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Its 2014 and its all gone quiet...

knobby

By knobby
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astro_john_palmer

astro_john_palmer

Posted
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This was the best Jupiter I managed, but it was with an SLR and an auto remote shutter.

Probably around a hundered images over a few minutes, maybe only 60 odd good enough to stack (I cant remember it was a while back!).

Pushed the processing quite hard, but fairly happy with what I got considering it was not an ideal setup.

post-20694-0-46883900-1390395581_thumb.j

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dan_uk

dan_uk

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Some really nice Jupiter's there guys, I love the moon/s in both of them.

My LX90 has always had an issue where after aligning to a target (its usually waaay off center) I cannot re-center the object, any attempt to adjust it stops the tracking.

Never been an issue for visual so I didnt think much of it but when trying to get an object on a tiny CMOS or CCD it drove me nuts! It's with Telescope House now hopefully they'll be able to resolve it, they think its the motor controller.

With that said I'm actually shopping around for mounts right now, top 3 contenders are Skywatcher AZ EQ6, Celestron CGEM DX and possibly an EQ8.

I think I was almost set with the AZ EQ6, its the most portable yet if i'm careful I could be around 19kg which should be ok for imaging but after a post in the Meade Yahoo group I encountered a guy who takes these things apart and super tunes them, he swears by the CGEM DX and says he has seen it handle 65lbs no problems. I have to admit the Nexstar controller does look fancy especially the ASPA.

My gf think I should go for the EQ8 so it that I would still be satisfied later when I have an observatory but I really don't see myself lugging that beast around.

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dan_uk

dan_uk

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They've been really good about it and will repair it under warranty.

They shun most Celestron stuff being Meade dealers although I did spy a couple of those small nexstars!

They're willing to sell me an EQ8 though, they think the az eq6 is too small for me

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dan_uk

dan_uk

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Yeah scopeless! Just when I was enjoying my new camera!

Zakk, I'll be de-forking my LX90 once I get my GEM, I even have the meade dovetail ready as I bought it just in case they went under and I couldn't source one.

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zakkhogan

zakkhogan

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Yeah scopeless! Just when I was enjoying my new camera!

Zakk, I'll be de-forking my LX90 once I get my GEM, I even have the meade dovetail ready as I bought it just in case they went under and I couldn't source one.

i didnt realize you could do that, that sound terrifying, what if the repair is successful 

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dan_uk

dan_uk

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It's really not that scary at all Zak, i've been told it can be done in 10 minutes with two people, although the place where i'm purchasing my mount from have offered to assist me with this. I'm sure your CPC800 would be easy to do if you decided to go that route one day.

I actually got news a few minutes ago that the issue has been resolved! They replaced the Dec motor driver and updated my starpatch firmware. 

Despite this I'm still going to be upgrading to a GEM for imaging purposes, don't get me wrong though the LX90 in its original configuration is really good especially for visual. It is faster and easier to setup and less hassle in general but I'll never get increased exposure time in the current setup.

Collecting my scope tomorrow, and praying for clear skies this weekend so I can enjoy M82!

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dan_uk

dan_uk

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To be honest I already feel like a the 12" is a little on the heavy side for its mount, I can't imagine how dodgy it would be adding a super heavy wedge on top of that. 

Even with the wedge on a smaller LX90 it seems people max out exposure at 2-3minutes guided. 

The decent wedges, i.e not the Meade one costs £700-£800 as well, that's only £500 short of an AZ EQ6!

http://jan.eaglecreekobservatory.org/polar.html

I can't imagine a 12" hanging off the wedge like in that picture being stable, i'm can just imagine my cat jumping on it :)

I think the LX90 is also missing PPEC too.

Don't get me wrong though i'm sure there are people who have taken great images with this setup but you definitely have to work much harder for it and i'm sure there are many things limiting your progress.

Now if I had an LX200 I would consider a wedge.

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dan_uk

dan_uk

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Lol i've looked at that advert already, its good to dream sometimes... wouldn't take me long at all to get there!

I actually have a MACH1GTO completely priced out:

990 Berlebach tripod

6350 MACH1GTO

240  16" Dovetail plate DIVEKN162

690   6 x 9lb weights 9SLCWT

390  Right Angle Polar Scope

80    Scope adapter

60        Rubber feet

UK - Shipping

375

£5387.67

 

But then after having such a fancy mount i'd want one of these:

http://www.astro-physics.com/index.htm?products/telescopes/175edf/175edf

 

One day maybe... :)

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