Susaron

It was I experimented, it is not the backfocus but the geometrical configuration of the sw reducer what denyes focus. The wo or the ts reducers are able to be inserted longer into the drawtube and also the barrel bigger than 2'' is thinner than in the sw. 

From my point of view it is a disaster that retailers still.offer the sw reducer for this scope having more valid options, the ts, altair astro, wo.

Here it is, quick process of 25x300s subs taken with the QHY168C and the Optolong L-Pro filter at 30km south from Madrid downtown.

For the record, yesterday I was not able to plate solve with APT, I did use a 332mm focal length (420 x 0.79). Today using ASPS it confirmed that the real focal length is 350mm so the TS reducer gives a x0.83 reduction when coupled with my QHY168C. Setting up in APT the 350mm the plate solving was done perfectly.

Finally yesterday after waiting a lot, my ED72 saw first light, coupled with an Optolong L-pro filter and the TS x0.79. I did try M31 from Bortle 6-7 skies and quarter Moon.

The 65mm distance from flattener to the sensor proved to be OK. I will soon post the results.

Picture from last year (29th December), with all the problems suffered that night, bad collimatio, bad focus, astigamtism, guiding. But I think is a good example of the field given by this scope. 20 x 180 subs with the QHY168C, in this "clusters soup" in Cassiopea. M103, C10, NGC654, NGC659, Trumpler 1 and Czernik 4.

Cheers.

Mario.

I also had to discard the SW reducer as I was not able to focus, due to the reducer thickness, then I went for the TS 0x79 using 65mm distance and it focus perfectly with both the IDAS and the Halpha filters.

The TS has a 2'' barrel and M48 thread for filter on the tube side so it fit better. I made the measurements in another comment in this same thread.

12 hours ago, simmo39 said:

Hi all, Im thinking of getting a SW 72ED pro to complement my SW 130 pds. The one thing that is giving me food for thought is the back focus. Can anyone confirm that with the SW reducer/flattener that I would be able to get focus using my ZWO asi 1600mmc and filter wheel. If it is possible how much back focus do i have left and is it an issue?

Also what if it is possible what spacing is it the reducer from the sensor? is it 55mm.

Oh and another thing! lol. What length Of Dovetail bar do I need to help balance?

Thanks in advance.

Simmo

Simmo I did use a 33cm dovetail to proper balance the QHY168C, I also piggy back mounted the 30mm guide tube to help. Even with that is very very close to limit, see the picture

Gents, looking for a dream scope?, see this below, OMG.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p11082_TS-Optics-150mm-f-2-8-hyperbolischer-Astrograph-mit-Korrektor-und-Carbon-Tubus.html

9 minutes ago, TareqPhoto said:

That's what making it as a nice one to have for fun more, BUT, i mentioned APO refractor, there are so many refractors APO and small, and many prefer to go with a refr than a newt, so keep that in mind too.

Well no pain no glory. But the results this thread shows with the SW130PDS have no competence at the price.

For refractors you have the ED72 around 300 euros, coupled with TS optics x0.79 reducer flatenner (+ 180 eur), I have one indeed, I plan to use the 332mm focal length of the ED72 for extended nebulosity zones that the SW130 cannot cover. Meanwhile keep looking the amazing work many do with this newt bargain imager.

Cheers.

3 hours ago, TareqPhoto said:

Watching this thread i feel like why don't i get this 130PDS myself, i saw many nice results here, just i don't know how good it is compared to many other lenses such as APO refractor, and i already have 8" F5 Newtonian, so is this 5" Newt necessary?!!!

Because of the field you get with this scope if you use a 4/3 or aps sensor. Also the guiding is easy at 650mm.

And it only weights 3.5kg.

I did a bigger change, I modded the head of my AZEQ5 in order to have a dual saddle holder, so I mounted a losmandy dovetail of 33cm. Its weight assures the balancing and stiffness.

Though I guide with a ZWO 30mm guidescope which is indeed lighter and all the stuff, power distribution unit and usb hub at top rear.

3 hours ago, RolandKol said:

Thanks a lot

Here it is, I also have a CATIA model if you need it.

SW130PDSdrawing.pdf

2 hours ago, RolandKol said:

Has anyone got the dimensions of the bottom/base plate of the focuser (where the focus locking bolt and other bolts are located)?
I have a slow day at the office and decided to draw a sketch of the bracket to fit the stepper motor.

I have them at home, when I made the measures to Moonlite to create a plate for the SW130PDS. I will post the pdf latter.

Cheers.

