CraigT82

The bolts in my skywatcher 200p tube rings are M6x1.25 and 1 inch long

That is some serious image scale... What a scope! You might even have got some detail on the moon (Ganymede??) Did you process the video at all?

This shot really appeals to me! The definition in the southern highlands and the north pola region really gives it a 3D textured feel. Great work!

This one is about 8.75", I measured the primary at 220mm and it's got a fl of 1621mm so F7.4 ish. That's just a battery pack and cable for the fan I've got mounted behind the primary. The best mod for this scope is the motor focus which you can also see in the picture... really makes focusing a much less shaky affair!

An old non goto EQ6, tatty but solid and a steal at £200 on ukabs. Ye old fullerscope is much steadier on this compared to it's old mk3 mounting... now a proper lunar weapon!

The jupiter image in your original post doesnt show any dispersion so I'm not sure am ADC will help you. Have you checked the collimation of the mak?

Here is another priced at £750 from a dealer based in Birmingham... https://ensoptical.co.uk/index.php?_route_=telescopes/meade-8-lx200-classic-a I've no association with this dealer! EDIT: Apologies, just realised that one is an 8" rather than a 10"!!

Nice views here in bristol, lovely GRS and other details clearly visible. Using 200p on SXW tonight

I find it amazing that engineers/scientists from the pre-internet age can retain so much knowledge an information in their heads for pretty much instant recall. I guess they had to, looking stuff up in reference books would take too long!

Mendips is the good bet... not great if you're in North Bristol but still should only be approx 30 min drive. There is a spot called Velvet Bottom which is great. Approx 21.5 on the SQM with good views all round and parking out of the way. Wells and Mendip astro club have a 18" fullerscope Newt in a dome at the Charterhouse centre nearby, never seen it in use though.

Martin Lewis has a website with very good instructions... http://skyinspector.co.uk/atm-dispersion-corrector--adc

You can get mild steel plate in various width, lengths and thickness in B&Q. Also aluminium plate too, which will be easier to bend if you go that route

That 8" F8 will blow your socks of on most targets to be honest! You may benefit from the cheap SW motor focuser. With my 8.75" F7.5 the long tube makes tube vibrations pretty bad when focusing and the cheap motor makes things much easier and is easily adapted to most tubes/focusers.

Always like to see a bit of DIY tooling! I would probably make the table much closer to the disc - minimise the gap as much as possible to prevent snatching of the workpiece. you could look at picture of disc sanders on line to see what sort of table height, relative to the disc, you should be aiming for. Are you going to hold the drill trigger with one hand and the workpiece with the other? Those backing pads you linked to are soft faced and are meant for polishing really, you want a pad with a hard face for sanding such as this one... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-582050-Hook-Loop-Backing/dp/B00SXC86US/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=hook+and+loop+backing+pad&qid=1562838027&s=diy&sr=1-13 I think the 150mm would be fine as the drill is probably quite powerful compared with a commercial disc sander. Probably best to check the max RPM of the drill and see if it exceeds the max RPM of the sanding pad/discs.

Well done all.... smartphones continue their relentless march to world domination!

Have just come inside from a really pleasurable 30 mins viewing with my 102mm f11. Love Crisp shadow and a great big festoon in the NEB. The SEB looks a bit of a mess these days, not tidy and well defined like the NEB. First time I've actually laid eyes on Jupiter since 2017 I think! Thanks for the heads up Stu!

Oh I see, the actual stargate 500p... yes I've never done it before I'm sure you be able to get some images using a dslr and tracking in alt az. There is a thread on here full of images done with relatively short exposures and alt az tracking. You could search "stargate" or "500p"on Astrobin to see if anyone is already using one for imaging.

You mean the SW tracking dob mounts?Not sure a 20" tube would fit into any of the skywatcher tracking dob mounts?? The largest is the 14" (400P) and then you get into the stargate dobs. Maybe an EQ platform instead?

It looks like the gain settings in the firecapture image were much lower than in the sharpcap image, also you were only getting 4 fps in the firecapture video. which seems very slow There is definitely some differences in the default capture settings between the two that would need to be matched before comparing the two softwares.

I saw this image over on cloudy nights when you posted it initially and I thought it was a shame that I couldn't see it at full resolution over there. Now I can see it in all it's glory and it really is a wonderful image... If this were my own image I would definitely get it printed out and displayed on my wall!

You seem to have answered ypur own question in your post! I'd say it depends on the coatings, what dob is it? Hilux coatings are suppose to last 25 years.

You wont regret buying one... can be tricky to get set up for minimum dispersion but the results are well worth it!

I agree with the assertion that with all other things being equal, a mono camera would produce a planetary image which is a more truthful representation of the real image than an OSC, however all other things are rarely equal. Peach and Go etc... generally use C14's under steady sub arc-second-seeing skies at latitudes that puts the planets overhead and as such can actually reap the benefit of mono cameras for planetary imaging. For the real world average Joe UK planetary imager who has an ADC available to them*, variable 2-3 arc second seeing and lowish planetary latitudes I think it'd be nigh on impossible to tell the difference between a mono planetary image and an OSC one. And the OSC will be more productive, producing more images per session with less processing time. Of course if you or anyone else in the UK has taken mono/OSC comparison images on same night, same kit etc. I'd be very happy to see them. * The ADC is crucial when shooting with an OSC camera for a UK planetary imager, else the image will suffer with the smearing of fine detail due to atmospheric dispersion. Of course mono cameras will suffer too but to a much lesser extent, thanks to narrower band pass RGB filters (compared with the RGB filters built into an OSC camera) and also post process channel alignment.

Glad to hear your C8 is performing nicely. I'm of the opinion that a film of fine dust on the mirror surface accumulated over years wouldn't affect the sharpness or contrast of the views, but may well reduce the light throughput of the mirror, resulting in a sightly dimmer image. The before and after difference you describe certainly indicates to me that the cleaning was worth doing. One point I'd make is the international nature of the forum, and that it can be easy to miss-read the tone of the posts from members who's first language isn't English, as indeed it can be for any body of text written by someone not well known to us.

Cropping? I quoted your entire post. Thanks for the bayer matrix lesson. So please elaborate and tell us how that means mono wins hands down for planetary imaging.