tooth_dr

Haters gonna hate

I actually thought the Epsilon-130 was considerably more than that! Must be cheaper now that the 160 has been released. Dont look at the price of the 180-ed

I made an off centre solar filter for my 250, fits between the spider vanes so probably more like a 4” scope now. I wonder if you’ll get significantly more resolution with the bigger aperture

The reason I bought the colour was your successful NBX images with the colour camera

Same here - 268M and 2600MC. I havent really given it a fair chance. Not a big fan of galaxy season, but I think the mono camera (with narrowband) will be good when the nebulae come back.

I have just started using a OSC and Mono dual rig set up, both the same IMX571 CMOS sensor, and I’ve found the OSC to be really pretty good even without the luminance. I’m really considering why I spent £2k on a mono.

I’ve only had it a few weeks. I live in Northern Ireland so we’re exempt from brexit due to the NI Protocol. My scope did get lost in the post for 30 days but that’s another story.

Very nice job indeed, and I think you should stick at the deep sky stuff, because evidently you arent half bad at it

I went through this myself at the end of last year, and according to forum members, some APM scopes do use SharpStar lenses. But ig you buy an LZOS version of an APM scope, then the glass will be made in Russia and be certified specifically for that scope. There is quite a bit of choice in that range, and after a disappointing Sharpstar scope, I ended up buying a used LZOS 105/650.

Did you post a single sub Mick in the thread? I get more colour from my single CMOS subs than your stack, and my Atik CCD cant touch the CMOS for noise control.

I recently returned an ‘other’ brand triplet and replaced it with a premium brand triplet. I’m not a visual observer, purely imaging. It was very obvious there was a difference in image quality. Such a difference will always be present and always noticeable when imaging and for that reason the premium brand cost was justifiable. The only downside is now I can see problems eg CA in my MPCC that I was oblivious too in the past.

With my ZWO OSC, the images appear as BW in APT.

Really fantastic. You really only appreciate the detail you have managed to capture when you attempt it yourself

I have been in touch with Baader. They replied and said they havent see this issue before. I suspect it's going to be the same answer as you got.

The Mesu e200 has an older version of the Sitech interface, it does have an AUX port from what I can see in my photos.

Does anyone know if the Mesu can be guided with ST4 connection?

Cheers Andy, I did have one but ended up returning it. 1. It couldnt hold a camera/EFW combo without sliding out c.1.8kg. When I adjusted the focuser to increase tension the knob became spongy and difficult to use - you had to turn it past where you wanted to end up and it sprang back a bit! There seems to be a no middle ground. I havent used a rack and pinion focuser before, but this felt very hard to use. It worked ok when I added a motor focuser. 2. I nont know - I bought a refractor so that I would hopefully never have to collimate it. 3. I think the collimation was good, and any distortion to the stars was symmetrical. The dedicated flattener couldnt deliver small stars across the field, and introduced astigmatism and chromatic aberration. 4. The FWHM was high even when accurately focused. In retrospect if I look at the spot diagrams, i think the scale is large (100um per square versus 20um for competitors) so to be expected. If you count up the cost of the scope, a flattener, the correct adapter to connect flattener to focuser, and then a motor focuser, you are certainly well over £1600. I dont know if this is a good investment?

I use binoviewers with my Lunt 60mm but just bear in mind you need the 1.7x GPC attached to get enough in-focus. I have the B1200 blocking filter. I haven’t used any other solar scope so can’t compare. I didn’t realise you could still get the 60mm now as a dedicated solar only.

Good to hear Gerry. Hopefully you can recommission them for some planetary work

I have a Lumenera LU070 which is basically a board level version of the Skynyx 2-0. It’s been a wee while since I used it but I did use it for some close up solar work and I recall it worked with sharpcap. So it should still be suitable for planetary imaging. I never used LuCam Recorder much because I only had the free version and it only saved in JPEG frames. The pixel size is quite large so they are fairly sensitive. You could even use one as an all sky type camera with a wide angle C mount lens 1.55mm. I guess they are probably aren’t worth much these days so it’s a case of repurpose or sell for whatever you get 🤷

Very nice. Lots going on everywhere I like this wee pairing below M106

Not a slightly hazy photo of a blank solar disk but an h- alpha flat with an MPCC 🤪

The reducer should be fitted 55mm from the camera sensor, that’s the sort of normal way to work it out 🤷

No filterwheel, just a drawer. Trying to find a new MPCC now

Thanks for that, for taking time to make it understandable 🙏. All makes sense now