fifeskies

I am about to take down my big solar rig and replace it with my widefield deepsky rig now that dark nights are back.

If the Sun gets interesting I can always use my smaller solar rig to catch it.  This is from the bigger rig today.

Sun from above Fife early today using a 5 inch triplet , 2x Powermate and Baader Coolceramic Herschel with continuum filter.  Inaged using a ZWO585mc and converted to false colour.

Sun from above Fife early today using a 5 inch triplet , 2x Powermate and Baader Coolceramic Herschel with continuum filter.  Inaged using a ZWO585mc and converted to false colour.

Frustrating conditions with a lot of attempts just ending up in the bin.  This is the best of the bunch.

Out early but getting a lot of thermal distortion from neighbouring roofs as the sun is still low down.

The new area AR3780 is just turning onto the face of the sun, looks like this will develop into an interesting target to follow round.

The monthly "Sky at Night" observing guide on Youtube is worth a look though aimed more at the visual observer than imagers.

Handy for planetary highlights like transits.

This months one is here (August 2024)

Its been a bit of a lottery trying to catch any clear days under the current weather conditions

Some images from my 5 inch triplet and 585mc camera

A bit windy and some high haze but overall not too bad.

The last little views of what has been a very interesting large double group, slipping away out of view today.

Took off the 2x Powermate to get a view of the whole width of the lower sun.

My skytee gets used mainly for solar in the summer , though it does get the ocassional use for winter visual.

(I have other systems I used for winter guided AP)

It is a breeze to set up and use.

I did upgrade the saddles to ADM dual fit.

I have used it with an 8 inch SCT in the past for moon viewing (with counterweight).

Clear early this morning so grabbed this image.

Hard to get today as only short gaps in cloud and windy with it.
Best 250 from 5000, stacked and false coloured from the green continuum filter image.
Baader Herschel wedge , 2x Powermate, ZWO585mc, 5 inch triplet

best 250 of 5000 frames , ZWO 585mc

AR3712 will soon be off round the edge now.

A bit hazy today and a lot of cloud so only very short captures. 
Not great results but still worth posting.
AR3713 and AR3712

Also some heavy traffic on the nearby road making the pier into a seismograph

Using my 5 inch triplet with the Baader Coolceramic Herschel, a 2x Powermate and the ZWO585mc camera.

I was enjoying some solar visual observing with my Altair wedge today, such a lot to see just now all over the face of the sun, and the sky seems fairly still today.

There is a lot going on with the sun as we run up to the maximum of the cycle.

I also took this image with my other rig to show just how much there is to see.

Best 150 from 2000 frames. Baader Herschel wedge, continuum filter and processed back to false colour.

(I usually take 5000 frames but for some reason the USB transfer rate was low so aborted at 2000).

Still got a good result however.

ED127 533mc and Baader Coolwedge Herschal.

Now you have a permanent home for your scope and are not setting up each night, if you intend to use more than 1 scope then it makes it easier to swap over systems if you mount the control equipment off the OTA.

The other advantage is that the reduction in weight should improve tracking.

Downside is that a little more care needs to be taken over cable management.

(There is an advantage of having everything on the OTA if you are having to cart it outside and place it on a mount and tripod each time.)

16 minutes ago, Elp said:

... what's happening with the 8 then.

It will soon be for sale (with reducer and dewshield), but want to check out the 9.25 on a few targets first.

8 minutes ago, Simon Pepper said:

Thanks and point noted thankfully I do use an OAG so hopefully shouldn’t be too difficult to transition. Was lucky enough to get the reducer as well so will keep that on as you say not enough clear nights at f10! Decent comparison image above as well it does look quite a lot larger that the 8! 

I started of with the 290mm in my OAG , but it was a struggle esp at f10 to find enough guidestars. I changed over to the 174mm and now never have any issues.

3 minutes ago, Simon Pepper said:

Makes sense. I don’t have a permanent setup yet but I am working on that. It will be my first SCT though so lots to learn I am sure after the initial excitement. Do you image with the reducer or use it at native? Thanks 

I actually image both native and with the reducer depending on target.

That said f10 imaging will take you a long time to get enough data , especially when you dont get a lot of good clear nights.

Going forward I dont see me imaging at f10 very often except on the moon. I use a 2x Powermate to image bright planets at f20.

If your new to SCT , I highly recommend using an OAG not a guidescope. The Celeston OAG has a nice large prism compared to others.

9 minutes ago, Simon Pepper said:

I have a 9.25 on the way and I am so excited. Will you use bobs knobs or do they hold colimation well? Thanks 

Its new to me so cant say how they hold collimation , however I have a set of Bob's Knobs to fit to it just in case.

My 8 never drifted so I guess they are fine , tho mine lived in a dome on a permanent mount which no doubt helps it stay good as its not ever moved about.

12 hours ago, Stu said:

As I recall, the 925 uses an f2.5 primary vs f2 for the rest of the range, that’s why it is so much longer than you expect it should be.

The f2.5 primary (and so the longer OTA) has a particular benefit for this system when loaded with an OAG and ZWO camera train.

I no longer need as much front counterbalance weight for the system.

I was using 2kg front weight on my EdgeHD 8 to get it to balance.

The Edge HD 9.25 imaging system can balance  without any front weight, as long as it sits towards the rear of the Losmandy. (with metal dewshield added.)

This means the overall mount load for the HD 9.25 is actually only around 1.5kg heavier than for the HD 8, even though the OTA itself is 3kg heavier.

It is around 14.5Kg all in (with 2nd Losmandy on top and a telrad).

(The top losmandy provides adequate front counterweight).