I prefer the blue, 

Last Saturday the temperature stood all the session between -2º and 1º Celsius, as I was point to Auriga close to the zenith, frost started to appear over my main mirror.

I have designed a support to hold a small 12V fan on the rear, fitted through the mirror cell fixed screws. I attach the .stl from Catia. I still need to send it to the 3D printer, so no final check is done.

SoporteVentilador.stl

Last picture of the year, I still can not find the reason for the astigmatism of the main mirror, and some coma I have, though the spacing is correct.

IC405 Flamming Star Nebula, 37x5min subs with the QHY168C+IDAS LPS+SW130PDS+Baader MPCC+AZEQ5+ZWO 30mm guide tube + ASI385MC. Captured with APT and processed with Pix. From my point of view it still needs 2 more hours to be perfect.

Cheers.

Understood.

Well this evening I am going to suffer 1 degree and 75% humidity, I will make some pictures.

What's the reason of the rca female plug into the tube? I missed something.

29 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Depends on what camera your using. Smaller the pixels the harder it is to track. SO..I suspect that some people who find it works perfectly well for them are probably using a large pixel camera such as a 450D (5.2um) , a 1000D (5.7um) a 6D (6.54um)....etc.

On the other hand with a ASI1600mm pro and 3.8um pixels, pushes a unmodified HEQ5pro and your better off with belt mods if you want to consistently get round stars.

Adam

 

 

And even an azeq6, a colleague moved from a canon 550 to the asi1600mm and he inmediately noted in the elongated stars. He had to tweak phd2.

One additional comment guys.

I asked for a quotation to TS to mood the metal tube to CF, and they answer me a couple of things. First that in order to achive similar strength the thickness should be around 7mm and therefore the rings won´t be the same, and second the cost, as according to them is not a standard tube, the cost of the equivalent CF tube would be around 700 Eur. 

Don´t you think is this madness?

Cheers.

9 hours ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

Thanks!  

I'll keep a look out for that, I'm interested to see what it will look like with more resolution!

Eyy, its about time the galaxy gets some attention, searches suggest its not a common target! ?

A word of warning--you'll need long subs, as it does have a low surface brightness--mine were too short really and found that teasing out the arms was quite a challenge.  

Thanks for the likes, kind words and encouragement!  

John

The long subs is the reason why I will buy the qhy, it is cooled and the pixel 3.5 promises good resolution coupled witb the sw130 or even the sw200.

2 hours ago, serbiadarksky said:

I know.If i get the bucls I will deff go for the heq5 if not eq6r

Think on the AZEQ5 as well is the one I use.

18 hours ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

Hi,

My first data this year! I cant believe its been so long, but finally I'm back to imaging again! ? The NEQ6 worked a dream, an average of around 1" total RMS over the night, for 4 hours! I was able to keep around 80% of the frames, too. 

NGC2403, A difficult target that's probably a NASA copy-paste of M33. ????  

130PDS on NEQ6, Guided with ASI120MC and 50mm finder

1000d, 200sec subs at ISO 800, 3hr 30mins

DSS, PHD2, GIMP Star Tools

It's a really exciting area of the sky, loads of galaxies and some beautiful colour contrasting binaries. The processing is pretty awful, but there was a really large gradient on each side of the image that was a big pain to remove and took most of the colour with it.  

I put picture alongside some 100x100 crops to highlight all the little fuzzies.

And then compiled them into a table, because the weather was bad. (Square brackets are my data, SIMBAD and the NED are disappointingly incomplete)

It's a testament to the miraculous abilities of the 130PDS that I could catch a magnitude 19.4 active galaxy with very newbish processing, a bad camera and a complete lack of experience over the 12 months. 

Clear skies!

John

A new objective for the big list.

Anyway I am waiting for the QHY 550M to shot small galaxies and faint planetaries with the SW130PDS, but this result is tempting me.

17 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

Hi.

 

I'm considering getting one of these bad boys (130pds) and modifying it over Christmas.

I'm looking at dewheater solutions, and wondering if a glued secondary mirror heater would be preferable to a dewshield.

Can any of you tell me the diameter of the secondary mirror stalk/mounting?

I was considering mounting an rca plug in the top of the ota for a more permanent solution instead of having a cable dangle lose up there.

The secondary has a 48mm secondary axis. Anyway I have shared a season with refractor colleagues with a 100% humidity beside a river and whereas they had their dew strips at 100% power, mine one was absolutely dry with camping mat outside the tube and some flocking inside.

M34 from last weekend very close to Madrid outskirts, I could save only 25 subs of 60s taken between the clouds.

Nothing brilliant indeed but another Messier to the count.