neil phillips

3 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Have got it, picked it up last Friday but have been away from home this week and so not done anything with it yet. Will be adding a 120mm fan and baffle for the rear plus will wrap the tube with reflectix to reduce tube currents. Also got a moonlite  base plate on order so I can fit my motorised CR2. 

Sounds great dont expect great things immediately often takes work. more blur than your 8" but good seeing good collimation and a IR 685 should do well. Good luck your backs going to need it.

I prefer smaller version too cheers Mike

52 minutes ago, Roy Foreman said:

Thank you Neil.  I guess the advantage of using a large aperture is not one of resolution but of gathering more light to enable faster exposure time and freeze the seeing more. Glad to like the images !

True about the exposure time Roy. But there are numerous examples of larger scopes producing better resolution.  Btw what 16" is it ?

As Crag said lovely detail that 16 " is pulling out lots on the Floor Ptolemaeus 

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

Neil this is astonishing! Looking at the 100% image that little scope is resolving details it has no right to. Absolutely everything must have come together for this one. Did you use any filter with the 462c? (Have just ordered a 462c myself) 

The overall tonality is just right for me, the contrast range  is very natural and subtle looking. 

 

Thanks for  saying that Craig. Been putting in a lot of effort to come back to astronomy recently. Money too. Some of of which is yet to see the light of day. When i first started i couldnt control this wobbly EQ2 mount. or wayward cheap RA drive. But practice makes perfect. As you know i have been banging away for weeks now. So yes your right everything had to come together. Enjoying my astronomy again. Appreciate the chats we have had. Congrats on the camera i am enjoying mine. I am sure you will too. Though i do want a 290m again for sure. When you getting the 300p ? If you ever want to pm. No worries. And yes UV IR CUT 

Cheers

2 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

Excellent detail and a very natural look, well processed!

Still some daylight creeping into the image becoming darker later, so not perfect. But seeing good. This small Newtonian really is super sharp. i got good collimation this night. Could see down to the level of pin pricks live on screen. I absolutely adore this little scope. doubt i can do much better without better equipment. Cheers Nik

Celestron powerseeker 114 Newtonian. EQ2 Mount economy RA Drive. QHY 462 C camera. Celestron Omni 2x barlow. F16. 

First is 75% downsized. Second is 100% Around 20 panes with lots of overlap Greyscale

More  happy with the balance of this one

lovely result Trevor

6 hours ago, Roy Foreman said:

Hi Neil - I found that the 19th was a lot steadier than the 20th.  Haven't processed the data sufficiently yet to tell from my results. but I am in a different part of the country to you so that might make a big difference. On both nights I was shooting in twilight, which is normal for me as I find the air is steadier at this time where I live. I was using a red filter which really helps in the battle against turbulence, so I would have thought that your IR filter would have done an even better job - as you were expecting also.  I can't explain this, other than to say that maybe the red / IR filters reduce micro turbulence at the fine detail level, but not the 'macro' turbulence where the whole moon appears to ripple and shift about. Your exposure times might possibly play a part in this also. 

In spite of all this you do seem to have recorded some fine detail, which is what caught my eye. Good luck and hope you manage to resolve this

Roy

 

Cheers for that Roy, as you say so many possibilities probably will never know, but seeing did seem more stable here on the 20th interesting it was the opposite for you. Probably some regional difference. Having said that it wasnt awful on the 19. just more heat but with IR 850 ? Which seemed odd

Good report. look foward to seeing what it can do under good conditions

34 minutes ago, Stu said:

Indeed they are! This is my 8” f8. Lovely for lunar and planetary.

Lovely 8 there Stu must be superb. I see tracking there too

29 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

Superb images! These long tube Newtonians are really good, at F7 or F8 I guess? They don't make make many slow focal ratio scopes like that any more, which is a shame, they seem to be excellent for planetary work.

