Imaging with the 130pds

[richyrich_one]

7 minutes ago, Nukemninja said:

Hey Everyone  

Can anyone offer any advice on cleaning the 130 PDS mirrors? What cleaning solution to use or brushes etc. I have some small speckles appearing on the secondary mirror and would like to get rid of them without damaging the mirror and the primary is gathering some larger chunks of dust somehow. I'm going to put my 130 into hibernation for the summer nights and want to give her a bit of a tune up. 

I'm also wondering whether to get the hacksaw out and chop out the section of the drawtube that protrudes into main tube. Is this a worthwhile endeavor (I use this scope only for imaging and an 8" SCT for obs/imaging)? if so can you roll the drawtube right out of the focuser to make the cut and then roll it back in?  

any other tweaks people would recommend im all ears.

Thanks in advance,

George

Hi George

The usual advice on cleaning is don't.

Seriously though there are plenty of guides around, a youtube video speaks a thousand words.

If you want to get rid of the focuser tube intrusion you could do what I did, it's entirely undoable which I like.

 

[Uranium235]

Firstly, dont use brushes!

If you can use a rocket blower to dislodge them, give it try. But unless the secondary is absolutely filthy its probably best left alone.... however, cleaning it would require you to remove the secondary and clean it properly using warm water with a drop of washing up liquid in it. Use cotton balls (like make-up removal ones) soaked in the warm water, and lightly drag them across the mirror surface - using fresh one for each pass. When satisfied, rinse the surface with distilled or de-ionised (distilled is better) water from a squirty bottle (I use a new, unused sports drinks bottle for that).

[edarter]

Hi all, have been watching this thread with interest as I'm looking to get an imaging scope. I was considering the 150pds but the 130 looks like a cracker from the images here.

Having read through the thread the general concensus seems to be that the baader mk3 coma corrector is better than the sw one due to no reflections, is that definitely the case? If I were to go with that one would I still need one of these to connect my Canon 7D

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/coma-correctors/skywatcher-dslr-m48-ring-adapter.html

Still not 100% decided to go for the 130 over the 150 but 99% sure it's the right choice due to the slightly wider fov it gives. 

Thanks 

Ed

[richyrich_one]

Hi Ed

Yes the Baader Mk3 is the one to go for. You'll be wanting an M42 t-ring though rather than the M48 you have linked to which is for the SWCC. M48 is better but as far as I know to get the spacing right at M48 you'll need Baaders own protective t-ring and the additional spacer ring to go with it.

All the above applies whichever you choose. 

[edarter]

Hi Richard, 

Thanks for the reply. A little confused though, I thought the T ring thread say to do with the camera not the cc? Or are you saying I need the Canon T ring and a suitable step down adaptor to allow the Baader to screw into it? 

Thanks 

Ed

[richyrich_one]

5 minutes ago, edarter said:

Hi Richard, 

Thanks for the reply. A little confused though, I thought the T ring thread say to do with the camera not the cc? Or are you saying I need the Canon T ring and a suitable step down adaptor to allow the Baader to screw into it? 

Thanks 

Ed

 

The t-ring has a fitting just like a lens on the camera side and a female 42mm or 48mm thread on the telescope side. The CC has either a 42mm or 48mm male thread, the baader has the facility for both but you have to remove a protective threaded ring which then alters the spacing so you can't just screw that into a 48mm t-ring without adding a spacer to restore the correct spacing.

Pretty sure the Baader protective t-ring and spacer is the only way to utilise the 48mm thread.

I have the baader mk3 and a standard 42mm t-ring. Too tight to stump up for the baader one!

 

[richyrich_one]

5 minutes ago, edarter said:

Hi Richard, 

Thanks for the reply. A little confused though, I thought the T ring thread say to do with the camera not the cc? Or are you saying I need the Canon T ring and a suitable step down adaptor to allow the Baader to screw into it? 

Thanks 

Ed

 

The t-ring has a fitting just like a lens on the camera side and a female 42mm or 48mm thread on the telescope side. The CC has either a 42mm or 48mm male thread, the baader has the facility for both but you have to remove a protective threaded ring which then alters the spacing so you can't just screw that into a 48mm t-ring without adding a spacer to restore the correct spacing.

Pretty sure the Baader protective t-ring and spacer is the only way to utilise the 48mm thread.

I have the baader mk3 and a standard 42mm t-ring. Too tight to stump up for the baader one!

 

[halli]

Hi

Had a go at Pelican/NGC7000 using Narrowband and RGB now Cygnus is coming into view.

