MattJenko

I recently took delivery of an Atik 414ex mono from Ian King. In use, it was making a high pitched noise on occasion and was a lot louder than I expected it to be. Ian directed me towards Atik support and I sent them a mail with a recording of my little camera with the loud fan. Vince replied later that day saying that it didn't sound overly concerning, that it was safe to keep using (one of my questions) and that if I wanted I could send it back to them for checking out right now, or I could wait until later in the summer when I would possibly not be using it as much if I still wanted to. No fuss, no drama. At no point did I feel like I was being treated as a fool by either Ian or Vince from Atik with my questions and I just wanted to say how nice it has been to be treated as an actual customer, not just a punter.

Not much to add to the stunned comments. Incredible image, which I am sure just goes deeper and deeper. You show just what can be done with Earth based high end amateur telescopes and no small input of skill, and for that as well I thank you both. Inspiring stuff indeed. Bravo.

I have a 10" Skywatcher dobsonian and need the extension for all my eyepieces. It just gets left in there all the time. It came with it when I bought it, so not sure if you already have it as part of your purchase.

Nice. Will also be interested to see how well it works. New eyepiece and new little ASI camera for me and after a mildly drunken clear Christmas evening, either commitments or clouds since. Silly hobby.

For wider low power views, you could go for a wider FoV EP than your 28mm stock Orion one. I am not sure which Orion EP it is, but if it is the DeepView, that is a 56 degree view. A MaxVision at 68 or an even wider 82/100 would help you get a larger star field at this magnification, which I found a great help with my manual Dob, as you are doing less moving of the Dob when viewing with the EP and you can let the stars/dsos gently glide across the field of view. This is not that affected by light pollution from my understanding and was certainly not the case for me, although I am a rural dweller.

It is tricky in a group observing session to keep up with note taking. I try, but am not very diligent. To be honest, my most enjoyable evenings are the solo ones where I have had a plan and work through a set of targets, as I can then write up after quite easily from memory as well.

Cool thread idea and some really nice images already. That lodestar looks to be one sensitive camera!