Imaging with the 130pds

[purdo]

Hi William, I'm veering towards the 150pds/eq5 as I would love eventually to do some ap. Let's know how you get on. Sorry guys don't want to hijack this thread re the 150.

[wulliam]

Purdo - if I make any progress I'll post about it separately. As you say lets end this diversion here and enjoy some more stunning images from those who know what they're doing!

[Skyline]

Ver nice image Russe of M101, you just have to mod that 450D now.

[Russe]

Ver nice image Russe of M101, you just have to mod that 450D now.

Thanks! Got everything at home and Saturday is supposed to be rainy...

[Epicycle]

I'm glad I just caught this thread. Maybe my feedback can be of some use too.

I'm also a happy owner of a 130pds (by the way great service from FLO ) and my experience so far has been quite good. However I would like

to address a couple of issues with the focuser. These have been pointed out before, but I hope it's useful to spell them out again.

I've used the scope with an SXVR-H9 (small chip)  and MPCC III. I attach below a shot with deliberately is not the best I got from the scope

but it shows the issue, and I also attach a crop of the lower right corner. It's a stack of 9x1800s with an Astrodon 5nm Ha filter of the Spider in Auriga.

Upon inspection, you'll see that stars in the lower right corner are not right, but stars in the upper left corner are fine. This is because

the camera is not squared: once you tighten up the thumb screws it pops and produces a tilt.

This is most annoying because it will also happen with the cheshire so you are never sure if you are collimating the scope correctly.

The other problem (also mentioned before) is that the focuser tube really gets on the way of the incoming light and produces a darkening

and chops off a bit of the bright stars.

So, coming back to FLO's question: the focuser is OK but not great. On the positive side, if you adjust the tension, it holds focus really well

through out a session.

Concerning the FLO question about the Moonlite:

Are people here happy using the original focuser on the 130p DS? I have been meaning to ask Ron at Moonlite to machine some curved plates to match the smaller 130p DS OTA.

it would be great to be able to make the upgrade! If I was sure the Moonlite upgrade would solve the two issues above (i.e. squaring and reliable collimation+ shorter tube into the light path) I would go for it: it would make the 130pds into a really smart astrograph and not just a beginner's scope but something you could use for really serious work,

cheers

Epicycle

[HenryW]

A few more beginners atempt, the problems in the pics has to do with the mount and not the scope.

 taken with a Canon EOS 550D, SW 130PDS an an EQ 5 with synscan. PA alignment trough "feeling"

[Russe]

I've got an M74 cropped.

[Geuse]

Well i finally got to take out my 130p-ds tonight, a crystal clear sky albeit pretty washed out with the moon. The below is my first ever pic with a telescope and i am pretty sure most people reading this would of wet themselves if they seen my reaction when it flashed up on my camera. Took quite a lot of data which i will play with tomorrow night, this was run v quickly through photoshop to brighten it up a bit. I would welcome of course welcome any advice that may be forthcoming, i must warn you though that in my eyes this is the greatest picture that has ever been taken 

[Russe]

Great attempt!

From what I can see on my phone: you'll need calibration frames (center brighter than edge - flats). No coma - great. Nice central detail - core not overexposed. I'm colour blind but I think your image looks magenta? I'm not sure on that though. Nice wispy detail on outer regions of M42. Ever so slightly egg shaped stars (I'm nitpicking here!).

Overall - an image to be proud of!

Edited April 7, 2014 by Russe

[CowsonConcrete]

Hi,

Absolutely superb thread.  It's what I've been looking for for ages, I take a couple of months off and up it pops!!

I have a 130PDS and have had since October, switching from a Celetron 120mm Refractor.  My moon shots aren't bad but I do struggle with anything over a couple of seconds exposure with movement. I have an EQ2 mount.  "Aha, there's your problem" I hear you all shout, however funds dictate my kits quality.

What then would be the cheapest mount for my 130PDS with camera?  Would an EQ3 suffice or do I have to up it to EQ5? (this is for imaging rather than just

Thank you

[Russe]

I guess it depends on what you can afford and how far you want to take things. I think most wouldn't argue if I said: a used HEQ5...

But there are people here who've done nice images with smth cheaper!

[rowan46]

Hi,

Absolutely superb thread.  It's what I've been looking for for ages, I take a couple of months off and up it pops!!

I have a 130PDS and have had since October, switching from a Celetron 120mm Refractor.  My moon shots aren't bad but I do struggle with anything over a couple of seconds exposure with movement. I have an EQ2 mount.  "Aha, there's your problem" I hear you all shout, however funds dictate my kits quality.

