bluesilver

Hi, I have just received a Hotec Advanced CT Collimator, the same as this one https://www.firstlightoptics.com/hotech-collimation-tools/hotech-advanced-ct-laser-collimator.html I am planning to use it to help collimate my Celestron C14 XLT I am hoping someone here has one or been using one as i just have the one question really The instructions on their site tell you to move the collimator towards and away from you OTA until you get the cross hairs at their smallest, then you move the collimator away from the OTA to get the cross hairs sitting at about the 1.5 mark on the collimator. But when you watch their youtube video on how to to it, they do the opposite, after getting the cross hairs at their smallest, they then move the collimator in towards the OTA to get the cross hairs to sit on the 1.5 mark I was hoping someone here might be able to help me out with the correct way. I have sent Hotec a couple of emails now over the last two weeks and not a single reply, so not the best from that company.

Hi, I am just interested to know if anyone has any dimensions of the V3 Hyperstar for the C14 I jut recently purchased one second had that arrived today, but it doesn't even come close to fitting. I am looking for the internal thread dimensions of the V3 Hyperstar, the one that i have is 85.12mm or 3.351 inches The outside housing, just about the threads diameter is about 100.88mm or 3.991 inches The outside thread diameter on my C14 XLT is about 101.58mm or 4 inches So the outside dimensions of the Hypersar is almost the same diameter or the threads on the C14 that it is suppose to screw onto. I am trying to find out if this V3 Hyperstar is in fact a C11 Hyperstar of if my C14 XLT is just not suited to a Hyperstar and i mess up purchasing it. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi, I have a Lunt 60THa on it way, I have just been doing a bit of research on what may be a good camera to pair up with the Lunt60THa So i was hoping that those here that do have the Lunt60 and imaging with it, what camera you have found that works well with it. I was looking at the IMX429 sensor that the PlyerOne Apoll - M-Mini has, or maybe even the IMX 533 sensor that the ZWO asi533 has. I don't think i need to get the cooled version for solar imaging. I have been mainly doing DSO imaging with a asi2600mc and Esprit150, so Solar imaging is just something a bit different to try out. Any advice would be appreciated, Thanks.

Sorry to bring in another question to all of this, I appreciate what everyone is advising me, I am planning to do a test with the Esprit 150 with some some solar film and a red imaging filter, From what i have read and what i have been told is, i can do this as a white light test to see if the 150 can handle the seeing conditions. I plan to use a asi17m mono camera with a 5X barlow. ( I hope i got all that correct ) But the other question was, if i were to choses to go with a Quark, would something like a Skywatcher ED80 Evostar be a good match and still using the asi174 camera? Image would be a bit larger compared to the Esprit 150, but being a smaller aperture and shorter focal length, i am thinking the seeing conditions would not be as critical. Plan is to get close up images of the sides.

Appreciate the replies and advice. I like the idea of the close up view with prominences. I have only now just found a video of someone with a Quark and imaging the surface and then the prominences, very interesting procedure. So if i were to stay with the Esprit 150 and go the Quark Chromosphere option, All i need then is a filter for the front of my OTA? One of my dealerships here have the Badder filters for the front of the OTA I take it i don't need any other filters that go in the front of the Quark then?

Hi, I am looking at getting into solar imaging, have been doing DSO imaging for a few years with the Skywatcher Esprit 150 I was looking at getting a Lunt 60 as you can get it now with what they call a viewer package, basically it comes with two filters so you can view both Chromosphere and prominence ( i think i have got that correct ) The other option was trying to set my Esprit 150 up for solar imaging, but a bit unsure exactly what i need to achieve this, I think i need a Quark for starters and i see that they now have a model out that switches between both Chromosphere and prominence. I think i also need a special type of filter for the front of the OTA and if i am correct, also a filter just in front of the Quark. I am interested to find out if this setup with the Quark on the Esprit 150 is a better option that going for the Lunt 60 for imaging? It looks like cost wise, it will be very similar either way i go. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, Not sure if i have got this in the corrects section, sorry if i have it incorrect. I have always been doing DSO Imaging and a bit of planetary imaging and now i am looking at getting a scope to try out some Solar imaging. Been doing lots of research and just getting more confused the more i research I think i have got my choices down to type brands at least, but please correct me if i am going down the wrong track here. I was looking at either the Lunt 40mm or the DayStar Sloar Scout 60mm with Quark filter, they both seam to be around the same price even though one is 40mm and the other 60mm, plus two very different scopes. Is the Lunt the better quality of the two? My plan was to imaging the sun and if possible to get the hole disk in the same frame. The Lunt comes with different filters, and from what i can read, it appears the 1200 or 12mm filter is the one to use for imaging? The DayStar is a bit more confusing, it comes with two options, CHROMOSPHERE or DS H-ALPHA, the Chromospher is a bit more pricy than the other, but not my much. i don't really want to go all out and get a 60mm Lunt when only just starting out in Solar imaging. Can all the ones i mentioned also be used for visual use as well? Any advice on these scopes would be appreciated, I won't go into cameras and field of view yet, just trying to get an understanding on which way i should be looking. Ideally an image of surface detail and showing flares would be the goal, but just not sure if i am looking or heading in the right direction here. Cheers.

