Jonny_H

What an absolute muppet i am 🙈  I had completely forgotten about the diagonal!!  I was so used to my old newt and just whacked an eyepiece straight in without any thought. 

A tad embarrassed right here!!

Thanks all and sorry to waste your time with a daft non-issue!

I will try again with my boys tomorrow night with hopefully better luck.....and a better mind 😳

Hi all,

I hope you are well.

As per title - earlier this evening I thought i would test out my new StellaLyra 8" CC scope on a simple moon observe with my two boys.

However I could not achieve focus with my selected eyepieces (BST 12mm and 18mm).  I tried first without any extension tubes and then added each extension tube one by one to no avail.

The only way i could focus on the moon was with all extension tubes fitted and to pull the eyepiece right out.

Is this normal for these scopes or am I doing something daft? Trying to work out if I need to buy more extensions or not (I believe I do given tonight's results).

Thanks,

Jonny

1 hour ago, lguise said:

2010! Where do the years go! I wonder if Robin still has it?

Jonny by the way hidden behind the pillar in your photo looks to me like an AE probably 6” or 8” Newt on one of their ‘B’ type Equatorial mounts. You were probably too distracted by the main scope to give it much attention!

My first ‘proper’ telescope was an AE 10” Newt on the larger ‘C’ mount. A cracking scope in its day but things move on.

You can see the scope in my little picture thingy…(senior moment can’t remember what you call this)

All the Best,

Linton

Hi Linton.

Indeed this is a 6". We did speak about it briefly but to your point the main focus was on the 15.5"

He used to have a number of AE's but most have now been sold on.

Re: picture - I have a little brain fog at the moment but I want to say that they are called avatars?  I may have made that up though!

Regards,

Jonny

19 hours ago, Rusted said:

I have only seen a B&W photograph of Dall's telescope. I was trying to make a lighter 10" f/8.
Judging by that design alone then Dall was a genius at geometry, engineering and design.
If you do go back then a picture of the mirror end of the instrument would be nice.
Just to complete the picture. 

The photo wasn't my best work - I think it was all the excitement which caused all photography framing skills to go completely out of the window! 😆

Hoping to go back up in September.

48 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Thanks for the confirmation.  I saw it many times during visits to Horace but never did get to use it.  I did manage to look through his solar prominence telescope that he fitted to it.      🙂

I haven't been into this hobby for long and have only recently learnt of him but from what I understand he was an absolute magician when it came to optics! I would have liked to of met him but i was only a nipper when he passed away.

On a similar topic -  I read on here that you used to run AE Luton for a fair stint (apologies in advance if I have got that wrong or I'm generally talking nonsense)?  I have been looking lately to see if any AE scopes come up for sale 🙂 I gather they are hard to come by though 😩

27 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Is that telescope the original Horace Dall 15" Cassegrain ?, it looks to be a very similar design.           🤔

Hi Peter,

Yes it is indeed the very same 15.5".  Very impressive piece of kit and was restored to as near original as possible. In my uncles words, it was refurbished so that Horace would easily recognise it if he were to walk into the observatory and see it again.

I was disappointed not to get an opportunity to view anything through it (due to the weather) although I did get a quick lesson on collimating it so not all bad 

On 06/07/2021 at 09:27, maw lod qan said:

IT WAS JUST A FOCUSER! 

Am I really the one to blame for this?!

Depends how big, shiny and expensive the focuser was 😉

On a serious note though - stay safe....that thing looks nasty!

This doesn't frighten me as such. It just completely fries my mind instead 😄 

I find it both fascinating and utterly mind boggling at the same time and to some degree impossible to compute the scale/timelines etc... 

As above, I took my wife and boys to visit my aunt and uncle recently and finally got to see in person the observatory 😊 Needless to say I was like a big kid in a toy shop!

Unfortunately the weather didn't play ball so didn't get a chance to look through the scope but hoping to go back up in the autumn.....got to love our beautiful British weather. Apparently about an hour after we left they had clear skies!!!🙄 can't win them all.

Anyhow, a couple of photos of the obs and scope.

Clear skies,

Jonny

58 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

Better aerodynamics for the dovetail 😂

Aahhhh so that's what it's for 🤔😆

43 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Not sure if you already have this link but here’s the manual.

https://nimax-img.de/Produktdownloads/62478_1_Anleitung-EN.pdf

I didn't see a manual in the box so this is great - thank you.

I just got off of a work call and had another look at the scope and there is actually a raised bit at the front aswell so clearly part of the design. I didn't see this earlier when I posted. 🙈

4 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Yes it’s just a raised bit on the casting. 

Ah ok, thanks John. As mentioned I thought this was the case as it looks too uniform for it to not be the design. But I wanted to double check.

