Peter_D

I had set up my C6, an OAG and my planetary cam just to get PHD2 working. It kept losing the guide star so I figured it might be a better strategy to use a lighter OTA and guide camera, hence my post. I do have a Mak90. Maybe then a good idea to set this up guiding on my GP and get back to you with the guiding results? What would be deemed acceptable results in RA and Dec?

Thanks @Icesheet, great post! Lots of food for thought. Yes, I understand the mount is key in AP. That said, I just can't justify the expense on a new mount at the moment - better I think to see what the results are with the GP and go from there. 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?

Hi I'm looking at buying my first imaging ED or APO refractor in the new year (or a bit later if I need to save!). Background: I have several other scopes for visual / planetary so it'll be for DSO imaging only. I have a Vixen GP (so EQ5 equivalent) with the Skywatcher GoTo upgrade kit installed. This will be my AP mount for the first year. I would like to get a portable mount as well but this is down the line. Budget: Up to £600 (700€). I understand that a corrector is a prerequisite but this is something I would buy later, getting the right scope is the priority. I have an un-modded Canon 60D DSLR. I live in a Bottle 6 area. Any advice on the glass, focal length, aperture I should be aiming for that will fit my experience level and mount? Many thanks for any suggestions. Clear skies Peter

I was lucky to get a bit of clear weather in the early evening (16:30 local time) and was able to set up my Celestron 6SE on the balcony. I used an IR Pass Filter, 2x Barlow and a Zwo asi224mc. Autostekkert!3 and Registax6, final image reduced to 70%. Venus' phase is currently at 32%. It looks like my image is missing some data along the terminator? Maybe the cresent would have looked fuller without the IR Pass filter? Thanks for looking and clear skies Peter

I got a very small window of clear weather this morning at around 10:30 AM so was able to do some lunar imaging with a IR Pass filter. Meade 8 inch SCT, Zwo asi224mc, SvBony SV183 IR Pass Filter. AutoStekkert!3, Registax6, Gimp. 3000 images, best 15%. Included image is the original and the processed image in Gimp. I'm still getting to grips with it so there is room for improvement in my processing! Clear skies Peter

Hi, welcome to SGL! If you get a zoom eyepiece, you can keep on increasing the zoom incrementally while keeping the alignment star centred. I always do a two star alignment and I try to ensure the alignment stars are as far away to each other as possible. If your go-tos are still off, make sure your power supply is giving the correct voltage.

I didn't think I'd have any clear spells this evening but the south was reasonably clear. It was cool with still air. Jupiter was at 17 degrees elevation but steadier than previous attempts. Even so, I didn't bother with the Barlow, imaged at F10 but in reality it is a bit higher than this as I use a Crayford, ADC and flip mirror. Equipment: Meade 8 inch SCT, Vixen GP with Skywatcher Goto Upgrade, Zwo asi224mc. 36,000 frames captured in 5 minutes. I used 5% of them. PIPP, Autostekkert!3, Registax6. Final image reduced to 75% of original and rotated. Io visible to the right. Looking forward to next year with the return of Mars and the gas giants even higher in the sky. Clear skies!

Thanks for the photos! I'm originally from Ireland but never visited the castle, it's on my (light) bucket list! Reading up on the Parson's family, interesting for me to see the Earl's youngest son, Charles, was inventor of the marine steam turbine, a version that was later fitted to HMS Dreadnought. I had seen the surname before but didn't know they were so closely related.

That's super Michael, many thanks for the detailed explanation!

Hi, I am setting up my Celestron C6 for DSO imaging. I know it's not ideal scope but I want to see my results before having to possibly part with it. There's no rush as I still have to get a 0.63 reducer - this is all just practice, getting used to the equipment I have and seeing what I need to purchase over the next while. Progress: Day 1: I was able to focus the guidecam attached to OAG and DSLR during daytime and later connected to PHD2 successfully. No guiding. Polar alignment off. Day 2: Polar aligned better but had taken off the guidecam after the session and had to try focusing on a star moving the guide camera up and down. The star wasn't precisely focused and although PHD2 started guiding (yeah!) it lost the star pretty soon. The OAG I use is a Meade Off Axis Guider that I picked up a few months ago. I have a couple of questions on it specifically: 1. Do people usually have a dedicated guide camera attached to the OAG that they set up once in the daytime and just keep it screwed in at the correct height for focus? It just doesn't seem like it is precise enough to do the focusing during night time if you have taken off the guidecam before - my guidecam is currently my asi224mc (my planetary cam) so I might need to get a dedicated asi120mc mini if I stick with the OAG? 2. The Meade OAG just seems badly designed to use with a DSLR. You can see in the photo that you cannot fully attach the camera without the body of the camera or the OAG thumbscrew coming into contact. Frustrating. To I need an extension or a locking ring? A better OAG? 3. Last question (sorry if it is basic) - Do you set up the guidecam first in, for example, Sharcap and then shut Sharpcap down and start PHD2 or can the setup of the guidecam be done in Sharpcap and we keep it open and then start PHD2? I'm confused. Thanks for any guidance (pardon the pun!). It would be great to see if anyone else is using this type of OAG and can shed a little light on question 3. Final thought, would it be just easier to use a 50mm guidescope? 🙂 Clear skies Peter

