Allinthehead

On 14/09/2021 at 14:46, harrythewho said:

Hello Richard, I finally got the 160ED, the Tak rings and the ADM plate to go with it. All's well so far, but I find the focus knob of the 160ED to very stiff compared to my refractor. I have loosened the focuser locking screw, of course. Is this your experience too? Thanks,

Harry

Hi Harry, congratulations on your new arrival. It is a little stiff in comparison to other scopes but the fact you have highlighted yours as very stiff means it could need a little adjusting. There's a cover with a funny looking screw over the focuser bar, try loosening that a little.

22 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

That double cluster is one of the best I have ever seen.

Very nice of you to say, must get around to adding some Ha to it. 

2 minutes ago, GalaxyGael said:

but rare as hens teeth to get a hold of fast.

Indeed, I was lucky to get one so quickly. I put my name down with Telescope Austria as soon as I knew it was in the pipeline. Highly recommend them, Tommy is superb to deal with. Unfortunately FLO not an option for me anymore after Brexit.

Did you shoot these from Ballincollig? Incredible considering the light pollution you must have. I'm in East Cork near Garryvoe.

Hi Colm, congratulations on those very fine first light images. You're going to have lots of fun with that fast scope. 

My gear is very similar to yours, I have the 2600 and a Tak Epsilon 160. Where in Cork are you?

Richard.

Great image Bryan, your patience paid off.

18 hours ago, assouptro said:

This is a stunning image, such subtle clarity!

Thanks for sharing 

Bryan

Thanks Bryan.

Absolutely beautiful image of a stunning target. A rare treat of Rho Ophiuchus here on SGL.

Mine from last year.

That's a great image, very dramatic.

That's wonderful Alan, nicely processed too. 

Beauty👍

On 03/08/2021 at 20:40, athornett said:

Wow! What a photo. I have just purchased a ZWO ASI 071MC Pro but I dont think I will be producing images like this!

Andy

Hi Andy, thanks. The 071 is a great sensor and produces beautiful star colour. My advice would be to cool the camera slowly, over a 20 min period should work. Beyond -5 c caused problems with frosting on my one. I'm sure you'll produce some wonderful images with yours.

Richard 

12 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

expensive especially when you add in the price of a foot and adapters

This was my solution for keeping costs down, plumbing pipe supports😂

3 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Agreed, but you don't need a 3D printer.  These only became essential when somebody invented them. Prior to that there was a sensible solution costing nothing and working every time...

I think that Samyang lens knocks out some great stuff. I had a brief adventure with their 85mm...

Olly

Nice solution and image.

2 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

The Samyang 135mm f/2 would have been my choice but expensive especially when you add in the price of a foot and adapters but will run at f/2 in most systems if you focus off center. 

Alan

I had a feeling it would be a popular choice😀, it would also come in handy for adding ha to my mosaics.

11 minutes ago, Astro Noodles said:

How about one of these?

Askar FMA180 f/4.5 Astrograph Lens & Reducer | First Light Optics

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it.

6 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Samyang 135mm F/2 or Samyang 85mm F/1.4.

Both will need to be stopped down to about F/2.8 for sharpness and I think that is better done via 3d printed aperture mask than by using lens aperture ring (since blades leave diffraction spikes on stars).

I had a 135mm and it was the lens I was going to go with but the price has gone way up since I sold mine. About 500 euro now here in Ireland, I think I paid about 380. Hard to find in stock here too.

I like the look of that 85mm.

Hi all, I'm heading off on holidays for 10 days at the end of August to Kerry dark sky reserve and looking for something portable as I won't have room for the Epsilon. Budget around £350, maybe more for something special. Open to very wide field lens for Milky Way shots or something up to around 200mm. I don't even know were to begin, I'll be using my Eq3-2 and Asi2600mc.

Thanks,

Richard.

Very nice.

Looks great Mick

Beauty, that looks great especially sans astro dark.

11 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Stunning Richard, lots of nice subtle detail going on.

Thanks Adam, looking forward to the return of astro dark.

8 minutes ago, Padraic M said:

Superb, Richard. PIn-sharp details and lovely wispy cloud.

Thanks Padraic, wonderful few days on our island.

1 minute ago, Ceph said:

Very nice looking image, congrats.

Thank you Ceph, glad you like it. 

Sill no astro dark here in East Cork but worth the effort. Amazing how many mistakes I made in acquiring the data, it's only been 8 weeks since I was last out.

2 panels, circa 3 hrs each panel, 150 second subs with the Stc duo band filter, gain 100

Asi 2600mc through a Takahashi Epsilon 160, mounted on an Azeq6.

Processed in APP, PI and PS.

Thanks for looking

Richard.

10 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Comparison from last night - wasnt totally clear so not ideal (patchy cloud) and i've a bit of fettling to do with the spacing and tilt but interested to hear what you all think?  Going to try Oiii this evening as that would be a good test of haloes.

Looks great, halo free👍

On 09/07/2021 at 21:44, Xiga said:

He said even 5nm filters work just fine on fast optics.

I had an Astrodon 5nm Ha filter which worked very well at F3.3, in fact I also used it with my Samyang at f2 and it worked very nicely with that too.

I don't have an answer as I used a Stellamira dovetail and a custom piece of aluminum.

This might help- https://teleskop-austria.at/TKA68420S_Rohrschellen-fur-Epsilon-180-Durchmesser-232mm-mit 

https://teleskop-austria.at/LosTak100_Losmandy-Prismenschiene-fur-Takahashi-Rohrschellen-mit

Missed this, absolutely wonderful image and congratulations to Ciaran.

13 minutes ago, Xiga said:

Congratulations Richard! A real badge of honour even to just make the shortlist. Well done! 👏

Thanks Ciarán, congratulations to you too, I saw your beautiful Cygnus mosaic finished runner up in the Reach for the Stars competition.