bomberbaz

Hello everyone, I trust all are keeping well during these trying times.

Ok so first time out tonight with my new camera, the ZWO ASI 224MC.  Had great fun playing around and took some pictures with it. 

However results were as expected from my attempts, pretty poor.  

First thing I am making the bahtinov mask tomorrow, that's going to help of course. Been sat on my desk for 5 days, lazy sod that I am.

I have watched a couple of hours worth of tutorials but just wndering if anyone has any other information/links and or tutorials to help me get my head around things. 

Using sharpcap pro with a 80mm, F7.5 frac. 

I know the frac speed isn't helping, but for now that is what I have to go with. 

TIA

Steve.

There is a society available in preston, here on facebook

Preston and District Astronomical Society

15 minutes ago, Stu said:

That’s the beauty of the FC100DC, fantastic views from an OTA that will go on pretty much any mount very easily.

Just had a look at this on FLO, tis a truly, very nice looking OTA. Think If I do buy a upgraded frac then as I said before, its going to be something worthwhile having. 

25 minutes ago, John said:

I agree with Stu about optical quality mattering. The best white light views I've had are with my ED120 and my Tak 100mm F/9. My Vixen ED102SS is F/6.5 and also pretty good but the Tak is even better

 

Mind made up John thanks, I am definitely doing nothing. 

If I did buy anything it needs to be worthwhile and with all that is currently going on it isn't justifiable.

thanks everyone, I shall carry on as I am.

14 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

What mount do you have?

I have that scope and it feels under mounted on AZ4 - because it is long. I see that you have AzGti mount? I would not even think of putting such a long scope on AzGti.

You would not put which OTA on the AZ GTi, the Evostar 102 ?

8 minutes ago, Stu said:

Chromatic aberration is less of an issue than spherical aberration. CA can be filtered out with a Continuum filter, but SA really kills the fine detail needed to get good views of granulation. A decent 4” apo would certainly do the job, but so would a 102mm f11 as these are well corrected in SA generally. As said by John, a 120ED is a great choice too.

Thanks Stu, I was looking at OTA's in various focal lengths but always the issue of weight kicks in as you get bigger and longer.  If I do decide to get another OTA, I would probably look to keep it useable on my existing mount. 

Therein lies another problem, it's rated up to 5kg but I wouldn't like to slap a long ota at that weight on it, it would be really unstable.

If I do keep the existing mount, get a longer focal length OTA and keep the weight down I am looking along the lines of a Skywatcher Black Diamond Line Refractor 102/1000mm OTA LINK  Fairly certain its the Evostar 102mm, weight though quoted at 3.5KG. Sweet spot!

Anyway, not going to do anything for now, think I will spend more time at the eyepiece with the existing OTA and now I have received my zoom, try tweaking the magnification a little and get more out of this with patience. 

25 minutes ago, laudropb said:

I think the main problem is the seeing conditions. Only when it is good can I get up to near 200x using using a SW ST 102 mm scope. Of course using my ED 120 makes things much easier.

Thanks Laudropb, although I would have thought a part of the problem with the startravel 102 would be chromatic issues, think I got that right.

Although I am not sure how or indeed if that affects the overall view of the sun. Part of the reason I am asking tbh.

I recently was asking after wedge advice and have since bought a Lunt, great piece of kit. Really like it, used it several times already and practice is now starting to bring out granulation with difficulty. Struggling to get great results mainly due to the OTA I am using. An F7.5 80mm frac. Can't really take it much over x150.

On the previous thread there was mention of a 4" OTA being the best real starting point due to I believe aperture allowing to squeeze this up to x200.

I am looking for is any comments or personal experience and what they are using for white light viewing. 

I intend having a session tomorrow. Wind is supposed to drop so will get what bit of work needs doing first thing then afternoon of solar.

Have you considered these from William Optics, slightly (1mm) oversized:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/william-optics-eyepieces/william-optics-swan-eyepiece.html

I have used this in the Celestron SE8 smit/cass OTA. Great views in a slower scope. Crystal with no aberrations at F10.

Also I have used a Nirvana 32mm/82 eyepiece before in an F4.8 dob.

