neil phillips

6 hours ago, faulksy said:

i use sergical grade cotton wool

Just noticed your using a Antares 1/30th. Just installed mine. Do you know if the secondarys are silicon over coated. 

2 hours ago, Adam J said:

As lightly as you can you touch something lol. Very lightly I would suggest. The advantage is that the cotton wool can catch something and drag it across the mirror without you noticing. This can be felt with fingers. It's not possible for your fingers to actually scratch the coating the skin is softer than the mirror coating, it is particles of grit you need to worry about. You wash your hands with pure soap first as per the method. The last disadvantage of cotton wool is that I find it always leaves little fibers on the mirror. 

For a refractor I use cotton wool as you can't run water over it. 

Your fast convincing me this is what i should do. Thanks for the discussion

4 hours ago, Adam J said:

I find that for mirrors the finger method is superior. 

Please elaborate. I am interested in peoples experiences. And finding the safest way to clean this. If the finger tip method is the best. Then i should certainly be doing it

Thanks for the feedback

5 hours ago, faulksy said:

i use sergical grade cotton wool

Yes thats what i read is best. 

5 hours ago, JSeaman said:

I did my 300PDS last year, I just used supermarket cotton wool, there was no issue with streaking or contaminants.

This removed all of the surface muck and then the most effective thing I found was using a sprayer like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-0-5L-Spraymist-Trigger-Sprayer/dp/B0017RKEJM/ref=sr_1_26?dchild=1&keywords=sprayer&qid=1615718387&sr=8-26 with the distilled water (I have lots of this from working on cars). I found it incredibly effective at shifting any small bits of dust/hairs and left no marks at all.

 

Used a shower head to do similar. The primary needs contact cleaning unfortunately

18 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Instead of cotton wool you could get a box of zeiss optical wipes. Each wipe is individually packaged and so is clean and free from particulate contamination, and already impregnated with cleaning solution (Isopropanol & ethanol, a preservative mixture of : 5 - chloro - 2 - methyl - 2 H - isothiazol - 3 - one and 2 - methyl - 2 H - isothiazol - 3 - one (3:1).

Currently less than £15 for a box of 200 online. agreed

I use these and gently drag over the mirror surface from inside to outside, fresh wipe for each drag (after blowing or rinsing all the dust and loose material off first).

 

Hi Craig. The optical wipes being Zeiss can be trusted to be free of contaminants agreed.  I seem to get sleeks with the slightest pressure. As such I still feel cotton submerged lightly floating over the mirror is my safest bet. Sleeks can be a hit and miss affair whatever is dragged over the surface. Would feel more comftortable doing techniques i have done before. But i am unsure of the best quality cotton wool. 

Hi guys recently tried cleaning my 10" primary 1/10th Orion optics. I tried submersing in water for 10 minuets  with a few drops of washing up liquid.

Used a shower head to try and get grub off. Then a final rinse with distilled water. But its not really worked well enough. So am thinking of submersing in water again

And gently dragging the surface with cotton wool. Does anybody have any ebay links of brands of cotton wool. That are safest for this ? What should i be using ?

  I have seen the fingertip method of rubbing the primary. But feel cotton wool submerged can be a lot lighter. I am also using this distilled water from the ebay. Which seems good quality. But again hard to know what to trust ?

Distilled Water 1L Pure Chem | eBay

Any discussion appreciated as these mirrors are not cheap. And i want to get it right.

6 minutes ago, Freddie said:

Not the exact same mount but does this help?

 

 

Hi Freddie was going to message you actually. Thanks for the link. Will do some reading on this. Though was hoping there was a quick adjustment that could be made to loosen the tightness of the axis. 

Hi guys would like to get my Old EQ3 Mount running again. Is there anyway to adjust the declination. scopes cant be balanced as the axis is way too stiff

cheers for any advice

2 hours ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Hi, yes, AVI files stacked in Autostakker3 and sharpening in ImPPG. I usually take a 1000 frame AVI file and stack 40% Then I transfer the sharpened image into Photoshop but that's just for adding false colour..

Again thanks for the info. I will check that out. Out of my depth here. So experienced knowledge always helps. 

39 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Well done on your first solar imaging session. Have you tried ImPPG for sharpening after stacking? 

Hi Nigella. No i havent tried that. Is this a routine you do yourself?  Cheers for the heads up

Cheers for the positive comments guys

2 hours ago, Stu said:

No need to go easy, those are great shots! Presumably stacked video? Looks good to me.

Cheers Stu yes lucky imaging

 First attempt at filming the sun. Completely the wrong equipment. Baarder visual film. QHY 462 Colour camera. SW 70MM F12.8 frac EQ2 Mount

was surprised how sharp the image was, can see some granulation. Go easy guys.

23 hours ago, WestCoastCannuck said:

Thanks Mark!

 

I wish I had a friend close by with your skills!  Have another 130 Newt I picked up for my boys.  Have not looked at it yet.

If messing with Newtonians hasnt been your thing. I would say watch a few youtube vids. On setting them up. Trouble is, getting yours hands dirty, and your eye  accustomed to seeing the errors, is really the best way to learn. Dont underestimate the power of Newts. Both on your wallet and performance. What i paid for the SW300p

And the images i got, belie belief. If you ever fancy a cheap project. Dont go below F5 preferably F6. It will be easier to get a good result. Error wise and its effects.

But once you get used to it, it does start to fall into place. If you ever want to look at your boys 130, Just pm me, i can walk you through it Mike.

8 hours ago, si@nite said:

Well captured as always Neil. as said above lovely colour rendition!

Thanks Simon its been a lot of fun starting to image again.

Sounds like a nice refractor.  Good luck for it working out as you say.

Newtonians can be a hassle. Just cleaned the primary and cobwebs out the tube. of my 245mm. Reset the primary in its cell.. Still need a mount.  Antares Secondary should  be here soon. 

8 hours ago, WestCoastCannuck said:

Thanks Neil!!   I just took the plunge and have a new scope coming my way - so I have likely guaranteed the crappy weather to keep coming for some time.  LOL....  But I can hardly wait!   😎

Please tell what scope you getting ?

1 hour ago, morimarty said:

I love to see these Vegetated lunar images. Neil this is stunning.  Nice to see you posting again.

Thanks Morimarty

I think if our eyes were sensitive enough, Perhaps we would see some colour in the sky. 

Yeah the pandemic is changing everything. Going back to what feels comfortable 

Astounding Luc. Just awe inspiring

Like velvet. Someone who appreciates the unforced natural balance in sharpening.

Lovely mono tones

4 hours ago, WestCoastCannuck said:

Looks great Neil.   Really nice colour and detail.

Thanks Mike

Looks better to me at reduced scale. should keep a softer version before i delete it. 

If anyone fancies a play with it, here it is straight out of the stack. The colour balance was done accurately. Yet when saturated looked very red heavy. So i adjusted by eye. With still a slight lean in red. From what i am seeing. Need a mono cam. Your images speak to me Mike. 

Thanks guys. Hopefully soon i will have a bigger mount and scope running.  But in a strange way although its a struggle. Its still enjoyable.

Celestron 114, Newt EQ2 mount single RA economy drive. QHY462C Camera 

Another more careful process 13 pane