CraigT82

An 8" SCT and a ASI120mc-s with a 2x barlow is a very capable planetary imaging set up. The key to planetary imaging is to shoot videos rather than still images. The planetary camera has a much smaller sensor with smaller pixels and most importantly is capable of very fast frames rates (100fps+) which is critical. Do you have a laptop with a SSD drive and USB3 ports? You'll need these to get the best out of the camera. If not you may be better off persisting with the DSLR, using it in 1 to 1 video crop mode if it has it, and using a barlow too to get a bit more image scale.There are plenty of tutorials online to show how to process the video afterwards, the best thing is that all the software you need is free.

I really enjoyed that, 15 mins well spent! Im not a beginner but I do appreciate all the production thats gone into your vids and that is really key to getting people into the channel I think. Looking forward to the next one

"Contributed over 250,000 CCD observations" 🤯

The bright limb on Mars is very common and is a sure sign that the sharpening is being pushed too far, however yours isn't too bad at all. The 'blue haze' over the north pole region is perhaps a bit more prominent than it should be, but at the scale presented I think it looks fine. For a bigger image you could try resizing 150 or 200% in photoshop or gimp, I'm sure it can be done in lightroom too but not sure how. Or do you mean you want to capture at a larger scale? In which case yes a shorter EP or barlow are pretty much your only options I think, I'm not really familiar with shooting with DSLRs.

Has it had the belt mod done to it?

nice work lovely and sharp. The brighter one for me

very nice results tons of details visible in both

lovely work, the F20 version is the one for me

Great result Pete well worth getting up for. I find turning down the levels on the blue channel a tad helps with the bright SPC

That's a very good point and definitely something for me to consider, thanks! Yes I've just done the calcs and we have a whopping 1152mm radius of swingqith the Fullerscope so 8x8 is not gonna cut it! Pier will be steel most likely, bolted to concrete block in the ground through hole in floor. Thanks Olly those are very good suggestions. I particularly like the anti-lift roof design. The outside of mine will probably be covered on the outside in artificial living wall which goes on easy and looks great (and will be a key condition from my wife in exchange for permission to build!). My garage is covered in the stuff and it really improves the look. Will most likely go with plywood of some sort over the framework.

Thats fantastic thanks for sharing. What timber did you start off with for your rafters?

Hmm wondering if anyone has built their obsy on heavy duty deck blocks? These look good especially with the RC beams to go on them... https://www.wrekinconcreteproducts.co.uk/products/concrete-beam-beam-block-system/

Yeah and my fullerscope is actually longer than that so may need to think about going up to 10ft x 10ft. Is there any kind of calculator anywhere to calculate the 'swing' area of an eq mounted scope? Thanks, is that because the corner posts would gradually soak up moisture through the concrete?

Just starting to think about designing and building my first obsy to house my EQ6 mounted fullerscope (and then a 12" f5 newt in the near future). I've come up with a preliminary design for the framework and general outline of what I want, though having never done this before I'm not sure if I'm going wrong. Not decide on what would be going on the outside, probably T&G, and a ply roof. My first priority is general sturdiness, I want it to be solid and fairly simple too. I also want low walls to give decent views down to around 15 degree alt hence the low height of it! The door is pretty low but as I'll only be going in there a couple dozen times a year at best I'm not fussed about that. Please take a look let me know what you'd do differently! 8x8 Observatory-Framework.pdf

Thanks should go to @paulastro for getting Ade to revive the page!

You can get socket power monitors with will tell you the current draw on a little led screen. Cost about 12 quid online and no need to split off the live wire. Only useful for mains powerd mounts though.

I own a 8.75" f7.5 newtonian and it is a much bigger scope than the 8" f6, which I also own. I think the f8 scope you mention may be and older scope and may require some updating? Ie modern focuser and finder etc? Or does it have those already? It should provide really nice views but would be a handful to use due to size and length.

nice work plenty of detail cisible and great image scale

Very nice, well worth getting out there

So then if the spider hub is centred, and the focuser is square, perhaps the secondary is tilted on it's hub? In which case you can use the secondary collimation screws to bring it into line as @Ricochet says above

How do you know it's square to the tube? If the secondary is definitely centred in the tube, but is not centred in the view through the focuser, that would indicate that the focuser is not square to the tubes axis?

The moolite should have tilt adjustment screws i think, so should be easy to adjust until the secondary is centered

Very nice work, especially with a 6" f5. The green colour cast (you get it with all colour cams) should be easily corrected, I find the rgb balance function in registax to do the best job at that

That's a great effort, very nicely done!

This depends on the scope aperture and focal length shooting at. But you wouldn't want to shoot stills anyway, video is the way to go with the planets.