 20/05/2018 at 18:37, SAW said:

Hi,

I have tried numerous times now to get a decent image of Jupiter with my Mak150. There must be something I am doing wrong ?

I'm using Fire Capture and I am getting focus on Arcturus using a bahtinov mask, letting the Mak cool down for a good 2hrs yet my avi files are so grainy ? Using a 290MC and capturing in mono. I am probably going to sell the mak and send the camera back, just not happy with it.

Here is my log from Fire Capture last night with the imaged stacked in AutoStakkert, best 25% kept not sharpened. Even running it through Registax just makes it look worse.

FireCapture v2.5  Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=ZWO ASI290MC
Filter=L
Profile=Jupiter
Diameter=44.61"
Magnitude=-2.50
CMI=169.3° CMII=42.1° CMIII=269.5°  (during mid of capture)
FocalLength=1600mm
Resolution=0.37"
Filename=2018-05-19-2239_2-L.avi
Date=190518
Start=223845.282
Mid=223915.289
End=223945.296
Start(UT)=223845.282
Mid(UT)=223915.289
End(UT)=223945.296
Duration=60.014s
Date_format=ddMMyy
Time_format=HHmmss
LT=UT 
Frames captured=4275
File type=AVI
Extended AVI mode=true
Compressed AVI=false
Binning=no
ROI=600x600
ROI(Offset)=360x304
FPS (avg.)=71
Shutter=1.500ms
Gain=390 (65%)
AutoHisto=75 (off)
HighSpeed=off
WBlue=95
Gamma=50
WRed=48
USBTraffic=100
SoftwareGain=10 (off)
AutoExposure=off
Brightness=1
Histogramm(min)=0
Histogramm(max)=198
Histogramm=77%
Noise(avg.deviation)=n/a
Limit=60 Seconds
Sensor temperature=20.5 °C
 

2018-05-19-2239_2-L_g4_ap49.tif 419.83 kB · 149 downloads

Hi SAW. Think we may have the same Mak   I’ve put mine away for now as the planets are too low down but I used to get some similar results. 

Apologies if I’m teaching you to suck eggs but that image looks like the “before” stacked image before you tweak the wavelets in Registax. 

I’d process in registax only, use about 80% of the frames then adjust the top 2 wavelets the most and the remainder by only small tweaks. Don’t overprocess

As for barlows I’ve tried em all (x2 apo, x2.5 powermate, x5 powermate) .

The only one that gave me the best results was the x2 apo. Even the 2.5 drowned out the detail. 

Altitude is going to be a huge factor. Like I said I packed my Mak away and bought a refractor. Maybe not sell it because it will come into its own in a couple of years when Jupiter and Mars return (Saturn’s going to take years for us int North).

Cheers

Jarvo

I’ve got the 8mm and it’s great. Hope you like it. 

Jarvo

My beloved Esprit 100...

Jarvo

It’s a testament to this groups resourcefulness that a workaround solution has been found to this issue. I ended up getting new rings from OVL. 

I still think Skywatcher need to step up here. They are at the end of the day supplying kit that could fail catastrophically (this kit ain’t cheap). 

The stockists are great (Rother VO sorted me out) and FLOs reputation goes without saying.  

FLO - can’t you feed this back to Skywatcher? 

Jarvo

Hi Hamey. I had the same problem you essentially have two options 1) get in touch with your stockist and get replacement rings almost certainly via OVL. I did this and they swapped the with minimum fuss and the new ones are fine. Alternatively you can line the existing rings with adhesive Velcro. I’d go with the first option. You’ve spent a lot of dosh on your scope.  Let’s know how you get on. 

My 150mm Mak has an fl on 1800. Under good conditions I can use a 6mm Orthoscoptic EP which gives me 300x which gives good surface detail on Mars. Especially with an Orange filter. Recently purchased an Orange Wrattan (six quid off Ebay as opposed to £90 for a TV Bandmate) - bargain!

Jarvo

OK so maybe some might disagree.

I took the plunge last week an purchased my first Televue eyepiece.

I wanted a low power eyepiece as I have a 150mm Skywatcher Mak (focal length 1800mm) which is spot on for bright things but struggles with the standard eyepieces provided with the telescope when looking for fainter objects.

Started out looking at Mizar - pin point stars right to the edge of the field of view.

Then moved onto M35 in Gemini. The number of stars was truely awesome. Stars were sprikled over the field of view. Mesmerising.

Then moved onto the Moon. Viewed the Moon with the AE Apochromatic Barlow. Details were unbelievably crisp. Spent ages studying the Lunar Surface.

Next went onto Saturn with the Televue and Barlow. I though this would give me good magnification whilst the Barlow corrected any chromatic abberation. Again Saturn was point point sharp with a hint of the Cassinin division visable as well as a number of moons (I counted six).

As for the eyepiece itsself, even though it is one of the less expensive Televue products, it really is a quality piece of craftmanship. From the coatings on the glass to the green line on the barrel this really is an excellent eyepiece.

I suppose my point is this. There are cheaper eyepieces out there but the Televue ones really are a class apart. (And yes I am on a budget which is why I'm not reviewing an Ethos !!)

Hope this helps anyone considering their next eyepiece.

Jarvo