Hi, There was a lovely half moon tonight. It was pretty low in the southern sky and just about to go behind the neighbour's house! Single shot of 1/200 at ISO 3200 (It's been a while since I used a DSLR so these might not be ideal settings) using a Canon EOS 60D. Telescope was a Celestron C6 operating at its native f10. Clear skies Peter

Hi, I just glanced out a south facing upstairs window. While most of the sky was cloudy, towards the horizon was clear and I saw Venus for the first time in a while. I have a Celestron C-90 Mak on an Az3 mount so it allowed me to set up discreetly and have a quick look. Luckily the house across from me had its shutters down! Venus' 45 degree phase was clearly seen. I used a 25mm Kellner and a 12mm Ortho eyepiece. Looking forward to seeing the changes in the planet's phase in the coming weeks. Clear skies Peter

Just looked, the Omegon comes with a Red Dot Finder, the Skywatcher with a 6x30 Finder scope. It's a detail just to think about (no problem replacing either).

Thanks Nik! Great capture and very helpful. I used my C6 SE OTA on a EQ mount yesterday and captured this single shot (exposure 6 seconds) - Ceres is far left. Clear skies Peter

Hi Here's a couple of images of the Andromeda Galaxy. I used my Tasco 9VR ( Vixen made F5 60mm Achromatic refractor from the mid 1980s) mounted on a Vixen GP mount. Unguided - learning to guide is something I need to get around to doing! Camera was an un-modded Canon 60D. 40 exposures of 30 secs (too long, looking at the comas) at iso 800. Stacked in DSS. Levels stretched in Gimp. At this stage, the red channel was really dominating so I just boosted the saturation to get as much of the galaxy visible as possible and made it a mono image 🙂 I cropped it (first image) and on my Moto mobile phone's photo editor, I used the 'enhance' option - really brought out more of the galaxy and cropped it again. Thanks for looking. Interested to hear if anyone else is dipping their toes into DSO AP with older scopes. Clear skies Peter

Here's a useful article on observing Sirius B: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/how-to-observe-sirius-b/

At these extreme magnifications, you will just get a larger, duller blurry image. Explanation: I think I'm correct in saying the same amount of light is entering your telescope at higher mags as lower mags (because the aperture of the scope is not changing) but you are looking at a smaller area of the image. Therefore the image will appear duller and with less detail.

Yes, I'll see if there is a section that is noticeably better than the rest, good idea.

Doh! Thanks Stu, I had it at 5 minutes because I had imaged Saturn last time. Thanks for pointing out the error. Yes, I don't use the Mak enough - it definitely punches above its size!

Hi, Here's an image of Jupiter taken this evening - you can just make out Io to the left and Europa to the right. I used my Celestron C-90 Mak on an SE Mount. It's a nice, light weight combination and one that I will use more often in future. Jupiter was right over a neighbour's chimney so I was getting quite a bit of turbulance. I had captured over 70K frames in 5 minutes but in the end, only 20K were useable. Equipment: Celestron C-90 Maksutov, Zwo ADC, Flip Mirror, 1.5x Barlow, Baader UV-IR Cut filter, Zwo asi224mc. 20000 Frames captured, best 10% used. PIPP, Autostekkert!3, Registax6. Final image reduced to 70% of original. Clear skies Peter

I haven't got around to buying a recticle eyepiece. In my flip mirror, I use a zoom eyepiece and I can progressively zoom in on the planet and have it centered in the camera when I flip the mirror.

Fascinating video about the work of Dutch optical engineer Rik ter Horst: https://youtu.be/HxwhCmO90UQ The introduction explains the basics of telescopes and SCTs very effectively.

I'm not sure if Germans prefer refractors or Newts - it's a very good question! Re. prices, perhaps it was the case that because Germany is physically a large country, you only had one or two local dealers that sold telescopes and the lack of local competition kept prices high. I'm not saying that's a bad thing - high prices allowed for shops to survive and qualified staff to provide after sales service. Now, it's a different reality with more online sales but with even fewer domestic dealers and so new prices stay comparatively high. This high new price sets the price for the used market and so used telescopes tend to cost more too.

Thanks Pete!

I have a de-forked Meade 2080 dating from the mid 1990s. SCT prices are be a lot higher in Germany than the UK or especially the US! One improvement that transformed the scope was buying an SCT Crayford focuser. Before, it had quite a bit of image shift when focusing. For medium / low powers, it would have been ok but I use it mostly for planetary and high magnification lunar so it needed addressing.