Hi, i have a Celestron C14, Black tubed version, non Edge I am looking at getting a reducer for it for imagine with a asi2600mc and a ZWO OAG-L So long story short, will the Celestron reducer work well with this setup, or am i better of to spend a bit more and look at the Starizona version? Any advice is appreciated.

Hi, I just tried to do a sensor Analysis of my asi2600mc, I did one about a year ago, and i thought i would do another one just to have another look. Now for some reason, the result came back as being Bit 14, I am definitely in the option RAW16, there isn't even a option for RAW14 only RAW8 or RAW16 On SharpCap forum, They are saying to update the camera drivers, I tried that, but google chrome is blocking any attempt to download them. I find that it would be odd to have to update the drivers. I am using the latest version of Sharpcap now, the test was done with an older version, but the new version gives exactly the same result. I tried SharpCap version 3.2 and the results were even worse, came back ae BIT 12 I am just worried that i may have a camera that has gone bad? Below is a screen shot of the result. Any advice would be appreciated

Hi, Today i thought i would try and find if my imaging setup has any camera tilt issues that i need to look at. I have no idea really about tilt issues, only that people recommend that you should eliminate it if you have any serious tilt issues. So i went back over some data i have with a 0.77 focal reducer and one without a focal reducer. Camera is asi2600mc and it is fitted to a ZWO OAG that is connected to a Skywatcher Esprit 150 I put some images into ASTAP as that was a program that i am using for plate solving. Below are the results, I am not sure if they are good or bad, any advice on what i am suppose to be looking at would be appreciated. This one is 20 second exposure with a 0.77 Reducer This one is a 120 second exposure of a different target with no reducer

Appreciate the replies, It is the collapsible version of the Skywatcher Dobsonian, and just looking back at the place where i originally got it from, it is indeed listed as a f4.4 so my mistake there. I will have to look into this comma a bit more, I am thinking i may not possibly have any, but then again, i only just recently heard about comma correctors and haven't noticed any weird shaped stars, but as mentioned i haven't really been looking for it either. I am mainly just using the standard 20mm eye piece that came with it and occasionally swap it out for e televue 10mm Delos I will have to take another closer look next time i get it back out.

Hi, I have a Skywatcher 16" Dobsonian. According to the specs, it tells me it is around the f5 some specs say f4.8, so just going with f5 Funny enough, i have just only been hearing about comma correctors for Newtonians as i am in the process of looking at a Skywatcher 300/150 Black Diamond. Is it worth while looking at getting a coma corrector for the 16" Dobsonian? It is mainly always used for visual use. Will the comma corrector make much of a visual difference for star clusters, nebula e.t.c, and will it also make any difference when viewing planets? I was possibly looking at the Skywatcher f5 comma corrector if it is worth while look into. Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers.

Appreciate all the replies and advice. I do have a observatory, so portability is no issue, sorry for missing this out also. I might have to look into the GSO RC8, Smaller aperture, but slightly longer focal length. Astronomy.tools shows quiet a bit of difference in the field of view, Quattro vs the RC 8 Dose the actual aperture make that much of a difference imaging wise? 200mm vs 300mm

Appreciate the replies, Sorry, i didn't add in my equipment, I was mainly looking for advise on these two OTAs. But great advise already, looks like i may be looking at this all wrong. The camera that i am currently imaging with is a asi2600MC as i like to stay with the one shot color cameras. Mount is no issue, i am using a iOptron CEM120 I was originally looking at the reflectors since they are pretty much a Dobsonian and easy to collimate I was looking at something like the Skywatcher 180/2700, although it is mainly designed for planetary imaging, it may be a good choice for Galaxies? But the long focal length may be too much for this? Silly question, are there dedicated Rc or sct designs for DSO imaging in particular or should i be really just trying to limit the focal length to a certain point?

Hi, i was looking at going with either a Skywatcher 12" Quanttro or a 12" Black Diamond OTA for DSO imaging, mainly looking at imaging Galaxies. I was interested to know if anyone has had one or these and also what the difference is imaging wise between the two? I know the Quanttro if f4 and FL of 120mm while the Black Diamond is f4.8 and FL of 1500mm But is one better suited to DSO Astrophotography than the other? I currently have a Skywatcher Esprit 150 with a .77 reducer that i image Nebular with, but looking for a bit larger focal length and aperture for galaxies. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Appreciate all the replies and advice. Yes, I never really new all that much about matching cameras to scopes with ac seconds per pixel when i decided on the scope. I am currently using this scope with a asi2600mc and is working well, just not ideally matched. But then again i guess the Esprit 150 may no me considered a dedicated astrograph either, I am kind of just trying to match up the best camera possible to this scope. Ideally, if there was a APS-C sensor with the same pixel size as the asi2400, then that would be spot on ideal, but yet to find one.

