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WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

stonemonkeylives

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Soupy

Soupy

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Ryan P said:

I popped my head out last night but the atmospheric turbulence looked horrendous! Even Jupiter looked like it was twinkling. It got me thinking? Are we doomed for planetary photography where we live? Do we ever get nights with minimal turbulence? I've never seen it be even decent really in the 18 months I've been observing. Is this down to the fact we are directly under the jet stream or what?

also would this gadget make much of a difference?

 

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p8504_ZWO-Atmospheric-Dispersion-Korrektor-ADC.html

Ryan this won't help with the planet moving around just the light being refracted differently giving the planet red and blue sides! To correct for the turbulence of the atmosphere you'd need very expensive corrective optics. These shine a laser into the upper atmosphere to Create a false star. The scope looks at this "star" and as it twinkles computers slightly flex the mirror to correct the twinkle and give a steady image. This then means the object you are imaging will also be corrected. At the minute this is well above the price range of most amateur, and professional, astronomers. :happy10:

 

 

Great at images by the way! :)

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Soupy

Soupy

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, rockystar said:

Right, def coming down next week - the laser I've borrowed says spot on but the Cheshire image is even worse than the image I posted earlier. Can't believe the laser would be that far misaligned?

Lee the laser might be out, but it also might be the secondary. Remember the secondary is a flat mirror at approx. 45° unless it is a Richey Criterion. If the secondary is not quite in the right place the laser will still take a straight path to the secondary, through the scope onto the primary then back to the secondary before hitting the EP, it will look like the scope is perfectly collimated but through a Cheshire the secondary will be obviously well out! Try setting the secondary with the Cheshire first then you can use the Laser with greater accuracy. :)

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cosmicbug

cosmicbug

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Ryan P said:
 
@cosmicbug fantastic image Gain!! I would give my right arm for a setup like yours bud. It all comes in time though. I've only been serious about telescopes for about 18 months so you can't expect to have it all straight away. Great first light for the Takahashi though!

I can sort something out for you at Gain's Astro Emporium Ryan...just send me your right arm by DHL in a freezer bag! Lol

Thanks Ryan,....it has taken me 40 years to get to this place with my equipment! My advice to anyone in this game is to head straight to the end goal as directly as possible as far as equipment choice is concerned....I have wasted many years and bucket loads of dosh in the UPGRADE MAZE,  worst of all is I've not fully utilized the clear nights that have come my way!

First light for the Tak and ZWO cam...Can't wait to get a proper imaging run with the gear...tests showed great promise.

 

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Ryan P

Ryan P

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Soupy said:

Ryan this won't help with the planet moving around just the light being refracted differently giving the planet red and blue sides! To correct for the turbulence of the atmosphere you'd need very expensive corrective optics. These shine a laser into the upper atmosphere to Create a false star. The scope looks at this "star" and as it twinkles computers slightly flex the mirror to correct the twinkle and give a steady image. This then means the object you are imaging will also be corrected. At the minute this is well above the price range of most amateur, and professional, astronomers. :happy10:

 

 

Great at images by the way! :)

Yeah I wasn't exactly sure about these. They do look quite handy to eliminate the red and blue though. It would have been a bonus if it sorted the turbulence out too lol. Nevermind. Great explanation of how it works though Soupy. Cheers ?

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Ryan P

Ryan P

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, cosmicbug said:

I can sort something out for you at Gain's Astro Emporium Ryan...just send me your right arm by DHL in a freezer bag! Lol

Thanks Ryan,....it has taken me 40 years to get to this place with my equipment! My advice to anyone in this game is to head straight to the end goal as directly as possible as far as equipment choice is concerned....I have wasted many years and bucket loads of dosh in the UPGRADE MAZE,  worst of all is I've not fully utilized the clear nights that have come my way!

First light for the Tak and ZWO cam...Can't wait to get a proper imaging run with the gear...tests showed great promise.

 

I am actually considering your offer mate! I keep eyeing up the bandsaw at work! ??

A good bit of advice though. Get the best you can possibly afford and save money in the long run. It makes sense. Just a shame I haven't got ten grand laying about lol!

Im still hoping to have an neq6 in the next few months. Fingers crossed. If you know any come up for sale let me know. It will be after the house extension in April though.

out of interest which ZWO camera is it you have?

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cosmicbug

cosmicbug

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Ryan P said:

I am actually considering your offer mate! I keep eyeing up the bandsaw at work! ??

A good bit of advice though. Get the best you can possibly afford and save money in the long run. It makes sense. Just a shame I haven't got ten grand laying about lol!

Im still hoping to have an neq6 in the next few months. Fingers crossed. If you know any come up for sale let me know. It will be after the house extension in April though.

out of interest which ZWO camera is it you have?

