CraigT82

Nice work Magnus. The ‘stick It to the template then push it down onto the mirror’ technique is the same as the Catseye template that FLO used to stock but don’t seem to anymore. Works really well for getting it dead centre. 

9 hours ago, a6400 said:

Also I was told somewhere that with Cheshire you don't go for aligning the crosshair with spider vanes but isn't it what they are doing here?

 

I’m not sure why they are turning the sight tube to align the cross hairs with the spider vanes in that video. There isn’t any need for it. The cross hair in the sight tube is just to give you a centre reference as you look through the peephole: Doesn’t matter which way the crosshairs run. 
 

To primary collimate large newts in the dark a laser is by far the best option I’ve found. Something that allows you to see the collimating effect from the rear of the scope whilst you turn the screws. 
I use a Howie Glatter tublug with a cheap laser in it, works a treat but the tublug isn’t cheap. It employs a barlow element in the end so it doesn’t matter if you laser is slightly miscollimated itself.

Replacement mirror set for my old blue tube 300p. Bit extravagant but what the hell 😈

Yeah I’d say a tracking dob is best option if you’re having to include scope and mount in your budget. 

Hard to beat - budget wise - for planetary imaging too if that’s the route you’ll go down. 
 

One of the best planetary imagers going right now uses a 16” Skywatcher synscan dob. Check how amazing the tracking is….

Presumably the pier is going in the middle of your 1000kg block of concrete, so I wouldn’t worry too much about splitting it with the expansion bolts.  If you don’t have an SDS drill I’d heartily recommend the Titan one from screwfix, it’s a beast and makes drilling good holes in concrete a piece of cake. Can be used for all sorts too with the chisel/point bits and the rotostop function 

That lovely, tons of detail on jup when zoomed in. Very nice! 

For me, a pristine Starfield 102 in oklop bag for £350 on here. Also my old Fullerscope 8.75” f/7.5 on its mk3 mount (can’t remember what I paid but it wasn’t much)… best visual scope I’ve ever looked through that one.

15 hours ago, Paul M said:

Brilliant images. My favorites are:

1) The Aurora

2) Sprites, (a particular interest of mine.)

3) Moon v Mars, but it's surely contrived. At that image scale, motions will have prohibited any kind of stacking for a single frame? Or it's one "lucky" image!

For the Mars occultation image it will be two separate stacked images, one for lunar surface and one for Mars, then combined in post. 

Well…. Have been a bit out of touch with the hobby recently so decided the best way to remedy that was to spend some money on Astro kit 😈. To that end I’ve just placed an order for a John Nichol mirror set to replace the scratched old skywatcher originals. Going to be a bit of a triggers broom this scope. 

Fabulous images, really nice processing! 

2 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks Craig. A rare phenomenon  for everything to align in UK 🤣. I hope you have been managing some imaging too.

I’ve barely touched a scope in months… two little ankle biters plus ongoing house renovation means I haven’t got much spare time! Will get back on it soon though as the planets rise earlier 

That’s a real beauty of a capture… nice of the seeing to play ball when the GRS is smack bang in the middle! 

Yes it’s in the image stabilisation section, when you click on surface (as opposed to planet).

The options are expand or crop, try using the expand option rather than crop? 
 

7 hours ago, IB20 said:

Jupiter, my favourite of all targets, is coming in to view. I told myself not to look at it until it’s in a better position later in the year. Well that lasted all of 5 minutes. 
The versatility of a refractor on a higher tripod compared to a low down dob has made it easy to get it in view. I honestly don’t know what to say, it is just the most beautiful sight. The GRS is just rotating into view and is clear as day. The banding is sensational. The Galilean moons are just huge, with lovely airy disks.

I am a complete and utter 4” refractor convert. This is turning out to be the best night ever. 

I’m jealous! Didn’t get out with my 102 unfortunately. Did you get any chance to compare the Tak and the 102 under good seeing? 

On 23/06/2023 at 08:35, Rusted said:

Well done, but is the Barlow vital to proceedings? Do you need it to reach focus?

A smaller image scale would not be so badly affected by the seeing conditions.
I have used a range of five "Barlow" powers depending entirely on the seeing.
Mostly using single GPCs on the nose of the camera.

Before dismissing the larger aperture you might benefit from a skeleton tube.
Though still largely unproven, some solar imagers are enjoying success after building such "open" tubes.
I'd do some online homework on the subject before launching into a new build though.

Local seeing can vary enormously depending on time of day. Buildings under the light path, etc.
Some swear by early morning seeing. Before the sun's heat causes thermals.
My own seeing was best mid morning and [sometimes] just before sunset. Lots of big trees like yours.
This will vary from day to day and can only be confirmed by frequent imaging and/or visual monitoring.