My opinion is the swan is a better eyepiece to use, much friendlier on the eye which allows you to get a more relaxed view. However if your in a faster (+F6) ota, the nirvana will serve you better. 

cheers

steve

20 hours ago, John said:

These were the sharpest eyepieces that I've used - a University Optics HD ortho 5mm and a TMB Supermonocentric 5mm. The latter is probably the best high power eyepiece that I have ever owned in terms of sharpness, contrast and lack of light scatter. With a 30 degree AFoV and about 2.8mm of eye relief it was hard work though. Vixen have done very well to produce their HR range that deliver excellent performance and provide 10mm of eye relief.

I hear what you say about a sharp and contrasty view but for me the lack of ER would straight away make me turn off. I was viewing the sun the other day using a 6mm generic plossl and it really wasn't fun, this was on a gti goto mount too.  I wouldn't like to use the same setup non driven. (NB: since bought a decent zoom for solar)

I am one of those who likes to sit at the eyepiece and not unduly struggle to get a comfortable position at it and just let the photons fall upon my retina without having a constant battle to centre the object in question. Maybe this makes me a lazy gazer 😄

I have taken my dob up to near 250 using the Nikon with their 102 fov and 16mm ER and still find that a pleasing experience.

8 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I have 2 diopters of astigmatism, and I can indeed get away without using eyeglasses at sub-1mm exit pupils, but there is still some minor improvement even then when I swap in my eyeglasses.  Once I get below 0.7mm exit pupil, floaters become a huge issue for me, so I have a narrow window of opportunity not to wear eyeglasses.  According to TV's Dioptrx chart below, you must have about 0.75x diopters of astigmatism.

Actually just checked my latest script and its 1.5, they did advise me this has changed a little. So according to that I should be getting issues right down to 1.5mm. However like I said I seem to find it ok below 3mm.

I think though given the above chart and my latest script some additional testing is required.  Perhaps my need has changed without me realising, we will see.

Cheers Louis 👍

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

Unless you need to wear eyeglasses at the eyepiece due to strong astigmatism.  I measured mine to have between 9mm and 11mm of usable eye relief making the already narrow AFOV (33 to 49 degrees) even narrower.

I do have astigmatism but find that once the exit pupil is less than 3mm it no longer causes a serious issue, therefore I do without my glasses. 

I have found this out after a long time of ignoring many eyepieces due to low eye relief, now I know better. You should try higher powered EP without your glasses, you may be surprised.

Anyway, I have ordered the OVL as it offers all I require of it at the right price.

Thanks to all for their input, much obliged as always.

Steve

Looking for an eyepiece for my lunt white light viewing. I am using a 80mm aperture FL600 OTA so realistically I do not want to go above x160.

Had a nosey at some options including:

celestron 8-24,

Skywatcher 7-21 or 8-24,

OVL hyperflex 7.2-21.5,

Baader Hyperion 8-24 

Lunt 7.2-21.5.

So obviously the OVL is a copy of the lunt and the SW / celestron 8-24's are along the same lines as the baader zoom.

My aim is to get close into the sun to bring out the granulation, a 4mm ep gives me x150, which is why the above options are being considered for use with a barlow which I already own.

Costs vary a very lot for the above. The SW 7-21 comes in around 40 quid but the baader is topping £180. I don't mind spending but not without good reason. So although the Lunt zoom is well thought of, is the extra near 100 quid over the OVL worth it.

Advice, personal experience and opinions please people. 

TIA, Steve

personally I have never used ortho eyepieces, so not really able to comment on this.

However I have had Delos and XW glass, I owned both these and the Nikon 17mm in my sig for a time. The Nikon 17mm replaced the 14 & 17mm Delos at the time I bought it.

 I bought the 12.5mm Nikon later  and so the remaining delos and XW went shortly after but I digress.

I found the Nikon to be as good as the delos and XW across like for like fov.  

I still love using them and imo the 17mm gives a much richer view than the nagler 26 on certain dso's.

I would relish the opportunity to compare the nikon with ethos. Sadly with the current situation that is not going to happen anytime soon.

Anybody used this either visual or imaging wise I would be interested to hear feedback.

A look at their light transmission charts doesn't really tell me much other than it seems to let far more light through than either a Optolong's std light pollution filter or their UHC with no other variance on what it doesn't let through.  There is also no apparent reason why it lets through the extra light as it doesn't seem to affect according to the transmission charts. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/optolong-filters/optolong-l-pro-light-pollution-broadband-filter.html

Lets face it, the main reason for any filter is to reduce unwanted photons from a specific wavelength so I cannot see why this is so special and why it warrants such a price tag but I hope to be enlightened (sorry no pun intended)

Anybody got any info?

