StaceStar

On 21/04/2024 at 14:44, Domain105 said:

Hello, wow I am in south Birmingham too. Not far from South Birmingham College or Sarehole Mill. 🙂 

have you got any written plans for your observatory? If so care to share? I'm looking and trying to get started...but need a bit of help i think!

I'm not far from you at all, at the home of MG rover. Have taken the pooch for many a walk over sarehole mill . Congrats on some lovely images with our rubbish skies!

22 hours ago, StaceStar said:

Arrived yesterday!  But a valentines gift to myself clearly . An upgrade set consisting of a cnc spider and bobs knobs for my Altair 150mm f4 newt ! 
 

I’ll be fitting these the weekend 🙂

Well I couldn’t wait till the weekend…fitted and freshly collimated last night ! 

Arrived yesterday!  But a valentines gift to myself clearly . An upgrade set consisting of a cnc spider and bobs knobs for my Altair 150mm f4 newt ! 
 

I’ll be fitting these the weekend 🙂

A slight regret maybe...I got engaged in May 2022, and part of the deal was an engagement telescope ! Of course I wanted a big newt and so I settled on an Altair 200mm F5. The minor detail is that i had slipped 3 discs in my neck in April 2022 and was completely in denial about how long my recovery was going to take. 

So I tried on and off to use this scope, i got great images. Modified it and loved it. However I used to suffer terribly with neck pain in the days after using it. 

I bought an astro tuff truk to help, and things were great for a while, until all this wet weather turned my garden into a bog!

Anyway i've just sold the 200 and bought an Altair 150mm F4 newt. Instantly easier on my neck and producing lovely images. I regret not selling the 200 sooner...but we live and learn

This is brilliant! Just the thing I’m looking for . I notice you’re in Birmingham? I’m in south Birmingham myself  

(also very sorry for resurrecting an old thread!)

just an extra update , as mentioned in my previous review I bought a cover for my new pier truk. It’s a Clarke pop up “garage” but came with some not so great anchors. Lee and Matty at Astro Tuff Truk were kind enough to make up some really heavy duty ground pegs for me to anchor it all down. They sent me a diagram of the ideal angle and got these made up and posted to me rapidly. Really cracking service from these guys and I’m happy now that my truck is under cover ! 

Ok! So where to start . I suppose back at my injury in April 2022 where I herniated 3 discs in my neck. As such astronomy and astrophotography has become very difficult for me, especially when it comes to lugging around really heavy equipment down to my pier! 
Now I’ve been to a few astro shows and I remembered Astro Tuff Truk. This is run by Lee Richards and his business partner Matt. They have designed and fabricated a range of trolleys/trucks to carry any equipment you can imagine. Totally over engineered, I mean my pier truk has a weight limit of 544kg !! 

So yes, I decided on a pier truk, Lee was kind enough to fit a pier plate for me, with excellent communication to ensure the right bolt fitting for my eq6-r, and not only that, he delivered it in person all the way to Birmingham from Yorkshire! He did on the spot adjustment work to the base of my eq6-r (come on we know synta manufacturing can vary a tad !) to make sure it was absolutely snug on my pulsar pier plate . 
Anyway I’m over the moon with my purchase, it’s really going to help me. The help from astro tuff truk doesn’t stop there though, I’ve bought a special cover for it all, and once I’ve sent some measurements they’re going to send me some heavy duty ground pegs too, to help secure it. 
 

all in all, a five star experience. Thank you astro tuff truk! 

15 minutes ago, StuartT said:

You've inspired me. I might have to get me spade out 🙂

do it! look forward to seeing your progress

Its good to see others with this pier type.

These actually arrived a few weeks ago, but i've slipped a disc in my neck...so they havent seen much use yet!

Altair 8" F/5 newt 

and a bargain OCAL Pro from FLO

and a Pegasus pocket powerbox advance!

Just thought i'd update, the pier is still solid as a rock and probably one of the best things i have done for my astro journey!

As  you can see, i've also been struck with a bit of aperture fever too!

a good reminder though  

they changed the link super recently, to update the site. There was a redirect on the old website, but it appears not to be working at the moment. Will give them a poke

Popped along to this will be joining! 

I've been lucky enough to be sent one of these astropgraphs for review. It's a bit of a monster! 

I've done an unboxing on it so far...but hopefully when this weather clears I can get imaging and do a review eventually. 

Here's some shots so far

1 minute ago, johninderby said:

Never actually seen one of these scopes. Will be interesting to see what you think of it. 🤔

So far, it's a bit terrifying haha. Managed to get the light pollution filter fitted yesterday. The original clear glass filter was jammed in solid

The post man has bought me a few things lately. A couple of big things for review and a smaller one for just for some general maintenance on my kit (cheers FLO).

Price and spec was posted in the altair group on FB today I think and is now up on the Altair website. 

https://www.altairastro.com/iOptron-GEM45-GOTO-German-Equatorial-Mount.html

Looks interesting for sure, something else to add to the want list 🙈😂

Wispy clouds here and there, leading to a couple of stacking artefacts...but pretty pleased with these shots! 

1 hour ago, Matzi said:

But don't get me wrong Stace, it's still stunning images, and definately the best images I've seen with the AA triband filter! But spending money on a filter, you really want to find the one that matches what one is looking for

Of course, you have to make sure you get it right first time. No point in spending money twice. 

All I can say is I've imaged in a 53% moon and severe light pollution, I'm in bortle 6-8 depending on what direction I'm imaging. The AA triband (and I assume other triband filters would too) handled it very well. There was minimal moon glow/light pollution in my stack. In fact it was some of the easiest data I have ever processed. Coupled with the increase in productivity and efficiency , well with my osc I won't go back to seperate filters now. 

@Matzi a valid argument personally and this is my experience alone...I've had more fun and got better images since switching to the triband filter from two separate filters (a baader 7nm ha, 8.5nm oiii). It also depends on how you process the data. I've found the best results don't come from doing an integrated stack of all channels , but more like treating the data as though it is is from two narrowband filters. In astropixel this extract and extra stack doesn't take a lot of effort or time and yields great (in my opinion) results. 

But yeah it all comes down to personal preference...but the not having to switch out filters, re focus etc has got me sold. It's so easy . 

44 minutes ago, Deeko said:

Waiting to get my hands on a triband filter but need to wait until stock arrives!  Could anyone who has a bit more knowledge on these triband filters tell me if there is much difference in the specs between these two:

https://www.altairastro.com/Altair-TriBand-OSC-CCD-Filter-2inch.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/light-pollution-reduction/idas-narrow-band-nebula-nb1-filter.html

Cheers!

D.

I haven't used the idas version, but I imagine they are very similar. The Altair offering is slightly cheaper at £215 for a 2 inch filter. It would have been nice for the band passes of the idas filter to be published on the product page too . 

Here's another one with the AA triband filter, I took this on the 5th July. 30x240s stacked and processed in APP with final touch up in photoshop. Will be the start of a big mosaic

but yes, still massively impressed with this filter

9 hours ago, Matzi said:

I'm starting to wonder if I use my Baader 7nm Ha, and 8.5 nm OIII, if that will yield better results, than a duo/tri filter...

Give it a go personally I've found better results with the triad filter

this is a work in progress, but 10x240s (40 mins) on the eagle neb. Extracted the Ha and oiii data seperately using astropixel processor. I'd say these filters work really well

Ipolar...not just for ioptron mounts!