First Light With Ascension 80 mm Apo Triplet, Two easy targets

[lensman57]

Hi,

I have been aiming to get this scope for a while as I was not quite happy with my Sw ED 80 doublet. As fine as the optics of the Sw 80 are it is still a doublet and I always found it a bit slow even with a reducer.  On friday I picked up this scope from Peter in OpticStar in Sale, Manchester and wanted to give it a try last night. I set up the scope and the HEQ5 at about 8.30 pm but with the clouds and strong wind I couldn't do anything till about 00.30 AM. So I set up for Andromeda as I had not imaged this before ( I attempted to image it last month but it was a disaster ) I only took 19 subs of 240s with my Atik 428EX OSC and an IDAS  filter, even with a 0.8 WO MK6 reducer it was a very tight fit, then Islwed for M45, another one that is a first for me. By then it was nearly 2.00 am and I slipped a bit with focusing, I also by mistake changed the orientation of the focuser so I am not going to my time taking flats. I gave M45 exactly the same exposure, 19 subs of 240s each. I have quickly processed them in StarTools and CS and this is the result. I may have to use the DSLR next time for a wider field but I am not looking forward to it to be honest I have really gone off DSLRs for imaging at the moment. The images are a straight stack , no darks or flats were added. I think that the scope aquitted itself quite nicely as with the unsteady seeing the FWHM values were fluactuating by quite a margine between 1.65 and 2.95 for a 5s exposure. Any advice is appreciated.

Regards,

A.G

[Steve Ward]

Very nice first light , but there are some strange diffraction spikes in the M45 ... ? .... same as you get from a stock camera lens iris blades ... 

[lensman57]

Very nice first light , but there are some strange diffraction spikes in the M45 ... ? .... same as you get from a stock camera lens iris blades ... 

Hi Steve,

Many thanks, I have noticed them too but I think they maybe the result of  the quick processing at default settings and really wacking the stretch up to see what was there. I try and reprocess if I get the time as  this was really to see what the scope could do . I will keep and eye on that one during the reprocess.

Regards,

A.G

[laser_jock99]

Looks like you made a good start. This scope is certainly faster the SW80- I found mine too slow, it's been down graded to guide scope duty!!!

[lensman57]

Looks like you made a good start. This scope is certainly faster the SW80- I found mine too slow, it's been down graded to guide scope duty!!!

Many thanks , I think that I may have found the reason for the strange complex gradients. On Saturday I attempted to do the darks for the Atik@ 240s even though I knew that they were not required. I found out that the strange fit of WO MK6 FF/FR actually has a light leak, perhaps due to the rather large under cut on the barrel. So it is sort of work in progress at the moment. The optics of the scope are tack sharp even with my cavalier focusing technique.

Regards,

A.G