Icesheet

10 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Zero colour in or out of focus visually. Takes very high powers without breaking sweat. Perfectly figured optics so SA not a concern. Front heavy like most triplets, but acclimatises well. Pretty light for a near 5” triplet so easy to mount. Just a brilliant all rounder. Here’s mine in white light mode

Lovely set up! Is that the more blue ring set?0

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I don't know the TSA120 from experience but, in principle, a good 5 to 6 inch (ish) refractor is a very versatile choice, lovey visually and, with the right sized pixels, capable of getting much closer than many would think to the limit of resolution imposed by the seeing. We no longer need 2 metres of FL in amateur DS imaging. If it can cover a full frame chip it need not be all that limited in imaging field of view, either. My own incarnation of this formula is a TEC140 but the same principles apply.

Olly

With the set up I would have, ASI2600MC (3.7µm) it would give me 0.86”/pixel at native 900mm FL then 1.2"/ pixel with reducer at 650mm FL. I also have an EOS R with 5.4µm I could use so I think that should cover my bases? Image circle is 40mm with flattener and 44mm with reducer according to Takahashi. 

13 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Just for visual. The TSA 120 is the perfect mid-life crisis scope. Or any time of life.

Tak makes a fine extender for it, too, which is great for planets.

 

 

Thanks, got some helpful advice from you re my FS60Q. I may have caught the Tak bug!

I recently turned 40 and after a rush of blood to the head I sold my Esprit 100. I may live to regret that but the upside is it opens up the possibility for a new scope. 
 

I’m mainly into imaging but I’ve found myself drawn more and more to visual so I’m looking for a scope that does a bit of everything. I’m aware that doesn’t exist but from what I see the Tak TSA 120 might come close. It seems to get rave reviews for visual, particularly lunar and planetary. At native FL it gives a bit more reach for galaxies, and with reducer it gets me close to what the Esprit was giving me.

Does anyone here use this for imaging and visual? I’m happy to hear other suggestions if you have any. I should say I’m limited by my CEM40 mount which I have no plans to upgrade. 

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

So, it should give color correction similar to an FPL-53 doublet, but with longer cool down time.  Compare lines 63 ad 64 along with 42 and 44 below.

Who said anything about comparing colour correction? 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

The post was to alert people that may have ordered thinking they were getting an FPL-53 triplet and are likely actually getting an FPL-51 triplet.  

An EQ6-R is sound choice and opens up a lot of possibilities, even beyond an aperture of 90-100mm. Almost too many!
 

I have no experience with the fluorostar but I’m sure it’s a solid choice. It might be worthwhile deciding what focal length the targets you want to image are at. Then you can think about design of scope. Triplet with flattener and/ or reducer option. Maybe you would like a petzval type so you don’t need to mess about with backspacing etc. Focal ratio, weight, mechanics and accessories etc all come into the equation.
 

Then you need make sure that telescope is a good fit for your camera. Do the optics cover the sensor? What image scale does the combo give you?
 

There are just so many options right now it makes sense to have a methodical approach to narrow things down. Finally, buy from a reputable retailer that offers a good returns policy and support!

Good luck with the choice!

I emailed SVBONY to ask about this scope as I was genuinely interested. Amongst other things I asked for confirmation that they were using FPL-53. I received no response and when I was back checking I noticed they have updated their website to state that the ED element is actually FPL-51! Thought I would post here in case anyone was thinking of, or maybe had already ordered. I notice some third party vendors still show it as FPL-53. 

Looks like there is a shift in the mount market from traditional worm gears to harmonic drives. Hopefully, the competition means we get high performing competitively priced options. 
 

I am quite surprised about the example Pegasus posted to promote mount performance though. Imaging at native 2800mm FL with a C11 edge and QHY268m with an image scale of 0.28”, they show a PHD2 graph with 1.32” RMS error 🤷🏻‍♂️ They also show an unguided 120s exposure purportedly showing round stars but the only conclusion you could draw from that based on the guiding performance is that they are bloated round stars. 
 

Pretty sure the mount can carry the load they claim but they’re hardly proving adequate imaging performance at that FL. 

15 hours ago, raadoo said:

There's a HEM27EC with encoder that comes in at under half the cost of an RST-135E. if it comes close to how RST-135E owners report unguided performance, it should be a considered option.

I did see that but it might be stretching the pennies a bit further than I had planned. Having said that it’s a significant birthday this year. Maybe I could treat myself 😆

I’ll have a read round to see what’s being said about the 135E. 

10 hours ago, 900SL said:

Looks like a very interesting design approach. Interested in seeing the real world unguided performance. I assume that is a prototype given that it looks like something you would bolt to a tractor hitch 🤣

I’m not expecting great unguided performance based on the other harmonic mounts. As long as it can hold a loaded Esprit 100 with no counterweights and guide sub arc sec RMS I’m in!

1 hour ago, FLO said:

Thank-you 🤗

IOptron revealed this new mount to dealers only Friday.

They have promised us pricing info early this week so we should be able to add it to our website before end of week. 

HTH, 

Steve 

Perfect 😊

I’ll keep a look out for it 👍🏻

10 hours ago, markse68 said:

I think you probably answered your own question

Mark

Probably 😊

Still, if the trade off saves me some me money, a lot of weight and I get similar guided performance out of it then I can live with that. 
 

For what it’s worth my CEM40 had very little backlash and I love the idea that a 3.5kg mount head could carry my rig with no counterweights at that price. 

@FLO get me on the pre order list please 😉

Interesting new mount announcement from iOptron with very little fanfare as far as I can see. From iOptron’s website

Introducing the HEM27 and the HEM27EC, iOptron’s revolutionary hybrid harmonic drive mounts. These light weight, high payload tiny titans will deliver an astronomy experience like never before. Imagine a mount head weighing in at 8.15lbs with a payload capability 29.74lbs, without needing a cumbersome counterweight or shaft. 

