First light with Wo GT81 & SXVR H696

[Grimmec]

Hi all,

I recently upgraded my imaging setup (again) and took delivery of a Williams Optics GT81 triplet and James from Flo's Starlite Xpress SXVR H694.

Initially was very disappointed with the gt81. On initial checks, the inner front lens was very dirty and there was loose white paper inside of the tube. Thankfully FLO was brilliant as usual and scope was collected, sorted and back in my possession within a week.

Ignoring the initial issues, the scope itself seems very well built and the focuser seems very silky smooth. The attachment foot is rather short and being sprayed gold will mark very easily. Not an issue for me as that came straight off and tube rings fitted, which fit nicely under the handle/guidescope. The thing that drew me to this particular triplet was the ability to fit my Moonlite focuser, which fits like a dream (even if the standard focuser was pretty nice).

The scope does not come with a case, but fits perfectly in a case from Maplins, as seen below

The full set up is - Wo GT81 triplet, Moonlite CF motorised focuser, Quantum filter wheel, Hotech field flattener and Starlite Express SXVR H694 on a HEQ5 and all run through MaximDL.

As per usual with the new equipment the curse kicked in and the weather turned to Rubbish so 1st light has taken a while, but finally on Wednesday I got my 1st clear night. Had major guiding issues but after 2 hours I got that resolved and got about the business of imaging. I picked M31 as wanted an easy start I could try and get RGB  in one session so had something to process.

The 1st test was to check field curvature and to my novice eyes it looks pretty good. This is a crop of top left corner of a stack of red subs.

and finally Andromeda in RGB. Will be adding a lumninance layer to this in due course, but a, very happy with the new setup.

Better res image can be found here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/91161623@N05/11225893086/

[ronin]

Sounds like WO have stopped supplying it with a full back pack style case which held the scope and other attachments. The earlier red ones came in one as standard.

[Grimmec]

Sounds like WO have stopped supplying it with a full back pack style case which held the scope and other attachments. The earlier red ones came in one as standard.

seems so, its a shame, the bag/case they used to come in looked a nice addition. Probably dropped it to cover costs of adding a decent focuser.

[Uranium235]

Corners are looking good!

Where did you get that additional finder shoe? I was mulling one of these over, but could not see a place for an additional shoe. A seriously tempting scope this is, its the right price (the sensible side of a grand) and fast to boot.

Must resist!

[Naemeth]

The edges certainly seem good, I'm just somehow not a fan of the gold colouring of the scope...

[Gonzo]

How is the moonlite focuser? I have a Megrez 72 with the standard focuser and it's slipping like crazy

[Davey-T]

Sounds like WO have stopped supplying it with a full back pack style case which held the scope and other attachments. The earlier red ones came in one as standard.

The WO FLT110 used to come in a flight case but when I purchased one recently it came in a bag, nice bag but I'd rather have had an ally case.

Dave

[Grimmec]

Corners are looking good!

Where did you get that additional finder shoe? I was mulling one of these over, but could not see a place for an additional shoe. A seriously tempting scope this is, its the right price (the sensible side of a grand) and fast to boot.

Must resist!

I removed the shoe and attached a set of WO tube rings I already had. I did have to drill extra holes in the rings to shorten the gap. The guide scope mounting comes with the scope as standard. It does seem a lovely scope.

The edges certainly seem good, I'm just somehow not a fan of the gold colouring of the scope...

me neither, preferred the red version, especially as would have matched my focuser, good job its always used in the dark :-)

How is the moonlite focuser? I have a Megrez 72 with the standard focuser and it's slipping like crazy

The Moonlite is an absolute beautiful piece of kit. mine is the full motorised version so does not come with a multi speed manual nob (just single speed) it takes my flattener, 7 slot motorised filter wheel and camera and doesn't slip at all, once I adjusted the tension (2 hex bolts on underside). has turned my 20/30 minute manual focusing to a 5 minute job, with perfect results. They are far from cheap tho (but worth every penny) and remember to add 25/30% taxes onto any orders you place with them directly for VAT and import tax as they are US based.