Using 130pds with Skywatcher CC and Atik 383L+

About 7x1000s Ha and 7X600s each of RGB 

I decide to combine the Ha as a luminance with the RGB - and this is what happened !

 

 

[robmichael81]

Any ideas why I get lots of noise in a certain area of my image of M51? Bottom right hand side of M51 in this image.

 

 

[dyfiastro]

First shot taken with the new camera and 3x Barlow.
The conditions last night seemed less than ideal but pretty happy considering.

[sagramore]

On 20/05/2016 at 11:52, richyrich_one said:

Hi George

The usual advice on cleaning is don't.

Seriously though there are plenty of guides around, a youtube video speaks a thousand words.

If you want to get rid of the focuser tube intrusion you could do what I did, it's entirely undoable which I like.

 

Hi richyrich_one - I was following your mod with great interest as my best photos with the 130-PDS are suffering from the same "bites" out of the bright stars.

I bought some washers and some 40mm bolts and bolt extenders like you suggested but I feel like I misunderstood just looking at the picture. Either way I managed to patch it all together and I've moved the primary up the tube like in your image and it's all completely reversible. Thanks for the tip!

I have a question though - are you able to use your scope for visual use in this format? I am not sure if I moved my mirror up slightly further than you but I can't get focus with any eyepieces any more. At least, not without using an extension tube. The camera + 0.9x CC appears to focus fine though with only a few mm of focuser draw tube sticking into the tube so I guess that's the point! I don't really use it for visual, just handy to know if I've done something wrong.

Just need to have a day to test it out now. I shouldn't moan about the summer but the nights are too bright and short for any imaging at all now! I am hoping I got the collimation back properly after having removed everything because it was spot on and nice & tight before.... heh

[richyrich_one]

Sounds like you've done everything right. Visually you will be limited due to the lack of travel. My 130 is strictly AP only so never tried it for visual.

Enjoy!

 

[StamosP]

Here is my latest image M51 and its neighbourhood 

 

 

Image details:

Location: Attica, Greece

Telescope: SW 130pds mod + SW x0.9 CC

Mount: SW HEQ5pro

Camera: Canon 600d Baader mod

Filter: Hutech IDAS LPS D1 2inch

Guiding: 9x50 Finder-Guider + ZWO asi120mc

Lights: 28x300s (2h, 20min) iso1600

Flats: 30, Darks: 18, Bias: 30

 

It was my first image since i modified my scope (cutting the focuser drawtube by 2cm, spider repositioning, 58mm secondary mirror) and also it was my first image using the Idas LPS D1 filter.

I'm pretty happy with the result (i now have straight and clean spikes, the stars are rounder) even though i notice a chromatic error especially around middle sized stars. This was present and in my previous images but i think this time is maximized due the fact that i deconvolved and the halos got bigger (and the stars a little smaller).

Does anybody have an opinion what might be the cause of this? Chromatic aberration by the cc? Bad collimation (even though i triple checked it before i start)? Something else?

[StamosP]

Hi all,

Does anybody here use a Baader mpcc mark iii with a dslr?

I am thinking of buying one due the chromatic aberration i noticed in my images captured with the sw corrector but i saw some images in astrobin where some aberration is still noticeable even with the Baader (and f5 newtonians)...

[Adam J]

I use a MPCC mkiii with my 1000D. It will not remove chromatic aberration its not designed to do that...you should not have chromatic aberration with a Newtonian anyway. So assuming that you mean Coma? It will remove coma very effectively and I would not be without it. If you are seeing coma on images still after using it then its most likely that the spacing between the MPCC and the Dslr sensor is not correct (usually caused by the thickness of the T-ring which should be standardised), I am not sure how well it would work with a full frame Dslr though. I would say its better than the sky-watcher one also. 

[StamosP]

You're right, there shouldn't be chromatic aberration with a Newtonian but this is a fact when the system is all reflective.

When you use a coma corrector there is refraction also and if the corrector isn't well made (like apo refractors) there will be aberration due to dispersion.

If you give a close look at the M51 image i posted you will notice that away from the picture's center middle-small sized stars have red-blue edges, blue the side closer to the center of the image, red the opposite one.

This is chromatic aberration... The main suspect is skywatcher's coma corrector i'm using but i have not tried shooting without it.

I have talked about this with Rob (Uranium) and came to the conclusion that Baader shouldn't create this problem but then i saw some pics in Astrobin where ca was evident even with Baader mpcc...

The phenomenon is more obvious when you boost saturation a lot. Have you noticed something like this with mpcc?