Hi, just a compatibility question as i am having trouble finding an answer and was hoping someone here may know. I have the Skywatcher Esprit 150 and also have the 0.77 reducer to suit. I was looking at purchasing the asi2400mc camera which is a full frame camera. The description of this scope tells me: A 2 element field flattener is included to iron out the natural off-axis astigmatism and field curvature of the objective lens, leaving a fully corrected 42mm field of view The product specifications tells me: Diameter of corrected field 40mm The 0.77 reducers tells me it has a image circle of 36mm but then also says it is compatible with full frame sensors. I thought a full frame sensor needed 43mm image circle. So you can kind of hopefully see that i am a bit confused here. So basically just trying to find out if the asi2400mc pro will work with the Esprit 150 ok? The arc second per pixel matches up pretty good. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply, it is very much appreciated. I will put it all back together as "scope ( ( camera" Bit of luck this should be correct, I have sent Skywatcher an email a few days ago, but no reply yet as i think they are still on their Christmas break. Next time i will pay a bit more attention before things get messy.

Thanks for the detailed reply there, I searched a fair bit and couldn't find any diagrams, so very much appreciated. Just to add to the confusion, well for me anyway and to help myself see what is going on in those diagrams So basically the first and last elements are convex in the same direction? So this means that both elements should be installed so they look like this: ( ( It is just in the first diagram, the last lens before the camera is convex towards the camera which is like this : ) So it is kind of saying two different things here, one is saying that both elements should be in the same direction, which is convex, and then the next it is saying that it should be concave. You can possibly see why I have gotten myself a little confused here. I am guessing the last diagram may be the one to reference to, both elements to be Convex, So with the Flattener installed on the scope looking through it, Both elements facing the telescope the will be both Convex, like this: ( ( So the end facing back to the camera is Concave like this: ) ) I think that is what you were saying, just talking me a little while to work it all out. Cheers.

Hi, I have a Skywatcher Esprit 150, I am referring to the part they call the Field Flattener that comes as part of the scope, not the optional focal reducer. It is listed in the online manual https://inter-static.skywatcher.com/upfiles/en_download_caty01416868668.pdf page 12 3rd item from the left I removed both lens for some cleaning, but lost the orientation on which way around they come out, Now by that i mean, I know which one goes closest to the camera, but not sure which way around they are suppose to be, weather it is convex or concave. So the first mirror that goes closest to the camera, is the camera side concave or convex? so is the camera side shaped like this ) or like this ( And then the same for the second mirror furthest away from the camera, is the camera side concave or convex? so is the camera side shaped like this ) or like this ( I hope all that makes sense.

Appreciate all the advice and replies. Lots to think about there now, Would also be interesting to see how the HyperStar compares on the C14 compared to the RASA 11, just another option. A tad cheaper + larger aperture also.

Very much appreciate all the replies and advice. I was mainly looking at the RASA 11 as it has the larger mirror for collecting more light and also matches the asi2600mc perfectly. Never really though of the RASA 8, but did here a few mirror issues with them. Weight wise, it isn't an issue at all, I have a pretty good setup to mount and dismount the C14 without and issues.

Hi, I am not 100% on where i was suppose to post this question,, so thought here would be a good start, apologies if i have this in the wrong section. So I have been imaging for a few years now, just don't get much time to actually get out and do it, so maybe once a month i get a chance to get out and image. My area is around the Bortle 2 -3 My current scope is the Skywatcher Esprit 150, and the mount is a iOptron CEM 120 and the camera is asi2600mc ( color ) I also have a C14 XLT ( non Edge ) So i am looking at getting a second scope of the larger objects like M42, M45. Even with a reducer, the objects won't fit with the Esprit 150 I was thinking about getting a RASA 11 or even a Hyperstar for the C14, but after doing a bit of research, it appears both a pretty fussy with collimation. ( I do have a Skywatcher 16" Dobsonian that i use for visual use and find collimating this is no dramas at all.) I then started to look at the Esprit 100 as all these 3 have very close the same imaging filed of view. So basically i am just hoping to get some advise on what way be the best way to go here? Esprit 100, RASA 11 or possibly look at a Hyperstar for the C14 ?

Very much appreciated. This has cleared up all my questions. The main part that i was missing and i completely over looked was that the setting is set to RAW. I completely over looked this main part and the rest all makes sense. Just set it to RAW. Thanks heaps, very much appreciated.

Thanks for the replies, appreciated. First sorry, I may have made my general question a tad confusing there. I wasn't too worried about the white balance menu options and how to create a custom white balance, what i was mainly interested to know was: If i am imaging DSO, should i first be making up a custom white balance since the UV filter has been removed or just image with it set at the standard stock white balance? I hope that reads better on what i was referring to.