Cheers, Steve. 

6 minutes ago, Merlin66 said:

They "compensate" each other...the f ratio remains unchanged.

(I wouldn't recommend using this configuration - added glass, added problems for no gain)

 

This was as I thought, thansk for the reply so quick.

steve

Agreed, I have a 127 mak and its for double stars, globular clusters and although i have not yet tried, might be effective on planetary nubula's.

perhaps someone can tell me if that last statement holds water.

I use the AZ Gti wifi mount with a wedge and love it. It gets used for 3 different ota's

Ok so here is a question regarding the combined effect of reducer and barlows. In simple terms below:

I am aware that if you add a reducer to a OTA, in lowers the F ratio. EG. F10 OTA plus 0.5 reducer = F5

A barlow basically increases magnification by whatever factor the barlow has. EG, 2x barlow on a 20mm EP gives you a equivalent 10mm EP

My query is if I screw a 0.5 reducer into a EP and then slot it into a 2x barlow, In theory the magnification is not altered but what is the effect on F ratio.  

Cheers

Steve

thanks for all the responses guys, took delivery of a lunt wedge along with baader continuum filter today, good conditions to try it out. 

I enjoyed a good hour with it under a hot but very quiet sun.  I didn't check out the H-A scope for activity but no sign of any spots in white light.

I see what you mean about tuning your eyes to the view in order to pick out granulation, I was managing to get a little towards the end after trying different ep's and magnifications but it was difficult to get detail.  I think with further viewing and training the eye I can improve on it but probably the issue effecting it the most is a lack of aperture. I think I will see how I get on before I rush out and change/upgrade OTA's though.

Cheers, Steve

Thank you all for your thoughts. I think I will be going with the ASI224 and use the sharpcap software. 

TBH I was already sold on sharpcap after reading these forums. The fact it is one of the easier software package made this very attractive to me.

Anyway, great replies, very helpful and answered all my queries very well. 👍👏

Thanks guys. You have actually confirmed what I feared, the i3 processor which is from around 5 years since will be pushing itself to the limit. However there is little else on the laptop, so all it's limited resources would be able to push towards the camera.

I will have a ponder over the two camera's and email Ian King at flo for his take before I push the button. 

Also maybe some others will empart their wisdom on here too in the meantime.

PS. Budget was a consideration but not over riding the simplicity.

Oh and if I had a long enough cable, I should be able to operate from indoors. The mount can be controlled wireless from my main PC or Iphone, that would actually work well as its very high spec but for now I am happy to play in the back garden.

Steve.

Full Moon from just now. Bit of processing gone into this though. Not too bad a job. Sony HX400 at F6.5 - 17 stills stacked in Registax.  These all taken with low ISO and exposure. Think I should have upped the ISO on some and tried stacking a few with the others to give it more depth. Still learning.

Can't see it for looking; is what they say around here.

Hello everyone in here.  

Presently I am mainly visual but recently I have been getting interested in video astronomy again. Initially looking at simple ish things such as Moon, Sun (I have herchal wedge and lunt scope) and brighter DSO's with the option to go deeper later on.

Any camera will be mainly attached to a F7.5 80MM frac on a SW  goto GTI mount.

I have two things to consider. 

1. I am looking to keep the setup simple from the get go. I don't want a spiders web of cables going everywhere. With that in mind I was looking at USB camera's that I can operate from a dedicated laptop. <(specs: intel i3 processor, 8GB memory, 1000gb HD, USB 3 compliant).
2. Simple(ish) software operation which preferably does live stacking. I have read a lot that sharpcap pro is the best for this but I am unsure as there are others mentioned too. 

Anyway based on the above I have looked at 2 camera's based on what is mentioned in these forums, both ZWO. The  ASI 224MC  & the ASI 290MC . 

The specs are 1.2Mega Pixels 1304 x 976 for the 224 camera with pixel size 3.75µm or  2.1Mega Pixels 1936×1096 and pixel size of 2.9µm for the 290.  However I am not sure how all this translates when it comes to what you see at the business end. The rest of the specs might as well be written in chinese.

I have an idea as you can see what I am aiming to do but I want other peoples experience to help me make the right choice. Oh I am not set on the ZWO's, but they just seem highly thought of.

TIA all for any advice, please keep it relatively simple. 

Steve.