Imaging with the 130pds

[alacant]

9 minutes ago, richyrich_one said:

Which is it?

One which isn't messed up by middlemen e.g. straight from the factory's outlet where it's made. HTH

**It comes with comprehensive installation and spacing instructions which work out of the box. Now there's a first for coma correctors!

Edited May 5, 2017 by alacant

[mAnKiNd]

One could order a custom M54x1mm male to M50x0.75mm female adapter and thread it to the synta drawtube, leaving the GPU CC's M48 thread fully exposed..

Edited May 5, 2017 by mAnKiNd

[richyrich_one]

25 minutes ago, mAnKiNd said:

One could order a custom M54x1mm male to M50x0.75mm female adapter and thread it to the synta drawtube, leaving the GPU CC's M48 thread fully exposed..

Or if you are not bothered about camera rotation then just use the FUFMPCC adapter without the locking ring.

[mAnKiNd]

 

8 minutes ago, richyrich_one said:

Or if you are not bothered about camera rotation then just use the FUFMPCC adapter without the locking ring.

The only reason i mentioned the custom adapter, is that it would have more M48 thread available in comparison to the FUFMPCC, which eats up about 2mm

Edited May 5, 2017 by mAnKiNd

[richyrich_one]

21 minutes ago, mAnKiNd said:

 

The only reason i mentioned the custom adapter, is that it would have more M48 thread available in comparison to the FUFMPCC, which eats up about 2mm

Extra security, I get that.

If you are only using a DSLR then it should be fine I would have thought.

[Stub Mandrel]

Hmm...

I was able to edit out the blurry reflection of alnitak in a fraction of the time it took for users of other CCs to figure out how to attach them to their scopes...

[alacant]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

users of other CCs

LOL! Yeah. For all the words, at the end of the day you really have to be an expert to be able to distinguish the images from one cc to another. The good old €50 swcc -screw it into any dslr and it just works- is just as good if not better than any of the others. These days, you don't need a ParaCorr. You use your software to produce the same effect;)

[mAnKiNd]

Indeed..I often get carried away by the details, but it's too much fun and I learn a lot, like the fact that I don't want to spend time erasing bad data from bright stars in PI. I'd rather go down to the nitty gritty road and effectively plan the time I invest with my imaging equipment to get the best data possible. I mean, what if I wish to keep the stars & detail et al., in the reflection that your editing out? I'd need as precise a configuration as possible, as ive learned with my refractor and to do that sometimes i need to get carried away with how many mm's are left in an M48 thread. Nevertheless, thank you all so far, sincerely, I have learned so much and I'm enjoying it in good spirits too ? can't wait for my 130pds ??

[richyrich_one]

4 minutes ago, mAnKiNd said:

Indeed..I often get carried away by the details, but it's too much fun and I learn a lot, like the fact that I don't want to spend time erasing bad data from bright stars in PI. I'd rather go down to the nitty gritty road and effectively plan the time I invest with my imaging equipment to get the best data possible. I mean, what if I wish to keep the stars & detail et al., in the reflection that your editing out? I'd need as precise a configuration as possible, as ive learned with my refractor and to do that sometimes i need to get carried away with how many mm's are left in an M48 thread. Nevertheless, thank you all so far, sincerely, I have learned so much and I'm enjoying it in good spirits too ? can't wait for my 130pds ??

Hear hear

[richyrich_one]

Just did and experiment with the FUFMPCC and my suspicions were correct about the locking ring.

Using an M48 extention from the telescope side to give me an M48 male thread I could then thread on a self-centering adaptor with an autocollimator fitted.

After collimating I completely removed the whole assembly from the draw tube and then refitted it to confim repeatability and everything still agreed.

Then I tried the same using the locking ring and the reflections were all over the place!

Incidentally I have never been able to get the autocollimator to agree with the telecat...until now.

So the Lacerta FUFMPCC appears to work(on the bench at least) but NOT with the locking ring, so camera rotation is not an option.

[mAnKiNd]

Another small step towards maximising the 130pds! Thanks for sharing ?

Do you find you gain backfocus with the Lacerta rather than the stock clamp?

[richyrich_one]

About 6mm I'd say.

Also to get the camera lined up you can loosen the screws that hold in the insert of the t-ring, rotate the camera and retighten them with the camera in the correct orientation.