[Uranium235]

Its pretty easy to test the colour correction properties of both correctors by placing a b-mask on the scope, focusing in Ha - then flicking the FW round to OIII. The SW corrector gives a noticeable shift in the diffraction pattern, while with the Baader it is a lot less (in fact it barely moves).... so much less in fact that I normally didnt bother refocusing between filters when using the Baader.

[al-alami]

Hi Everyone,

I Must say I have been through this thread .. ohhh at least 3 or 4 times , and because of it I am now the proud owner of a 130 PDS   It arrived earlier today.  I must say .. even knowing that is wasn't a large scope ... its so cute   It also probably the first one to come to Jordan (as far as I know).  So I thank you all for it, I would not have bought this if it hadn't been for this thread and some of the super amazing images on it.  I hope I can do it justice   If all goes well it may very well see first light tonight, if not at the latest it will be tom.  I will be using a modified Canon 1200 the Baader MPCC Mark III and if all goes well I might get to try out the Baader narrowband filters.  I guess I will keep you posted.  

Thanks again guys

[tehmac]

Everyone with this scope, how did you deal with the 2" focuser when it came to using 1.25" eyepieces etc. It's the adapters I'm confused about. I see I can get a 2" to 1.25" adapter that comes as part of a Barlow and I can also get a 2" to 1.25" adapter  in general I presume for using eyepieces with the scope, and I also can get a 2" camera t adapter but I don't know if that is the size I should get also or go for the 1.25".

I just don't know if I'd be doubling up on adapters unnecessarily or finding I need some larger size for something or other. Until I get everything and see how things slot together I can't really visualise what I would need and in what order they work etc 

Hope that makes sense. 

[Atreta]

i don't know if this is what you asked,  but the 130 pds comes with the adapter to use 1.25" eyepieces with it.  to connect the camera in primary focus you just unscrew the 1.25" adapter and attach the camera with the t2 ring. 

[tehmac]

7 hours ago, Atreta said:

i don't know if this is what you asked,  but the 130 pds comes with the adapter to use 1.25" eyepieces with it.  to connect the camera in primary focus you just unscrew the 1.25" adapter and attach the camera with the t2 ring. 

Ah okay. So I it's a 2" T2 adapter I need, not the 1.25" T2 Adapter? 

And the 1.25" adapter it comes with to use eyepieces in means I don't need a 2" Barlow? I'm aware the 130PDS comes with a 2" 28mm eyepiece, so I'm worried I couldn't use that with the Barlow unless I get a 2" Barlow ...

[Atreta]

On 7/11/2016 at 04:03, tehmac said:

Ah okay. So I it's a 2" T2 adapter I need, not the 1.25" T2 Adapter? 

And the 1.25" adapter it comes with to use eyepieces in means I don't need a 2" Barlow? I'm aware the 130PDS comes with a 2" 28mm eyepiece, so I'm worried I couldn't use that with the Barlow unless I get a 2" Barlow ...

i have both a regular t2 ring and a low profile(thinner one),  don't know if thete is 2" t2 rings,  the more experienced guys can shed a light into this.  

no worries,  you can use your 1.25" barlow and other eyepieces with no problem. 

ps:  about the 2" eyepiece i think you'll need a 2" barlow for it and other 2" eyepieces you eventually get. 

Edited July 13, 2016 by Atreta
adding more information

[Stub Mandrel]

My first proper DSO with the 130P-DS. A sitting duck target, M13. This should not have worked! 50 30-second subs taken as the light was fading before 11:00pm. Yet here is not just M13 but up and to the left is the active galaxy NGC6207 and even a hint of Mag 15.3 IC4617.

Edited July 18, 2016 by Stub Mandrel

[StamosP]

IC 1318-Sadr region 

I had some issues while capturing this image, pretty bad guiding, an obvious collimation issue (or most likely a camera tilting issue since my laser showed that the collimation was very good) and i did a major mistake while shooting flats and i had to reshoot them the next day.

Image details:

Location: Attica, Greece

Telescope: SW 130pds mod + SW x0.9 CC

Mount: SW HEQ5pro

Camera: Canon 600d Baader mod

Filter: Hutech IDAS LPS D1 2inch

Guiding: 9x50 Finder-Guider + ZWO asi120mc

Lights: 33x240s (2h, 12min) iso1600

Flats: 30, Darks: 20, Bias: 80

[steve251]

Hi everyone

 

ive been dipping in and out of this titanic thread. 36 pages over two years wow! Well done everyone and some great pictures

 

i would love to have a go at Astrophotography and the 130pds seems like a great scope.

 

can anyone suggest an equipment list for a beginner

 

I recently bought a Nikon D7200 and am trying out some landscape photography 

 

sadly i I live in London and have never seen the Milky Way

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

Steve