Erwin Kats

Nice Starnut ! i have to admit that my wish for 2012 is incorrect, i mentioned in a earlier post i wanted a tec 140, but in the mean while a DSI 10'' corrected ritchey cretien has been ordered.

You have to look out with the mesu. A sct can have mirror shift, i know lx200 has a mirror lock, but does this take all the shift away? The mesu mount and other same looking mounts wich are using pointing files for polar alingment will include the mirror shift as an error wich will be in the file. So even tubeflexure , focuser flexure will all be bad for the overall setup. Offcourse visual use will be "less" demanding Maybe some one experiences with g53f ? http://www.astronomy.hu/ENG/g53f_eng.html

I think the 10'' f4 should be good for imaging, look what Emiel Kempen is getting with the 6'' meade snt. with small modification. Google Vertaling

Very nice image, great details and very nice colors ! Do you also have a higher resolution version?

I use a gas soldering iron. i also take it with me on astroholiday when something goes wrong i always got the tools i need. Electronics-N-More there are also cheapers versions !

that the telescope wont come in focus is not a meade only problem. lots of other brands have the same, but mostly the stock focuser is also not good enough for astrophotography, and a replacement focuser is then still the best solution. I have used my meade LX90 8'' for 4 years without any problems, the only pain i had was with freezing conditions the handpad was getting impossible to read ( these days you can get handpad heaters for them )

The polar alingment will take around 30 minuts. the other 1,5 hour will be needed for the pointingfile. This pointingfile will contain a certain amount of ''stars/position'' ( in my case i have chosen for 82 ''stars/positions''. This file is needed to measure the failure of youre setup on the whole night sky ( think about flexure, collimation etc ) It can be automaticly done but it still takes time ( taking exposures from around 10 seconds x 82 + slewing time etc ) The advantage of this file is that you can correct a certain amount of failures wich allows you to work without autoguiding. Soon i release a topic wiht more information about the mount and software story. I saw you image from a balcony? In that case you can not see the whole night sky?

I would not take the asa mount in your case. 1:around 65 kg of total weight ( included 10kg counterweight) 2:when you move the mount, and for accurate operation you need to make a pointingfile, in automated sequence this still will take up a full 1 hour, so for your alingment you should already calculate 2hours roughly. 3: there are still some problems with the mount, i get 20 to 30 minuts frames without autoguiding, but some times motor errors (seems to be happening to other users to that are not using autoguiding ) I have also spoken other users from AP,10micron,paramount they all sayed those mounts also have problems, but their design is already there for years and most of the problems have been solved over time.

I would ask: was heineken not tempting enough to contact us?

nice to see Olly !! i hope i can get a obs in that area soon

I think its normal, might be high voltage inverter.... Forgot to think about that.

2 mounts: Losmandy g-11 Astro systeme austria direct drive mount 85 2 scopes: Meade lx 90 8" Vixen r200 ss Soon i have to work without g11 and the 2 scopes because of some sales that are going on The worst part; everything is in my bedroom for now

Count me in, i got no noises to....

Tec140,aag cloudwatcher and that will be it because i already got the other stuff

Hey Olly, We all have the same pasion i think I think Neil is very interested in more information and "facts" due his interest in a new mount for a permanent setup. For me the mesu mount would not be filling the spaces of emptyness because i want to controll it all with the sky x and other software. (automated would be wonderfull in the future )

Hahaha indeed . I did not know yves was still in les granges ! We will see what the results will be soon i hope

Not fully support that opinion. With a single raw picture just from the ccd, without processing you can always measure the roundness of stars, wich is pretty important at the end . But for that its great to know the guiding stats to see if its impressive

I think only a guidelog is not enough. I can not even post one because i can work without guiding. But also bad seeeing will be translated to the guidelog, focus etc. Here in the west coast of holland seeeing is terrible, but to compare guide logs you should post 2 mounts with the same guiding setup next to each other for a better conclusion i think. I think more mesu 2 mount owners will appear on the www and maybe we get a great review from the mount like Rob did.

Nice image with a nice flat field. I also saw the mesu 2 @ Mijdrecht, but i do now know if this was a prototype or finished product? till so far i will use my asa direct drive mount i know the mesu mount also uses a pointingfile for polaralingment, next step would be nice to use it for tracking like the asa direct drive mount.

for me Teleskop-express is the best store i know till so far. fast shipping good service and if i had a question i had a quick reply. regards, Erwin

To keep you guys posted, here some more info. My mount has been back to asa (for upgrade), this time awesome support, and great communication. Walter from ASA speaks very good english on the phone, and in e-mail contact. Soon i will post new pictures of the mount, what has been renewed etc. but i also add a new photo, made with this mount. I still use my broken vixen r200ss, so the stars are not perfect. (waiting for new toys ) 9x1200 seconds (without autoguiding ) a pieace of nebula between is5070 and ngc7000 50% http://www.astro-land.net/wp-content/gallery/astrophotography/tussenic5070enngc7000-m.jpg ASA also made a rough polar alingment laser inside the mount. Soon more !

I just found this discussion. @steve, i got an asa mount(ddm 85 ). at a focal lenght of 800mm i get 1200 second frames unguided. after lots of problems, the mount is working perfect now, but a permanent setup is required. the polar alingment is very easy, but can only be perfectly done with ccd, maybe dslr also. On the ASA yahoogroup you will find lots of information. if you have any questions, just let me know.

Thanks guys ! @Peter, yes everything is legal , the biggest advantage is that i also learn welding on my work, and i could also borrow welding equipment from my work. its make things a lot easier

some more testing CPU: amd 4x3200 8gb ram running at 1333mhz 60gb OCZ agility 2 SSD hard drive for all software 1tb WD EADS hdd for all the temporary data ( all data will be saved on my home server once a month or so ) this is still testing , soon i hope to build everything as it should be here controlling through ipad 2. screen with ASA software for controlling the mount. maxim DL pro 5, centering star for synchronise with the sky 6

Wich filterweheel you got, FLI has a few. maybe you should consider MMOAG of astrodon? Astrodon Astronomy Filters - MonsterMOAG Off-Axis Guider Dream scopes of USA also offer those.