Thanks Rusted, yes it’s going to need a lot more effort and persistence so I’m going to have to be patient. I did capture some videos without the barlow and although they seemed sharper initially, when scaled to match the barlowed image there was noticeable less detail than with the barlow. 
 

Not too sure about skeletonising the 300p… although it might make it a bit lighter 

On 23/06/2023 at 10:50, AbsolutelyN said:

Fantastic, would love to have go at solar imaging with a 12" newt! I built two filters for mine, one of them stops the aperture down to 200mm and that's the one I've had most success with - makes for an f/6 200mm newt.  I find persistence, collimation and focusing are key, I get mush at all times of day (99.99% of the day) but persist long enough and you can chance upon a brief moment of clarity - that's all you need - a fraction of a second of good seeing (and patience to process all the data). Good luck, look forward to seeing more. 

Thanks Tristan, yes I was afraid you’d say it was just down to waiting for the still moments, as that requires time which is what I have least of! Though if I can get close to the results that you produce though it’d be worth it for sure 

On 23/06/2023 at 18:57, neil phillips said:

You like to do things the hard way. As you say large optics like this will be difficult to thermally settle. But when it does with good seeing the results will be good. Showing some good structure Craig. I got a reasonable result with 245mm Newtonian stopped down to 190mm. I know the filter protects, but i got paranoid. I didn't like baking my old cherished Newtonian. But results were starting to look reasonable when i stopped. 

Well done on going all out on this. Not easy

Thanks Neil, might try making a stop down ring to see if that helps at all. Though I reckon it’s just a case of catching a moment of good seeing and the results will come, though I’m always impatient about getting results when I’m trying something new! 

14 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

What did you use to lag your scope with?

Thanks Pete, it’s just radiator backing from screwfix…

https://www.screwfix.com/p/radiator-reflector-foil-470mm-x-4m-1-88m-/88629?store=&kpid=88629&ds_rl=1249404&gclid=CjwKCAjwkeqkBhAnEiwA5U-uMymfB-IeUCyX48Cj3FNZa_gcfCJK-OSCCcyV5eVs7yVA1CDm9vTUvxoCwR0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

i think I’ll have the same issues as you at my location, better conditions in the morning:  probably due to the tarmac, roofs and concrete all around the estate warming up as the sun rises. 

Inspired by @AbsolutelyN and his 250mm Quattro it it's white light role, I have this week made up a DIY white light filter for my 300p using Baader ND5.0 film and had it out in the sun yesterday and today.  Yesterday's results were terrible but today's are a little better, though I think this big scope is going to need some decent seeing to work.

This morning at just before 7.30am I captured 5k frames and stacked 10%.  Used my Altair 290m and Baader Solar continuum filter, with Baader 2.25x barlow. I tried again at around lunchtime but the image was absolute mush.

Processing was AS3!>IMPPG>Gimp

Another one from yesterday. Same equipment as above but without the Barlow. 
 

Here is a close in shot of AR13333 taken this morning with a new to me Lunt Herschel wedge and Baader solar continuum filter in the back of my Starfield 102 frac (with Baader 2.25x barlow). Altair 290m camera. Stacked 10% of 5k frames, sharpened in Astrosurface and finished in Gimp.

2 minutes ago, Chris-h said:

Nice and sharp!

Funny enough, I just got the same scope delivered an hour ago! 😄

Excellent, you will love it I'm sure

Used a Baader 2.25x Q barlow to get closer into sunspot group Ar13333.  Dont think the seeing supported this FL to be honest, but good to play.

Haven't had a scope outside in months, mainly because I'm usually in bed before it's dark, so decided to do something about it and bought a Lunt Herschel wedge, Baader Solar Continuum filter and also ordered an Antlia 3nm calcium line filter from FLO.  Managed to put all to use this morning on the Starfield 102ED and this is the first pic I've processed. I also played around with a barlow and the calcium filter so will put up more as I get them finished.

Haven't really done any solar imaging before so not sure how its done properly. This was stacked best 10% of 5000 captured frames in AS3 (native focal length), then some levels and wavelets in Astrosurface, then colour in Gimp. 

Thanks for looking.

Edit: added the calcium image, bit softer than the 540nm but a little more contrast on the Faculae. Burnt it out in the middle... oops!

The thick and sticky Synta OE grease serves a dual purpose: to help hide slack manufacturing tolerances and to stay in place for a long long time (I opened up a 20yr old EQ6 and found the original grease all still in place and working as it should). I replaced it with Baader #1 machine grease which is also very thick and sticky (good for budget mounts Baader say) but with better lubricanting properties and better temp range. Good for between -15 and +55 centigrade according to them…. Should be ok for solar usage.

Failing that might eb worth to try and shade the mount whilst using for solar, might help prevent the want getting too warm and running off?