alan potts

Jolly nice shot, like the shadow. Alan

Thank you for that Rodd, the veil is stunning with an Olll from my garden with my 18 inch, I do wonder what you top guys and gals would do with sky like mine where last night I could see M13 and later in the year M33 without optics.

Well that's one I don't think I've ever seen, beautifully done may I say. I have never used any form of narrow band filters on my Canon but I do have a some decent 2 inch ones I used for visual, Olll, UHC Hbeta and a deep sky filter which I think is basically a street lamp filter, don't actually know if any of them are useable. May I ask is there any advantage to the somewhat pricey Astrodon 3nm filter. Alan

I've seen these Paradigm's dressed up a good few different ways going right back to when I restarted in 2009, I first saw the from a US company, Astro Tech or something very much like that, I bought a 40mm from them which in turn was the same as the SW Aero. I don't use my eyepieces very much at all now since venturing into the Astro Photography side, must say that seem rather a waste of 26 Televues, in fact I was thinking of getting rid of some now I have moved the LX 200 from the observatory and rarely use the Dob. I feel though they are all going to much of a muchness, like so many and I have never seen anyone, like you, put them side by side. Alan

Look forward to seeing what you have to say, I'm a bit like you were, often told beginners to buy them without ever having one. Your other set the Meade HD were very overpriced over here when they came out, so much so I moved onto TeleVue, I had the SWA range and most of the UWA range beforehand. HD 's here in Bulgaria were 200 e each, may even have bee 225e, so long back I forget now.

Superb capture and amazingly sharp for such a small target, very well done, never seen this before on here but 42 hours, that's almost a day🙃. Alan

Always great images from yourself, I guess Jupiter is a bit better placed over in Brazil, it's not too bad here in Bulgaria. Alan

Though many times about putting one of these on my M/N 190mm, then didn't, still think about it when I see these threads, good focusers, I have 2 scopes with them on.

Never really thought about it but I feel the two previous cover anything I am likely to think of. Like Pete I do enjoy being outside with the capture and look up most of the time, even have my Dob outside as well sometimes. I could easily afford a complete remote set-up but like banging on with my AZEQ6 and scopes, am going to upgrade to a decent CMOS soon, then maybe I will sleep out there. Alan

Unless you check save alignment points in the EQ mod screen you will lose any data you enter every time, I was ages messing with this, I check the top two boxes and since have not lost any, touch wood, don't know if that is of any help.

After a 250 quid hit last weekend from the ASI071 savings pot for a guitar for my son, anything extra will not help me get one. I have just looked at the 4 cases of Televue eyepieces that have hardly been used in a year and wondered whether to of load some. Feel I am always going to be leaning more towards AP now. Sad thing is some of the scopes will never sell here for what they are worth and shipping them is out of the question. Some decent weather would be nice. Alan

Dave I feel this gradient is being caused by the laptop shining through the viewfinder, I have put a stop to it now but this is mixed data some fairly old (4 weeks ha ha) . I don't see it a vignette type of gradient as such where all 4 corners are affected in the the way a normal one manifests itself. I don't have any software for this, maybe I should get some, I know how to make various gradient filter in photoshop but they will never work as good as say Grad Exterminator, or at least when I make them they won't. I still want to save what I can for the 071 so don't want to shell out yet, then it will be another mount for next year. Thanks for the kind words Dave Alan.

This is taken over about 4 weeks a bit here and a bit there, I confess with little attention to detail and often when it wasn't really dark. Some nights were good seeing some fairly poor with fair from top quality guiding, but the result is reasonable I guess. This adds up to about 2 hours with the core held back by treating it in select/mask and holding back highlights a bit. Scope was my 805mm APO which I have to say I'm a bit reluctant to change for one of my others in case I mess up the PA, it took so long to nail it down. Camera is an old Canon modded 40D and subs are 2 minutes at 1600iso with some dither, flats, dark flats and the kitchen sink. Feel free to hack it to bits, it is the best way to learn, still getting that bit of gradient even though I have cropped this to try to get in a bit closer. I have masked the viewfinder now so I will see if this the problem, as most of my shots point east with the laptop almost behind the camera. Alan

A staggering amount of detail in this shot, rich in colour and I really find it hard to think I have seen a a better M33, a wow capture for sure very well done. Hope one day to get close to this standard. Alan.

Thats a great shame, the best thing I have ever seen is from Backyard Astronomer, a large plastic storage box turned on its side with holes for the cables. Alan

I have done it in the past John from a better position than yourself but it is far from easy even here. I used the m/n 190mm and rate it harder than Sirius. Alan

At that reduction it's the time to buy it, I got a secondhand simialar TS Red 0.79 and that is expensive enough at 380e, normally Riccardi are 700e area. Alan

I feel there are some very nice 80mm and 70mm scopes out there and of course more affordable, Gina's suggestion is nice the Espirit 80mm . TS did a nice 80mm carbon fiber scope at a bit over 1000e think they still do, never seen one but I know someone that has one and he loves it.

I guess without putting exotic words like Lzos or Lomo in the description as well as another few other high quality marques the Espirit range seem to take a bit of beating from what I have read and have seen results from and even here SW's offering would be so close to these as to barely matter. I did have here for a while a 90mm APO triplet from Telescope Services that performed very nicely, I very nearly bought one 5 years back, I believe it was F6. That said owning a APM larger scope I would go for the 100mm Espirit, fast and wide enough, if I were to buy tomorrow.

Nice report, from memory I have split it with the M/N 190mm. My skies are very good here (most of the time) and I don't recall it being a difficult one, but if you have had problems with a 10 inch, then it must be, maybe it is all about conditions like Sirius. Alan

Well when I get round to doing it I will let you know. Weather is poor lately though last night was clear but with close to a full moon, didn't bother in the end. I think the AZ EQ has a higher weight rating than the EQ6 but I could be wrong, I feel if I were to fit it up it may be with the .63 reducer which make the length a bit more manageable for someone without any experience at this longer length. Alan

The good thing is I already have the ADM rail for it, to try it would not take so long. Alan

As a pure field flattener the Hotech SCA I feel works very well indeed, you can get them from FLO. I use it with a Canon camera on a 800mm F7 scope, I believe they can handle F5-F8, I bought it on the recommendation of a very fine on site imager .

Can I ask what sort of weight the 12 inch is on the mount with the other running gear. I have a AZ EQ 6 and would like to try my Meade 12 inch SC on it, I have always thought it was a none starter as the mount is rated at 25kg and I think the tube is about 18kg but can't find any info, 10in yes and 8 inch but not 12. Interesting build and nicely done if I may say, the bricks you are using are the exact same I made a wall of outside😀. Alan