Uranium235

Ive been covering up my bottom (of the newt!) ever since I had the 130 (and the 150 previously). If you have enough ambient light at your imaging location, it will leak in through the bottom of the tube and give you a gradient. It seems all the PDS range have this "open bottom" design, but its easy enough to make a cover. A bit of circular card with notches cut out for access to the collimation screws, and just held on with a bit of tape - took all of 2min to make, saves much hassle.

Edit: Same applies if you have a manual filter wheel - make a cover for it, or a drawstring bag.

130P DS Ordered from FLO along with Coma Corrector, M48 Adapter and Cheshire Collimator - To say i am excited is a complete understatement.

In the last month i have also purchased a CG5 mount and a Canon 600d - This has all stemmed from my Mrs buying me a Celestron 76EQ at Xmas. Part of me is wondering whether she might now be regretting that now?

Welcome to the club

With luck, you wont need to collimate out of the box - but no harm in checking.

And another:

Another blast from the 130:

Ive got a couple more pics in the pipeline (using the new 2" filters), just need to take some calibration frames before I process the data - hopefully later this afternoon.

I will be bringing the 130 along to SGL9, so if anyone wants a look at how its set up - just pop over and have a peek (thats assuming its not raining!)

Uranium235, how do you manage to get such spectacular results? What do you use? What's your setup and process of taking images and post-processing? This thread may not be the place for such discussions, but I'm sure I'm not the only one curious.

All the gear I use is in my sig, but basically its the 130pds (modified), Atik 383L+ (full frame CCD) and the NEQ6 (guided). Post processing is a mixture of DSS (calibration), Maxim (stacking and filtering), then Photoshop (for developing the image). Could go into more detail, but gotta get to work now!

The 130 is now out and collecting photons, the initial few subs look ok. Im just doing a quick HH mosaic at just 6 subs per pane, but the sky quality is total pants.

Edit: Wow... Ive just gone to align two different panes and the stars overlapped perfectly - didnt have to click snap to, or bend the field in any way. Now thats interesting!

Seems like the exact same problem I'm having with the MPCC III and GSO 150mm F4 scope. It took me an age to figure out what was going on- but last session I noticed on tightening the thumbscrew the deflection of the coma corrector. Is there a thread detailing your solution?

I havent launched a thread on this one yet becuase its still experimental. Last night I managed to file away the last bits of the collar on the SW corrector, so that one can be mounted internally using the adaptor ive put together. Should be clear tonight so I'll give it another test run.

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Are people here happy using the original focuser on the 130p DS? I have been meaning to ask Ron at Moonlite to machine some curved plates to match the smaller 130p DS OTA. 

In my situation, getting the Moonlite depends on how far the compression ring sits inside the focuser.

Reason being, the safety undercut on the MPCC MkIII (and MkII) begins 3mm from the back of the collar - all the compression rings I have (and thumbscrews) measure as 2mm, so the compression ring is touching both the 2" barrel and safety undercut when tightened, which is why it never sat square on a consistent basis. Thats the reason why I eventually had to build a threaded solution.

Not such a problem with the SWCC, as its undercut begins 2mm behind the collar.

Im thinking of getting a drill press for my birthday, so I will be able to better engineer a bespoke adapter for the standard DS focuser - and perhaps doubling as a tilt adaptor. Ive never had to tap a hole before, but its going to be fun trying! (planning on using 4x M2 allen bolts to hold it all together)

I have both the Baader MPCC correctors (MkII, MkIII) plus the Skywatcher 0.9x.

For getting good corners on a big chip, the MkIII is the winner. But if your chip is a 2/3 size CCD, the SWCC is a good choice.

At this rate, I think Skywatcher will owe us commission for pushing up 130pds sales

Put it this way, the 383 would de-bag a DSLR and spank its bottom any day of the week

383 mono also beats the QHY8, in both broadband and narrowband. But, its a heavy camera so your focuser needs to be up to the job.

I would just like to thank Martin at First Light Optics for getting my Atik 383L+ to me in time for my annual leave.

When I first ordered on a Wednesday, they were out of stock and awaiting resupply on Friday - meaning that standard delivery wouldnt get here until next week. So when I queried this, I was given the option of a Saturday delivery. When I asked how much, I was very surprised to hear that it would be for gratis.... now thats service!!!!

He even packed some clear skies in the box... winner!

10/10

I would just like to express my pleasure with the service from Atik cameras, who now have a UK based factory.

Vince was very helpful, and the rates for a service and clean are very reasonable (30 euros + P&P). The camera was ready to return in a matter of days, with the payment method being via bank transfer.

So, if you have a grubby Atik camera, or you've had it for a few years and would like to get it checked over by a professional. Then I can highly recommend the service that Atik offer.

10/10

An excellent guide, should be made a sticky!

I have a little extra for the pot in regard to PHD and finderguiders, the following link contains posts from Craig Stark (the author of PHD) as to the settings that should be used for 50mm finderguiders:

http://www.cloudynig...psed/sb/5/o/all

Also, how to work out whether you're getting backlash. It manifests itself in the form of an slow drift in dec, followed by an overcorrection. If left for long enough you will notice a sawtooth pattern forming in the graph history.

Whoops! Tim beat me to it in the sticky request!

If you have to use pliers to fetch a T2 ring off, its worth padding them with a bit with some tape first so there is no metal on metal contact.

Gratefully received! Cheers Peter, I will give it a go on my next project.

Just want to say a big thanks to the guys at FLO for getting my M48>Canon adpter to me before xmas - even though I fluffed up the order by trying to rush it through during my lunch break.

Now enjoying the complementary coffee and minty biccies as I type... a very nice touch.. thanks guys!

Very sad news....

RIP Sir Patrick, you will be sorely missed by all.

Youve probably already got a GPS unit in your pocket if you have an android-based phone. Just download Shibbys Astropanel (free) or GPS essentials (also free).

Thanks for that link Tim. Very useful

Brilliant. That has to be the most succunct and easily-understood explanation for eggy stars, ever! Something everyone starting out in imaging should learn as a basic rule.

Here here!

Maybe there should be a sticky (with pics) in regard to star shapes.... hmmm i believe somebody was already working on something similar.

Sara, I believe PA is the only cause of rotation. But Ive seen a similar looking effect from a cheap 0.5x reducer.

I get flex in as little as 6-7 min despite having a flat PHD graph, thats why ive just brought an oag, fingers crossed that will fix it.

30min frames are a bit tough with any mount, a lot can go wrong in half an hour - and any minor blips along the way will have a cumulative effect. But if you can get 20min already, you may as well stick with that becuase thats still rather a long sub length

Ahhh cash coverters - the bastion of "slightly warm" consumer electronics