Susaron

Dear all, some interesting tools to prepare your sessions

http://dso-browser.com/dso/search

http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/nph-aladin.pl?frame=downloading#Description

Cheers

14 hours ago, carastro said:

Got myself a coma corrector, Spacing sorted, collimated - First test shot:

Fingers crossed this is going in the right direction, shame it's full Moon as it's a clear night tonight, eager to try a first image with it.

TEST SHOT, M45 Next to a full Moon, but just to check collimation and stars:

(Not sure what that hazy bit is top right of image), any thoughts?  Had to do a gradient exterminator on this as you can imagine, but the hazy bit was noticeable when doing the subs, which are a batch of 5mins luminance.

Carole 

Hi Carole, I am not an expert but looks like there are several false reflections on the picture, if you take a look to the brightest star on the left, it appears a kind of " double donut" around it, maybe there are parasitic lights reaching your scope. 

2 hours ago, digitalcyanide said:

Hi everyone

I am going to be without a mount for a week or two so intend stripping the 130 to flock it and check focuser collimation etc..

Is there anything other mods that can be done whilst I have it apart that will help?
I know I have a little bit of tilt when attaching my camera so I am also going to see about adding another screw to the tube but is there any other decent options out there that will work with a baader MPCC?

thanks in advance

In order to avoid tilt you can replace the original ring in the drawtube with one of these rings

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/flo-compression-ring-adapter-for-skywatcher-newtonians-m54.html

Cheers.

8 hours ago, Uranium235 said:

Good luck with that. Oddly enough, its also kicked me into squaring the steeltrack focuser on my 200pds this evening.... for which I need to remove the focuser and secondary (yikes!). However, getting the secondary round under the focuser is greatly aided by first blocking off the primary then using a sheet of coloured (I used red) paper opposite the focuser, then just rack it far enough so you can make out a concentric circle of colour around the the secondary in the sight tube. Then remove the blocking card and adjust to match the primary, replace the blocking card, get it concentric again, then so on and so forth until its collimated... took me about half an hour and not a laser in sight!

Next time its clear... which will probably be a full moon, I'll take it out for a bit of visual then bung the DSLR on it to check out the corners on a starfield or two.

 

May I recommend some clusters to see / photograph?

Last weekend with the 200PDS I visited some interesting clusters in the segment of Perseus, which are in the list of the Herschel 400, they are NGC 1545, NGC 1528  (this pair can be captured with the 130PDS and DLSR within the same field), NGC 1444 and NGC 1513.

Other OC in the zone are NGC 1520 and NGC 1664 in Auriga, the first one resembles a barred galaxy with two arms, as it has  3 +3 bright stars forming the arms.

Cheers.

A very good idea with newtonians is to replace the 3 M4 colimating screws on the secondary with hand colimating screws, take a look to the ones I put on the Sw130 pds Moonlite updated. They cost between 10 to 14 euros (8 to 12 pounds) a set of three, and they definitely make life easier and faster.

I have these set on both my 130 and 200 PDS newts.

http://www.astroshop.es/accesorios-de-alineacion/omegon-premium-collimation-screw-set/p,46619

Cheers.

Dear all,

Last October 2nd I tried again a photo session from Madrid outskirts, then APT became crazy, not allowing me to take pictures longer than 12 secs.

I was able to take only one test shot at the very beginning, after digging on the problem, it seemed to be a problem with the usb port, using now APT v3.0 the problems has disappeared.

I share with you a single picture of the open cluster IC4665 in Ophiucus, known as the "Summer Beehive".

Cheers

3 hours ago, Bossen said:

What would you recommend? i am thinking about buying the Heq5 pro synscan with the 150P-DS. Is it the best idea?

I would recommend both. I friend has the 150PDS, and I owe a 130PDS and a 200PDS.

It will depend on what you want to photograph, the 130PDS will allow you wider fields, it is close to what a ED80 can offer, open clusters, big nebula complexes and some big globulars will perfectly fit to it. With the 150PDS you will be capable to attack individuals as galaxies, planetary nebulas etc..., as I do with the 200PDS, for visual use the 150 will give you more light gathering. With a good x3 or x4 barlow the 150PDS will allow to attack Jupiter and Saturn with confidence.

In terms of cost they are quite similar, so it is more a matter of what you want to do with it.

Regards.

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 10:31, Squiddy said:

I've read the first and last 10 pages of this thread and must say I'm impressed with this inexpensive little tube. One thing that strike me is that some of you have a camera and mount worth thousends of euro and still choose to use a €200 tube.

I've used a megrez 90 for a while now, but I'd like to try a newtonian tube with a greater aperture and I've been thinking of getting a 150PDS for some time now. So my question to you all are, is the 130PDS better  than the 150PDS, or should I expect pretty much the same result?
The increased weight is no issue as I'm far below the limit of my mount (a Celstron CGE).

Best regards, Kent

The optics for both tubes is the same, the only thing you will "suffer" is that on the 150PDS your photo field will be smaller than with the 130PDS due to the longer focal length. On the other side as the main mirror is bigger you will catch more photons than with the little 130.

Cheers.

Eleven stacked frames of IC4756 only with bias. DSS + Fitswork postprocess.

6 hours ago, Crose01 said:

I'd rotate the tube so that the camera and focuser are between the tube and the mount. I would suspect that the combined weight of the focuser and camera maybe twisting you tube ever so slightly

as to throw out your secondary. It will have less momentum than on the outside of the curve. I know this is a rigid tube as I use mine for visual work.

 

Regards

Chris

 

I am going to try to put the guide tube backwards to reduce the bending moment on the forward part. Also I will put the camera inwards the RA axis to balance it.

Thanks.

36 minutes ago, John78 said:

So here's an Andromeda from last night, 120sec x 10.  

