StevieO

Fresh out of the box, my new TS Star71, promptly dispatched by Ian King at a saving of £130 over the identical WO item (except it doesn't come with the M48 adapter, but I got one of those anyway). Out of the way clouds, I'm coming through!!! StevieO

Hi, I was out last night giving my new 130PDS its first light, using my unmodded Canon 700D. Had a few problems stacking (discussed in another thread) but have come up with some pleasing images. This is nowhere near the limit of what DSLRs can do, but it's not bad for a comparative beginner with his first newt. You'll get pinpoint stars ok as long as your polar alignment and guiding are good, and you use a coma corrector. I used the SW own make 0.9 one, which takes the scope to F4.5. For guiding I got an adaptor from Modern Astronomy which allows one to use, in my case, an Orion Starshoot autoguider with a standard SW 9x50 finderscope with excellent results. Anyway, here are my first light results from last night:

I fortunately happen to be staying at Olly's place in Provence this week, and he showed me the file on his computer shortly before posting. The full image is gobsmacking enough when seen as a whole, but he just kept zooming in and in and the detail just kept getting better and better, I felt like I was falling into it. Never seen or heard of anything like it, an incredible achievement. StevieO