6 minutes ago, Rusted said:

Congratulations.

A finder dovetail-bracket?

Thank you.

I have attached the photo again with my incredible artistic skills to circle the bit I am referring to.

Hoping this helps.

Hi all,

Just took delivery of this beauty this morning.

I will be using it solely for planetary and close-up lunar.  It will sit nicely in my collection so far along side my Esprit 100.  It is a bit of a beast, or at least compared to what I am used to.

One quick question though for other owners - in the second photo attached, is the 'raised bit' (not sure what to call it) normal. It is on the primary cell holder/collar directly underneath the focuser? I assume it is designed this way as it looks too uniform for it to be bent/warped etc... but just wanted to make sure! 😬

Apologies for the terminology used. Please educate me on this for future reference

Thanks, 

Jon

22 hours ago, johninderby said:

I’m sure someone will be along shortly to recommend what camera would be best. 

Thanks John.

Yes it would be good to hear everyone's thoughts.

I'm my simplistic mind - if I were to go down the Barlow route, I may be better off just sticking with my 6" f/5 newt and slapping a 2xBarlow on it. That coupled with something like a 224MC. Appreciating of course that the StellaLyra is more naturally suited to planetary without the need for Barlow and the like.

Hmm.....another food for thought.

Regards,

Jon

24 minutes ago, johninderby said:

 

The TS version of the CC8” states the following. An additonal correction lens isn´t needed, because the image field is well corrected up to APS-C sensor format.

Thanks John.

So if I have read (and understood) that correctly - it wouldn't be wise to use a Barlow but rather invest in another camera to get me the results I am after?

Hi all,

Apologies for the delayed response. I have been up in Norfolk visiting family for the past few days.

Thank you for your comments so far. I think I have set my mind on the CC over the RC. Primarily as it will be used solely for planetary work (a little close up lunar also). I have another scope for DSO work.

One question I have now....do I go down the 2x Barlow route and carry on using my 533mc pro? Or would it be best to get something like a 224mc? This based on getting the 8" f/12 as previously mentioned.

Comments welcome

Thanks,

Jon

Thanks all for your comments.

 Very helpful as always.

Now to pluck up the courage to add to the eye-watering amount of £ I've already spent on AP! 😲

28 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

I don't think either RC or CC have chromatic abberations because they are reflectors.

This is a very valid point. Evidently I got a little carried away when typing!

Hi all,

I hope everyone is doing well.

I am potentially in the game for a new scope which will be used mostly for planetary AP or extreme close-up lunar shots.

What are the pros and cons of RC's and CC's for AP?

To give two examples - I have been eyeing-up the StellaLyra RC 8" f/8 and the CC 8" f/12. The latter has a very impressive focal length but the RC seems to be a popular choice due to no coma, chromatic abberation etc...

Any views or pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jonny

On 15/06/2021 at 15:25, carastro said:

As some-one who has been imaging for about 10 years now, this is absolutely spot on.  Capture is only half the job, you can spend as much time again, sometimes more on the post=processing and post-processing also takes a long time to learn.  

If you have been a photographer for a long time you may be familiar with Photoshop, if so take a look at some of my video tutorials on You Tube for examples.  You can find the links on my website in my Signature. 

Carole 

Sorry for going off topic here but I had a look at your website last night, Carole, and found the video tutorials to be very informative and easy to understand. 

I loved your Horsehead Nebula image in your level and curves video. I would be interested to know your integration time and what setup you used etc...

Thanks,

Jonny

Thanks for your comments, Adrian,

And thank you for the revised image.  It does indeed look much better.  I think i need more practice in post-processing.  Admittedly I didn't spend long on the image at all but to be honest even if i had spent hours on it - it probably wouldn't have looked any different than my first go 🤣   

I will have a play in PI a little later to see if i can get close to what you have done as it looks great.  I might be in touch for some pointers later 🙂

Regards,

Jon

I've just realised that my flats haven't worked. I'm thinking I must have selected the wrong ones for stacking 🤔

Hi all,

After weeks of horrible weather here in the UK - last night saw a window of opportunity so thought I would have a go at M51 for the first time.

I didn't have long before tiredness caught up with me so only got 12 x 300s in. Perhaps I will add more in the next day or two. Stacked in APP and very (and I mean very) quickly tinkered with in PI.

Comments and criticism always welcome.

Thanks,

Jonny

Thanks all and thanks Vlaiv. Always very informative reading your responses.

That is a very valid point you make which stupidly I hadn't thought of. Even with a 2x Barlow this takes me down to .52 "/pixel with my current camera and newt arrangement. Doable but would presumably need some nifty guiding?

I think I need to look into this a little more and do more research - will just stick with my DSO imaging for now 🙂