 

I went to the darkest field I could find locally, literally a field surrounded by trees on 3 sides, and although I can make out the Milky Way with my eyes the light pollution is heinous, I tried 120sec at M33 first and it was super orange, so I moved up in the sky and tried 240sec exposures at M31 and it was still orange out.

On the plus side, my 9x50 board cam guide scope performed flawlessly on its first outing

So on this months Astro shopping list is a EOS CLS clip filter, and looking at the coma at the edges a baader CC financial controller permitting.

I actually have a modded 130P with at 2.5" draw tube focuser, will I need any special adapters to get the CC into my image train?

No you don´t the Baader MPCC does not change the focal ratio but it is claimed that it increases the backfocus.

Hi Louise,

I did use the MPCC and the bahtinov along with the APT focusing aid, but along the night the collimation and focus went even worst, I need to check the secondary spider as I got horrible results like this one with Vega ( 5 seconds exposure) at the end of the night. It seems that the spider vanes are tilted.

Any advice will be highly appreciated

First try with the tuned SW130PDS, a single frame of 60 seconds from IC7456 in Ophiucus. Just a JPG with levels adjusted.

Canon 70D + PHD2 + IDAS LPS D1.

I have to say that the image has been taken in the outskirts of Madrid, just under the light pollution dome, and I am not sure if the IDAS if effective here, I am a little bit disgusted with the LP suppresion it does, the Optolong UHC does a better job from my point of view.

On the other hand the focuser behaviour is superb, handling the DLSR is now extremely easy.

And a couple of pictures with the photo equipment just to check the balance on the AZEQ5.

Dear all

As promised in this thread

I am the first (fortunate) customer of the new 5'' flanges specifically done for the 130PDS,and today I have done the installation.

FYI, in order to complaint with the original focusing limits it is only need to add the 0.5'' spacer provided with the installation kit.

The total cost including taxes has been 480 euros.

Here you have some pictures

38 minutes ago, CrashEd said:

Thanks for the SCT information - really helpful. Could you PM me  acopy of the article or a link? Had a look for it earlier buy couldn't find it online. Maybe I'll need to order the back-issue?

Apologies for the minor 'star-hop' guys. Back on topic now, I promise  

Some AZEQ5 info links

http://skywatcher.com/_english/05_service/08_blog_detail.php?sid=300

You can buy the digital issue here

http://www.shopatsky.com/sky-telescope-magazine-june-2016?source=igodigital

Cheers

13 hours ago, CrashEd said:

Many thanks for posting that Susaron - valuable information. It seems to tick all the boxes for me as I intend to use it for visual work with my SCT in AZ mode and to begin imaging with a 130pds in EQ mode. 

Without sidetracking the original thread, how does it handle the 200pds and is it possible to image with it?

It is a pleasure to help.

In the Sky and Telescope article, which was published a year after I bought the AZEQ5, is said that for visual purpose, it will fit best to the AZ any SCT 8'' or even a 9.25'' as they both exert less moments during mount movement.

But, since the beginning I fitted a 200/1000PDS, and apart from the fact that I had to buy an extra 5kg counterweight, because with the 2x3.5kg pack I could not balance the tube, all the rest have been good news, for visual observing the mount handles very well the 200, and for planetary imaging I was able to use in June a x5 ES focal extender to make videos of Saturn without any problem. 

Even one night before packaging home I tried M13 without guiding, see herewith the result of 5 stacked frames of 30 seconds. The images are (unfortunately) out of focus, as it was a quick attempt sorry.

Cheers.

7 hours ago, CrashEd said:

Is anyone using the AZ EQ5-GT mount with the 130pds? I'm thinking of getting one (and a 130) to do some AP. Specs are similar to the HEQ5, so presimably it should be ok?

Hi 

Yes I have an AZEQ5, and I have used first with a SW200/1000PDS, for visual duties, and planetary photographs, the picture on my profile is taken with that combination and an ASI120MM.

Last year in order to jump to DS photo I bought the SW130PDS, the reason is the weight. Thought I have made attempts in DS with the 200 (and i will continue doing), the 130 is a lightweight performer, 3.62 kgs vs the 9 kg of the 200. So in the end your guiding will suffer less problems due to lesser inertia moments. Moreover I can use the coma corrector from the 200 so less things to buy.

Though the AZEQ5 max. payload is 15kg around 30lbs, if you use a reflector you shouldn´t carry more than the 50% of the maximum payload. The 130 combined with a reflex camera, filters wheel and guide tube will achived around 6.5kg on my set up. The pictures taken on a previous message without guidance have been done with that combination.

I am a devote fan of the AZEQ5, is very very quiet, the pointing accuracy is superb, and it is highly transportable, I can do the set up in less than 30 minutes at the field. Moreover you can use it in azimutal mode with a couple of refractors. There is a review on the Sky and Telescope Magazine last June done by Alan Dyer.

A couple of problems with the AZEQ5 are, the power comsumption, so you will need a battery with around 19Ah which last a whole night, and the polar finder, which is sold apart, though you can consider as well to buy the QHY Polemaster.

if you have further questions do not hesitate to post here.

Cheers.

Dear all,

The  5'' flange to use a Moonlite focuser with our beloved 130 is already available. Contact directly with Ron if you are interested. As soon as I'll get mine one I will post a picture here.

Cheers

Good Morning Gents.

Here another proud owner of a SW130PDS (and a SW200PDS as well), I will like to share with you that for those like me suffering headaches with the SW130PDS focuser, I have provided to Ron from Moonlite, with detailed

measurements from the stock focuser in order to be able to fit Moonlite focusers to our little imaging beast. A 5'' diameter flange is coming.

Meanwhile I would like to share with you some of my first imaging attempts with this scope.

Cheers.

M.