What then would be the cheapest mount for my 130PDS with camera?  Would an EQ3 suffice or do I have to up it to EQ5? (this is for imaging rather than just

Thank you

You might just get by with the eq3 certainly weight wise it's no issue the problem is that the eq3 doesn't track as accurately and doesn't guide as well  as the eq5 so you would have to throw away more subs. The eq5 is a long way off being a perfect mount but it is doable as the pics show. You will notice however that most of the best shots are taken on better than an eq5

[Geuse]

So the clouds parted tonight at about 11pm so i thought i would have another go with my new scope, it was pretty horrendous out with it being almost day light thanks to the moon, i did however want to try and have a go at the Leo Triplet (a bit daft as i was effectively shooting into the moonlight). I did get this though, its 25 lights various exposures stacked in DSS, no Darks, battery of both the camera and me were running low. Quite chuffed with how they turned out, cant wait to get a shot at them on a dark night though !!

[sidelight]

I was looking at these replacement focuser 2" adapters, with a compression ring but at 39€ was wondering if anyone else had tried, and found them any good? 

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4018_2--adapter-with-brass-compression-ring-for-Skywatcher-Newtonians.html

The only other thing I find with the scope is that with cameras etc on it is a pig to balance, often the focuser knobs end up right against the tube rings, the longer side (ie the one with the fine focus knob) is the inner adjusters, it would have been good to have them the other side.

Cheers

Ross

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Great thread, wonderful to see what can be achieved with relatively modest equipment. This is the kind of setup I'd buy myself, but as a flat dweller it's not really practical.

[Epicycle]

I was looking at these replacement focuser 2" adapters, with a compression ring but at 39€ was wondering if anyone else had tried, and found them any good? 

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4018_2--adapter-with-brass-compression-ring-for-Skywatcher-Newtonians.html

The only other thing I find with the scope is that with cameras etc on it is a pig to balance, often the focuser knobs end up right against the tube rings, the longer side (ie the one with the fine focus knob) is the inner adjusters, it would have been good to have them the other side.

Cheers

Ross

Hi Ross,

I did try one of these adapters and I didn't see much difference: still I got some tilt when I tightened up the screws. Balancing hasn't been an issue for me as you can spin the tube in the rings and shift it up and down  (and I have the MPCC+filter wheel+ camera),

cheers

E.

[lennylovit]

Ross you can turn the knobs round the other way , undo the 4 outer studs and the focuser back plate will come off and swop the shaft the other way round ( don't forget the 4 rubber o'rings )then readjust

Lenny

[sidelight]

Hi Ross,

I did try one of these adapters and I didn't see much difference: still I got some tilt when I tightened up the screws. Balancing hasn't been an issue for me as you can spin the tube in the rings and shift it up and down  (and I have the MPCC+filter wheel+ camera),

cheers

E.

Thats a shame, it could have been a solution.

The balancing issue for me is not helped as I use the finder scope as a guider, so with DSLR etc the scope is front heavy.  There just isn't enough scope to hang out the back of the tube rings to get it in balance for me.  I need to finish off the counterweights I was fiddling with to compensate.

[sidelight]

Ross you can turn the knobs round the other way , undo the 4 outer studs and the focuser back plate will come off and swop the shaft the other way round ( don't forget the 4 rubber o'rings )then readjust

Lenny

You know I hadn't thought of doing that I had got as far as looking to see if the mechanism could be turned upside down (it can't) and never considered spinning the shaft.  Thank's Lenny I guess I will be getting the screwdrivers out later this evening and solving that issue.

Cheers

Ross

[Epicycle]

Thats a shame, it could have been a solution.

The balancing issue for me is not helped as I use the finder scope as a guider, so with DSLR etc the scope is front heavy.  There just isn't enough scope to hang out the back of the tube rings to get it in balance for me.  I need to finish off the counterweights I was fiddling with to compensate.

I see, indeed the finder guider adds weight and complicates matters. But Lenny's suggestion seems the way to go.

[Uranium235]

The solution to the balance issue for me was a strap-on leg weight, it adds 500g to the backend and just about balances the whole rig out.

[sidelight]

You know I hadn't thought of doing that I had got as far as looking to see if the mechanism could be turned upside down (it can't) and never considered spinning the shaft.  Thank's Lenny I guess I will be getting the screwdrivers out later this evening and solving that issue.

Cheers

Ross

Unfortunately there is a locking grub screw on the fine control side that there is no hole for on the other, and it is needed to clamp the gearbox in place.  So it can't be turned around without drilling and taping a new hole, I don't have the equipment for that    

[Russe]

Here's a quick and dirty M3 from last night - 23x 600s and 5x180s.

[JimFR]

With Mars being convenient for evening imaging these days, I took the opportunity to have a go at it.

This is my first attempt: 30s at 1/30 with a Baader Neodymium filter on my webcam, and a 1.6x screw-in barlow, stacked up with a 2x barlow (the SW deluxe one).

I stacked and wavelet processed in Registax 5.1.

Not bad for a first go eh!

[Epicycle]

Here is a brief exposure showing what I meant in my previous post about the focuser getting into the light path and chopping off a bit of a star (Polaris in this case).

Collimation looks OK though,

E.