[SvartSork]

Love this little scope 

Recently I have been trying out some short exposure imaging with my new ASI290MM camera (uncooled). Love it so far and can't say I miss fiddling with guiding and PHD... The seeing was cooperating for once which was nice so set my eyes/scope on M51, my favourite galaxy.

1117x8s exposures. No bias, darks or flats used in this image and didn't use any coma corrector. Stacked in DSS and processed somewhat in GIMP.

 

[Susaron]

Dear all 

Due to Jupiter opposition, I have not used so much my 130PDS, a couple of weeks ago I purchased an AZ4 to be used from home along with the little one. Last Sunday I took some pictures from my light-polluted balcony from the Moon and Jupiter using manual guiding and the Canon 70D.

Cheers.

M.

[alacant]

On 2014-3-10 at 19:19, Uranium235 said:

Skywatcher will owe us commission for pushing up 130pds sales

Hi. I've been trying to source one for the last week. All European middle-men are out of stock until September and it seems impossible to deal direct with SW. I've an offer of secondhand from the sgl wanted section. Is there anything I should look out for? Any weaknesses or bits that wear? TIA.

[Stub Mandrel]

Flo 's website is quoting delivery in 2-3 weeks for the OTA:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

[Uranium235]

3 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi. I've been trying to source one for the last week. All European middle-men are out of stock until September and it seems impossible to deal direct with SW. I've an offer of secondhand from the sgl wanted section. Is there anything I should look out for? Any weaknesses or bits that wear? TIA.

Nothing in particular, just the usual stuff you look at when buying a newt (state of the mirrors) - but dirty mirrors can be cleaned. Check the spider as well, to make sure no vanes are bent.

[Galen Gilmore]

I'm about to get the 130pds, I'm just starting off with astroimaging. How much coma is prevalent without a corrector?  

[Stub Mandrel]

57 minutes ago, Galen Gilmore said:

I'm about to get the 130pds, I'm just starting off with astroimaging. How much coma is prevalent without a corrector?  

Enough to make you want to get one, but not enough to stop you getting started with imaging with the scope, you can always crop to the centre part of your images until you get a CC.

[Galen Gilmore]

2 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Enough to make you want to get one, but not enough to stop you getting started with imaging with the scope, you can always crop to the centre part of your images until you get a CC.

Ok thanks, that's what I expected. I can probably go 3-4 months without one.

[alexbb]

I finally decided to properly try to use the 130 for imaging, even if I have the CC for many months now.

The M13 is from 14th May made from ~40 of 120 5s unguided exposures and ~20 minutes of 30s guided exposures. The seeing was not very good, but choosing the best short frames helped. Luminance only, 139 gain, cooled to -15C.

The Eastern Veil is taken during 3 nights, 2 of Ha for a total of 2.5h and 1 of O3 for a total of 2h, all in 180s guided exposures, 300gain. This one was reduced to only half the resolution, the seeing during the last night when I shot the O3 being worse, maybe around 2"/pixel. I still don't understand why it's so blurred, I was expecting a much sharper result out of 4.5h. I have to acquire more data when possible.

The main issue for me and this scope is with the flats. I took them with an unfolded white T-shirt at dusk, but they seem to overcompensate. I have to figure out why or at least how to counteract that. Maybe during this weekend.

Anyways, here they are. I might start to like this scope in the end.

Clear skies,

Alex

Edited May 20, 2017 by moise212
180s, not 300s

[alacant]

Just joined the club officially. After the 10 kilo 8", the little 130 is refreshingly lightweight. I put some proper dovetails on it and struggled with the secondary. How I hate Allen key adjustments! Is it possible to put thumbscrews on the secondary I wonder? Size if so?  The only thing I'm missing is the screw which holds the focusing knob. M3 and M4 don't fit. Any ideas anyone? Anyway, first light with it I'm planning Markarian's Chain; should be able to fit it in easily now. TIA.

[Thalestris24]

Hi Alacant

You can get a set of secondary thumbscrews from TS Sorry, don't know screw size for the focusser.

Louise

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, alacant said:

Anyway, first light with it I'm planning Markarian's Chain; should be able to fit it in easily now. TIA.

Do you have the 0.9x Skywatcher CC ahnd an APS-C DSLR?

If so if you centre on M86 you will get the whole chain, plus a couple of nice galaxies on the far right.

[alacant]

1 hour ago, Thalestris24 said:

thumbscrews

Hi. Thanks for the link. It states m4 so should be easy to get bolts long enough.