nitram100

Was very clear down here in hertfordshire

managed to fix focus a little bit but my mount wasn't tracking properly so got a little bit of trails going on.

The image is a solid 2 out of 10 haha but wow this is addictive! I have mad respect now for astrophotographers, this is very hard work!

Hi guys, been meaning to get into astrophotography for a while now.

I managed to pick up a Meade DSI 2 Pro mono from ABS for £25 the other day, I know it's an old camera but thought it best to try something super simple first.

I am a complete noob, literally haven't got a clue so just went outside last night with the scope in my sig, laptop and nebulosity 4.

I have my 2inch focuser, then a 50mm 2inch extension tube,1.25" conversion adaptor and then the camera attached to that and for some reason I just couldn't get things to focus even with the focus tube all the way down.

Maybe I need to use a 35mm extension tube, the 50mm is too long not allowing the camera to focus?

Here are my very first images, it was one single 10 second exposure. Don't laugh haha , m42 and m31.

Any advice would be appreciated because despite the awful awful pics I had a lot of fun.

Thank you so much Malcom, really appreciate the help. 😀

Thank you so much Malcom for that post, really appreciate it.

I had thought about the spider vanes before and that they may not be straight! I did the 4 vane installtion myself a long time ago, replaced the thick 2 vane spider from OO.

Will definitely go back to the drawing board now and try and get things lined up perfectly

Thanks again! Mart

I'ver never truely mastered collimation on my newt, so I decided to try and reposition the secondary and primary myself.

How does this collimation look? The image was taken through the pinhole on the red collimation cap. I used a cheshire to adjust the centre circle.

Should the secondary be sticking out like that to the bottom left? Should it be uniform? I'm not sure i have the secondary correct.

Star images are generally nice and sharp, just can't help feeling that jupiter and saturn could be a bit better in the scope.

Thanks for any advice!

Not quite night yet, but after a 12 hr Nursing shift I have just setup my scope for the first time in 3 months, work has been too crazy but I'm forcing myself tonight ! Despite how tired I am!

Hope to see old buddy M13 and M81,M82!

Also, my local council last year have started turning the street lights off after midnight! Which is amazing considering I'm so close to London.

How are these done with smartphones, is there an adapter that's recommended?

Thanks mate, was just curious as to whether the barlowed 14mm down to 7mm was retaining the 82 degree. Thanks!

Hi guys,

So I had a really nice session last night with my scope for the first time in a while, spent ages with globs using my 10" f4.8 and a 14mm 82 degree ES eyepiece.

I used my orion shorty apo barlow with the 14mm 82 degree eyepiece and the view was really nice.

My question is, with the 14mm barlowed, does it then give me 7mm 82 degree ? Would there be any benefit to me buying this 6.7mm eyepiece from here?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/explore-scientific-eyepieces/explore-scientific-82-degree-series-eyepieces.html

Thanks!

Just got in from a lovely viewing session! Definitely a big difference, stars are pin point, definitely more contrast in galaxies, could now make out the sunflower shape of m63 and I couldn't stop getting lost in m13 and m92 in the 82 degree eyepiece, can't bloody wait until tomorrow night cheers guys.

Have to say I'm impressed at how well this mirror has aged. Glad I went with Orion Optics all those years ago.

Hi guys , just to update , I gave the mirror a clean just now and wow what a difference, I can actually see my eye in the reflection in the secondary now. Going to collimate and get ready for tonight.

The reflection in the mirror in the pic with the specks of gunk is from the kitchen window , the mirror itself is sparkly. I held it up to the light from the back and could only see 2 or 3 miniscule sizes spots where light was getting through, would this be considered fine for an 18 year old mirror coating?

thanks guys

3 hours ago, johninderby said:

The mirror doesn’t look too bad at all. Of course you won’t know for sure until it’s been cleaned. Being stored indoors in the dry helps prevent mirror deterioration. It's being stored in a damp enviroment such as a garage or shed for a long time that really causes mirror problems.

Hope to seea shiny clean mirror in a couple of days then. 👍🏻

Cheers mate! Looking forward to giving it a good clean. 

I took the mirror out again just to have a look and found the mirror retaining clips were very tight, could this be why I was seeing comet shaped stars and venus ghosting? 

I removed the clips and put them back on looser, able to slip a piece of paper underneath each one. 

Also gave me a little peak of what the mirror looks like under that gunk! 

It's all worth it in the end so that people can access facebook and instagram all over the world. 😒

Hi guys, I took some photos of the mirror. 

Does it looks as though as everything is a bit greyish? I definitely remember this mirror being super reflective, now every reflection just looks muddy and washed out, kinda the same image I'm getting in the eyepiece. 

I did that fan mod years and years ago, is it possible lots of dust has gotten in over the years? 

Thanks guys, I also orderd some distilled water and going to give this a clean on Wednesday.

Thanks for the reply guys, yes I have read that a mirror has to be really dirty to affect performance, which is kinda why I never bothered.

The telescope all of its life indoors in a cupboard, well protected so was never concerned too much about dust, dirt etc leaning more towards the coating.

Will get pic of the mirror up later guys thanks a lot.

So I finally got around to using my 10" for the first time in a while and although I know the collimation is not perfect, the visual images have been quite disappointing. 

m81, m82, m63 etc all seem much dimmer than when I viewed them years ago (from a site with much worse loght pollution) I remember distinctly seeing the sunflower shape in m63 but now it's just a fuzzy blob.

I know my collimation is out a little of whack as stars are not pin point and look like little comets in the eyepiece and venus doesn't snap into focus, it has like a ghost of the planet to ht left  of it but would this affect galazy viewing also? 

One thing is that the mirror is an OO 10" and was bought new by me in 2002 and has never been cleaned or recoated, could it be time for one of these to be done? Would that be degrading my image this much?

Thanks for any info. 

Martin

Also guys sorry, are you recommending the 365 covers? Or the cheaper silver cover would be good enough? Cheers.

Awesome guys! That's kinda what I'm looking for, a cover that I can just throw over the scope and mount without having to worry about it at all.

Which one do you guys recommend for a 10" NEQ6 mounted newt, f 4.8? REckon the 10" dob cover would suffice?

Thanks buddy, hadn't thought of a shed as I think his garden is quite small, will have a look at the idea though, cheers!

Hi guys, I am moving to Australia in October but in the mean time I will be storing my telescope at my brothers.

He doesn't have the space indoors so I am looking for an all weather cover for a Orion Europa 10" F4.8 on an NEQ6 Pro.

It would need to withstand the rain of course and direct sunlight, I don't care how much it costs!

Any ideas guys? Also is it generally ok to leave a scope outdoors in the UK weather? It's spent most of it's life comfortable in a storage cupboard.

Thanks!

I bought an explore scientific 14mm 82 degree  few years ago and it's all I use now, if I want a bit more mag i just chuck it in the shorty  2 x .

Amazing, very jealous! Had my first view through a 20" Obsession last week in Oregon, saw the needle galaxy, m13, m81 etc totally blew my mind.

I have a 10" newt but it's simply useless under london skies, in fact my 10x25 monocular view looked similair to my 10" view haha.