Utilizing state of the art harmonic drive technology for the RA movement in tandem with backlash-free DEC worm/belt drive design, the HEM27s deliver unparalleled weight to payload efficiency. 

The HEM27EC features a high precision RA axis encoder that delivers incredible tracking accuracy, enough that many will choose to image “sans” guiding.

Don’t have the technical background to comment but I wonder why they decided to keep a belt driven worm gear on the DEC. Price is very competitive coming in at half the price of rainbow RST and cheaper and lighter than the ZWO AM5. 
 

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

If you hunt around the following websites, you might be able to identify which company makes it based on mechanical similarities:

• Kunming United Optics
• Sharpstar
• Jinghua Optics
• Long Perng

Thanks! Looks like It could be Kunming for this one. Should be a good scope all the same 👍🏻

Just had a closer look at this. It’s likely to be the same as the TS photoline 80mm triplet. Same specs and I don’t think Svbony manufacture their own optics? Not sure who manufactures them for TS. 
 

Anyway the price for the TS and the Svbony are actually comparable. The prices on the Svbony site don’t include VAT so it seems better than it is. 
 

If it’s FPL-53 as they say and assuming half decent construction that would be a great price!

Very professional for a first effort. Enjoyed it, subscribed and looking forward to more 👍🏻

Thanks folks. At least I know the old legs can still shift when they need to 😂

I usually miss out on all the Milkyway core fun but a recent visit to Italy changed that, although it didn't exactly go to plan!

I had scoped out a field where the milky way core would sit above the cliff top village of Trentinara. However, when I go there and set up I became aware of a lot of barking in the distance. Well, it started off in the distance until the next thing I knew I was sprinting off the field with camera, tripod and bag before a pack of dogs got me! That got the heart rate going all right 😆

Luckily I managed to shoot the core on the other side of the village and on the way home I stopped off at the side of the road of the field and shot some foreground images, so this is a composition but is pretty accurate of where the core was had I not had to run for my life! 😂

Canon R and Sigma 40mm:

10x30sec @ ISO1600 f2 tracked for sky

4x30sec @ ISO 1600 f2 for foreground 

4x15sec @ ISO 400 f5.6 for lights of town

Sky processed in Pixinsight and all blended in photoshop.

Milkyway over Borgabuo, a community owned cabin open all year round and free for everyone to use. Read about it here (in Norwegian).

The forecast was for clear skies and despite the prospect of a 60% illuminated moon, I decided to hike up to see what the night would bring. I actually think the moonlight  illuminating the foreground gives this image an extra dimension. 

6 panel mosaic with Canon EOS R and Sigma 28mm @f2.8
 

5x10sec for each panel of sky

1x10sec for each panel of foreground (The moonlit snow was that bright!)

Here’s my entry for section 1). Deepscape image of Orion rising over Fusafjorden, Norway 🇳🇴 

The image is a two pane vertical mosaic captured on the 13th Nov from the same tripod location. Captured with a modded Canon 6D and Askar FMA180.
 

Foreground was 4x180s sec ISO1600.
Sky 30x120s tracked with L-extreme filter.

7 hours ago, Peter_D said:

JUSt a quick follow up question - is the jump that noticeable from 60 to 72 or 72 to 80mm in AP? I know aperture is king in visual but in AP, I guess we are looking more at glass type, lens quality and build of scope? 

Olly covered this. Aperture shouldn’t factor greatly in your decision. 
 

I wouldn’t try guiding with a C6 or a Mak 90 tbh. Can you use one of your camera lenses? If you can connect the 60D to your laptop you could try with that. Otherwise, try and see what you can get unguided with the camera and a lens. That will also give you an idea. 

I think you might need to do some more thinking before you buy. I’m not familiar with the Vixen GP or the Sky Watcher upgrade but do you know that it will be suitable for AP? I.e. is the tracking accuracy (periodic error) acceptable.
 

You also mention a more portable mount in the future. I presume the plan is to use it with whatever scope you end up purchasing. Can you define more portable? You need to think in terms of realistic payload for AP because that will determine what scope is best. 
 

Next do you have an idea of what targets you would like to shoot? You can see what FOV you would get with various scopes and your 60D at astronomytools.net. Then you can narrow it down even further. 
 

Then you have to consider whether you need guiding. The higher you go in focal length and the less accurate  the mount means a higher likelihood you will need guiding. 
 

With all that considered I would imagine you’re going to be in the 300-500mm FL category where one of the ED80’s mentioned above would be a popular choice. There are a number of choices in the 60-70mm aperture range too. SkyWatcher ED72 where you’ll fit the reducer in on your budget too. SharpStar 61EDPH or William optics are others. If you can stretch the budget another £99 then the WO Redcat 51 could be a good choice too. 
 

As you can see there are a lot of options. I think what you want to image and the final mount situation will have more of a bearing on your choice to be honest.

3 hours ago, fwm891 said:

Hope you don't mind I've had a play.

I split the image into upper lower parts, using a pen tool to cut across the top of the mountain range.

I've slightly darkened the lower half then where theres exposed rock I've used the dodge tool at 1% shadows to lighten these areas, then applied a surface blur (1px radius, threshold about 25). For the top half I've added a little saturation and contrast overal, then used the burn tool on highlights (2%) to bring back the detail in the trap area.

No, not at all! I like what you have done 😊

I actually had a version similar to this (minus the foreground blur). However, I felt I needed to lift the shadows a bit in the foreground. If there was snow there (which there is now of course) I probably wouldn’t have.

I really do like what you’ve done with the sky though. A bit more contrast and saturation but not too much. 
 

Hoping I’ll get some time to touch up tonight or tomorrow.