Forget the bandsaw Ryan..I have a 12in meat cleaver!

I'll track one down for you ..they're great workhorses..

I bought a ZWO 178 colour at Astrofest and had a go with it on Weds evening through the 5inch Tak. Image scale was naff but it was fun to test the cam. I'll post a pic when I get round to processing. 

 

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Ryan P

Ryan P

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, cosmicbug said:

Forget the bandsaw Ryan..I have a 12in meat cleaver!

I'll track one down for you ..they're great workhorses..

I bought a ZWO 178 colour at Astrofest and had a go with it on Weds evening through the 5inch Tak. Image scale was naff but it was fun to test the cam. I'll post a pic when I get round to processing. 

 

Haha! Sounds like a deal!

That would be great as it would be a second hand one I'd be looking for. It should do me for a few years should an neq6!

I love my ZWO. It's very user friendly when combined with Firecapture software. I would be very interested to see how your images turn out in the Tak for comparison. As you said on Facebook I think im getting fair results with my scope, no tracking, conditions etc. Im probably just been picky.  Although there's nothing wrong in seeing how you can improve with the setup you have.

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Ryan P

Ryan P

Posted
Posted

Thanks Vicky and Mark. They're not bad. Im never overly impressed with my own results. I've always been like that with everything though lol! I think a tracking mount and better conditions is what is needed. You should definitely look into it Mark. They are a lot of fun to use!

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gtis

gtis

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Ryan P said:

Thanks Vicky and Mark. They're not bad. Im never overly impressed with my own results. I've always been like that with everything though lol! I think a tracking mount and better conditions is what is needed. You should definitely look into it Mark. They are a lot of fun to use!

Hi Ryan

what camera have you got

Neil

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cosmicbug

cosmicbug

Posted
Posted

Test 2 was the new ZWO planetary cam I picked up at Astrofest! Using the Tak 5inch refractor (not ideal for planets) and a 5X Powermate. I managed a few vids on Jupiter on a night of poor seeing..
Anyway, I'm looking forward to more Jupiter imaging with this camera on a larger scope.

image.thumb.jpeg.7d979d4b58b940789a42752

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MattGoo

MattGoo

Posted
Posted

I'm soon realising that it's a bit more difficult to get out to do some astronomy/astrophotography when you have a little one to look after. Managed to get out for a couple of hours last night, set everything up and made sure I could get focus with the new Atik 314L+. I only took a random picture of some unknown stars so it's not worth posting.

Today I've been busy modding my pier power & control box. I've added a RS232 serial port to it and built an EQDIRECT circuit from a few components. This now allows me to connect the shed PC directly to the EQ6 and control the mounts movements using software such as Cartes Du Ciel or Stellarium which is pretty cool. It actually worked first time once I'd loaded the necessary drivers which means my slightly iffy soldering skills must have been spot on :)

EQDirect.jpg

EQDirect2.jpg

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gtis

gtis

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Mark62 said:

Cool upgrade Matt. We did tell you that ur Astro days were on hold for about 2/3 years. If I was you I'd rap it all in bubble rap and put it in the loft ?

Or donate it to me

Neil

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hazegood

hazegood

Posted
Posted

Well that's me and any one else within about 5 miles of Elland rd screwed is we get a clear night,  the valentines fair are shining a massive scanning search light out into the sky for the next 2 weeks, , LP is bad enough as it is without that,


as its a council organised events have sent my local councillor an email, but as he si about as useless as a chocolate fireguard, and seldom seen I don't hold out much hope for a resoloution

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2STAR

2STAR

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, cosmicbug said:

I can sort something out for you at Gain's Astro Emporium Ryan...just send me your right arm by DHL in a freezer bag! Lol

Thanks Ryan,....it has taken me 40 years to get to this place with my equipment! My advice to anyone in this game is to head straight to the end goal as directly as possible as far as equipment choice is concerned....I have wasted many years and bucket loads of dosh in the UPGRADE MAZE,  worst of all is I've not fully utilized the clear nights that have come my way!

First light for the Tak and ZWO cam...Can't wait to get a proper imaging run with the gear...tests showed great promise.

 

I'm going to get up to this standard in half the time you have taken Gain, that is 20yrs, if I can still lift my scope onto its mount when I am 85yr old lol !!!!!??????

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cosmicbug

cosmicbug

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, 2STAR said:

I'm going to get up to this standard in half the time you have taken Gain, that is 20yrs, if I can still lift my scope onto its mount when I am 85yr old lol !!!!!??????

Haha..Here's a fix! Dig a five feet deep hole, stick your mount in it then all you have to do is slide your scope onto it at floor level! No lifting...one other thing..take lots of vitamins! i've already started digging my eight feet hole for my dob so I won't have to climb any ladders. 

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