mikemabel

well done on getting the sombrero galaxy.....must be very low in the sky ?

Well done great detail. This hobby does reward perseverance.

Imaged last night , not in a great position from my garden

28x 180s bin 2 ZWO 485mc WO S73 0.8ff Heq5 pro guided

Not much detail to bring out and quite noisy but here it is

Clear Skies

Thank you !

wonderfull image , inspired me to try this

After 3 years i finally have a decent image of this wonderful nebula

38 x 180s darks applied 

ZWO 485 mc opt l enhance WO S73 0.8 FF HEQ5 PRO RBM

This target is near to a lot of light pollution but i seem to get my best images in this area of sky strangely

Spacing is still an issue and guiding was problematic.

This has been through topaz denoise which i recently purchased........it does affect stars somewhat and not a panacea by any means but i am happy with this transformation

also lightened colours.

Cheers for those suggestions.

The Zwo is interesting but far too expensive. The tripod is a contender though with a portable skywatcher adventurer head unit.

The ZWO harmonic mount needs testing first by more experienced SGL members than me.

Cheers Martin but i dont think it would help enough to be honest i think a Star Adventurer and possibly buying a 60mm scope 

for when i dont feel well enough to get the main scope out is my only option

Thanks

Mike

Hello

I have a heq5 pro mount which i am finding increasingly hard to move and setup. i am in my sixties which i realise is not old

but i need something more easier ie lighter to get out of my garage and setup

i have a WO S73 refractor flattener and 485mc camera

Can anyone suggest an easier mount to set up with this telescope please

i have looked at the obvious skywatcher star adventure setups but my imaging train is 4.5 kg though removal of the flattener would 

reduce tis by 0.5kg im sure

any suggestions please

thanks

I needed some inspiration so after looking at petevasey and wimvb I thought I would try these targets as at least near polaris I would get some decent time on them. Unfortunately I made the mistake of adjusting the backlash on my heq5 pro and of course the guiding was catastrophically bad.  Clouds also kept coming over so this is unguided.

48 X 180s darks applied 

WO S73 with ZWO 485mc 0.8 flattener UV filter

I've never imaged with a reflector but after looking at these images I may be tempted

They do seem to get a bad press and the necessary coma corrector does have to be factored in.

Would a sky watcher 130p-ds be a good alternative ?

But I am tempted......

Cheers ags.

I'm a bit ham fisted when it comes to taking things apart so I'll just leave it .

It will only end in tears.

Thanks 

Mike

Cheers Andy 

I did try to take the nosepiece off but the whole cover tried to come off so I quickly put it back and forgot about it !

Unfortunately the WO flattener has a M48 thread so I still need an M48 to M42 somewhere in the setup.

I've set it up as best I can and will take some test exposures to fine tune it.

Cheers

Mike

29 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

So to achieve the optimum of 56.8mm you camera has 17.5mm off "back focus length" thus 56.8-17.5=39.3mm to add to the back of the flattener less filter wheel or any other items after the flattener

or remove the 2" adaptor on the camera then the "back focus length" would be 6.5mm to the flange on camera body M42x0.75 so again 56.8-6.5=50.3mm of spacing to add between the flattener and camera 

hope this makes sense  

Thank you Fozzybear for that explanation. To get that 39.3 I will add spacers up to 39 or 38 then screw out the flattener to add the rest. As far as I can see the 2" nosepiece does not come off.

Clear skies 

Mike

Sorry it's another Backfocus question but just for my sanity can someone confirm the length of spacers I require to achieve a flat field with this setup

WO S73 scope with matching 0.8x reducer flattener and this camera.

The Backfocus of the flattener is 56.8mm and the 485mc requires 17.5mm of Backfocus. The flattener is adjustable. On the website WO state a DSLR requires 1.8mm dialled in to bring it to the optimum distance

Thank you 😊

Takes your breath away those images

Brilliant

Beautiful widefield image 

Mike

Taken last night 

I had software problems after going back to Windows 10 from Windows 11 

Guiding was a bit off

49x 180s gain 100 offset 50

After messing up the previous post I thought I would add this. Only 5 X 180s with luminance filter 

Hi Jonathan

I am loving this combo . The 485MC does have amp glow but when I take darks at the temperature of the images it calibrates out exactly . I would recommend a L enhance filter . If you look at my image of the horsehead nebula you'll see the results. 

Clear skies

Taken last night

49x 180s offset 50 Darks applied

Taken last night as a lucky shot as Orion is not very high and near to street lights

19x 180s 50 offset darks applied

L enhance filter 

M1 imaged last night with new William Optics Z73 and 0.8 field flattener purchased from FLO after help from a fellow SGL member.

Taken with Optolong Enhance filter and ZWO 485MC . I am still tweaking backfocus so stars are not as good as they could be

45 x 180s gain 100 offset 50

Darks applied . Cropped and full scale

Any cc welcome

11 hours ago, Adam J said:

Speed of capture is all about F-ratio once your camera is fixed. I would say that the GT81 is not suited to the camera you have selected as the chip is too small to cover most wide nebula at the focal length of the GT81.

On the other hand you have the GT71 which with its reducer is F4.72 so exactly the same as the GT81 but you will fit a target into the FOV.

Lets look at M42 and M31 and M45 the common beginner targets.

As above you will not really fit M42 and running man into the GT-81 with the ASI485. The non reduced 61 does better, the GT71 will fit it just but I would say the redcat 51 is there for a referance.

M31, only the redcat is going to fit it all in the frame and only the GT71 is wide enough to get M110 into a 2x1 pannel.

You can just about fir the main stats into the Gt81 here but not with much room for error in your framing the GT71 will give you more margin or error and the redcat 51 will get some some of the extended stuff that the others are missing compleatly.

Other Nebula are much larger than any of these targets, such as NGC7000 (north amrica nebula), the heart nebula etc and only the Redcat 51 will allow you to capture the majority of the target in a single panel.

If you have a larger budget sufficient to consider a GT81 ant the required flattener (£1400 total)then I think I would go a different way. I would return the ASI485 if you are still able and I would instead get a ASI533MC Pro cooled camera. The cost of the GT81 - the difference in camera cost will leave you with about 900 pounds for a telescope and flattener. At that point I would go with your original idea of the ZS73 with a 1.0x flattner and you will have a better imaging rig than you would with an uncooled ASI485mc camera and the GT81.

If you do keep the ASI485mc because you have to or want to then I really would take the GT71 over the GT81 with that sensor. You may even have enough left over to get a L-extream filter.

Remember in imaging the speed of capture is goverend by your choice of camera and F-ratio mainly. Not the aperture, aperture only matters if you dont change focal length and hence you have a faster f-ratio.

I would say that none of the scopes you are considering are suitable for smaller galaxies btw, too short a focal length.

Adam

 

Thanks for that information Adam . I've decided to keep the 485 and get the GT 71 ..if I can find it in stock. If not then I will go with the S73 and depending on finances look to a 533 in the near future.

Again thank you for taking the time to explain things .

Mike

My only concern is the small 60mm aperture of these scopes. I am not a dedicated image the same target over a few nights guy .

Will this scope give me reasonable data from a 1 to 2 hours session.

 My better half is pushing me to spend more and so I am looking at a GT 81 with the flattener and accept a fov reduction.

What do you think ?