By the way did somebody get the 'eyes of Calvius' last night, around 9pm? Clavius C and Clavius D were the only craterlets illuminated and they looked like an owl staring at me. I was doing only visual and was too tired to fiddle with the camera, focusing etc. Still was rather hoping somebody took an image of this 

Hi Nik not noticed it yet, but if i do see it, should be able to post at some point. Long focus Newts are killer for lunar. Sky watcher do a 6" F8 for a good price that i would like to try. Infact FLO sell a Bresser 6" F8 Dob that can also be split for imaging. I saw on there website

Some good detail on those Roy 

1 minute ago, Stu said:

Yes, that’s an impressive effort. I tried it briefly in my Tak FC100DC and I could just about see a section of it, but in the 8” it was clear.

Seeing was pretty good last night, some slowish wobble but the detail remained good, and occasionally excellent.

A good assesment of what i was seeing last night too 

6 minutes ago, vineyard said:

Those are lovely. Delicate, sharp & v nicely processed (the textures on the 3rd one in particular) 👍🏾 

Thanks Vineyard much appreciated

2 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Yeah the ringing is a real PITA, and in the past I've junked images altogether because I just couldn't control it. I'd love to see some kind of paper on what it is exactly and how it comes about. 8

Saying that though it really is barely there in Mike's images and only visible when pixel peeping... definitely doesn't take anything away from the overall images which are top notch. 

100% agree with that. You have a good eye Craig i didnt notice it at first. Some show it more than others. But Mike should not get too drawn into it i dont think. Possibly try and trace it. But clearly that scope is Awsome the resolution and detail is astounding. Some of the best at this size i have ever seen. The processing also looks sublime. Inspirational infact.

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Excellent shots Neil. Hadley Rille was looking very good last night which you’ve caught in your last shot. 

Cheers Stu yes as mentioned to Craig a first for me with this size scope.  Seeing was pretty stable last night. Sounds like you had good seeing too ?

2 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Superb Neil! Even got a clear view of the rille in Valles Alpes. Hadley Rille looking lovely too.

Hi Craig getting the Rille surprised me. I have never got it with such a small scope before. A first for me. Spent time tweaking collimation last night both the secondary (preferring to use a coli cap than my laser) and the primary with a cheshire. Collimation was def better i thought. What with the good seeing Very pleased how the little scope performed. Sentimental to me too, as it is my daughters 15 year old birthday present. (We are very close love her with all my heart) Was in a bad way but recently flocked it. cleaned and centre stickered the primary. Hiluxed the secondary

was tired last night forgot to add was using a 2X Omni Celestron Barlow in the imaging train. Getting better at tweaking this cheap economy manual RA drive (powered with a 9 volt battery) Then when i first started.

You set the speed with a little rotary dial. fine for a bit then its off again. But spending a lot more time tweaking this variable speed setting.  Which has allowed me to up the focal length to F16 

1 hour ago, Roy Foreman said:

Very nice detail and quality. Well done. I have yet to process my images from the 19th and 20th !!

Hi Roy not sure what you thought ?  but on the 19th i captured a whole mosaic in IR850. Yet on screen there is clearly a lot of heat ripple. Which IR is supposed to to reject especially at 850nm. But last night. shooting in Colour with just a  IR UV  block. The image was almost (not quite) dead still. Just wondering did you notice more heat disturbance on the 19th compared to the 20th ? Cheers for any feedback 

Pretty good seeing tonight. Too tired to process. Need my big scope running. But this little 114mm  Newt punches way above its weight.

EQ2 mount QHY 462c converted to greyscale

Good detail was a nice night out there 

Nice capture lovely natural processing

Yes Mike totally stunning. Now where talking. Nearly fell of my chair when these started popping up. That new scope looks seriously good. Just totally awsome.

Detail and processing looks quite magical to my eye. Ringing can sometimes be difficult to get rid entirely.  Though Craig is correct there is some double ringing and is helping you out drawing attention to it. In the past sometimes i found it difficult to trace. Seeing can cause it. processing too. With this level of quality it really doesnt hinder the quality in the slightest in my estimation. Lovely work Mike. Man i need a 290. Your tickling my lunar senses here big time. way to go. Inspirational comes to mind. Your teaching me now i think

Again in daylight. Getting better at controlling this wobbly EQ2 Mount. Hand positioning each lunar pane. Also getting better at controlling drift on this Economy RA drive  Now with a barlow.

Lower contrast because of the light. But seeing not too bad. Celestron 114. F8 Power seeker Newtonian. Celestron Omni 2x barlow. QHY462c IR850