Alien 13

As a non newt owner i am very impressed it does seem the ideal balance between aperature and trackability wonderful stuff i must get one.

Alan

Streteched a bit much but here it is a bit brighter. 

Thats a cracking image i would be happy with that, you will find you will re use your subs as you learn more im still at that stage.

Alan

Guess I should open it in photoshop and stretch it.  Its a lil dim now.

Much better though the halo is gone.

Alan

And the halo is from me doing a gradient removal in photoshop not know how to do it but watching a quick video.  Its sort of cool, but it would be better if I had gotten rid of the halo.  Funny the halo didn't stand out until I posted it up.  Much more noticeable here then on my screen.  Strange.

I followed the gradient removal tutorial and could never get it to work so i did the 1st few steps then inverted it and used one of the standard blend modes.

Alan

Hi and welcome aboard i dont have any specific recomendations but have a look at this link most of the scopes listed have been recomended by SGL users http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

Alan

With large thin adaptor rings it's better to use the two sided rubber mat approach or proper filter wrenches, this results in the pressure being equal all round. Mole grips, pipe wrenches etc impart local pressure which squeezes thin rings even tighter as well as potentially damaging them. 

I agree ive yet to have a joint i cant crack just using light even pressure from the palms of my hands.

Alan

I usually leave a gap anyway between subs so enabling the delay to lift the mirror is a great idea.

Alan

I think what impressed me most was the clarity of the optics.... there's something beautifully sharp about the way the scope delivers the view.

It's often said that the best camera lenses are functionally invisible and just stay out of the way of the photography.... definitely true of this family of tubes.

I will 2nd that i love my WO

Alan

Another effect already touched on is the increased depth of field when the scope is stopped down the same way  a camera works with different f stops on its lens.

If you where to focus jupiter at the scopes maximum aperature you may only get it 95% right but if you then stop the scope down the extra depth will bring the focus to 100%.

Alan

Welcome to SGL, they are very nice images you have taken with the heritage scope.

Alan

Very nice its expensive but a lot cheaper than a 400mm Canon 2.8 lens

This is diagnostic at present.  I'm still hoping there will be something I can do to fix it but it isn't looking very hopeful.  In the worst event I may have to get a replacement.  I would like to stay with this model of scope as it would seem to fit my requirements nicely.  No way could I afford a Tak this winter.

I am sure your findings will be very helpful to a lot of people it would have been so easy to say opps its broken get a replacement but understanding whats going on is relevant to any refractor, i take my hat off to you for your efforts.

I can only think that the light cone is different to what you have had before and is hitting/reflecting off  something in the telescope/sensor lightpath.

Well, either the 60mm iris or the blocked slits seems to have cured the problem (or something else totally unconnected)   Next thing is to determine which.  I shall remove the 60mm iris and try again when we get a clear night sky.  Hoping the problem is still gone - I don't really want an f 6.67 scope when I bought an f5

 

I hope its the slits i bet there are a lot of apo owners like me on standby with a tin of black paint.

Looking good Gina this is a facinating thread.

I know im quite new to this but have seen tiny spikes with my setup i have to zoom in a lot but they are visible on the bright stars so im very interested in your findings. I do have a noob question though do you get this effect with any other refractor since you installed the EQ8 and was also wondering if there was any high frequency mechanical resonance upsetting things.

Thanks smuchly Olly   I thought it looked like diffraction spikes - just like I get with a six bladed iris on a camera lens stopped down a bit.  I'm going to bring scope, FW and all the bits inddors tonight and have a good look at it.  Nothing would make me happier ATM to find something simple that I can fix and continue to use this scope - it has a great look and feel and I've become quite attached to it   I'm afraid I got rather emotional earlier as I'm prone to at times

 

Its allways a pleasure to read your posts, joy frustration and all the other emotions are all part of this great hobby. I too have noticed tiny diffraction spikes with my set up from the other day imaging the pleiades so ill take a look down the tube (could have been the washing line though just a few feet away)

I read somewhere that the back focus required for the flattener is 75mm, I think.  My current setup measures 77mm back focus, not allowing for the filters which I think adds a mm making 78mm.  So I may need to change my extension tubes.  I thought the telescope user manual would mention this but it doesn't   May not be quite so critical with the relatively small sensor on the 460EX.

 Very nice rig Gina i have noticed that manufactures who make scopes and flatteners dont detail what goes with what and often give conflicting measurements e.g.a simple scope flattener 20mm spacer T adapter diagram would do the job. Thankfully we have SGL..

Great read takes me back to the old days when getting out to remote places learning the sky and looking through a friends old tank-site scope. The views i saw have stayed with me all my life. I would also urge all the would be astrophotographers to get out with a camera and snap away it gets you accustomed to cold nights damp feet and cloud dodging.