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Imaging with the 130pds


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Inspirational thread guys! Thank you!

A question if I may:  I am about to defork my 10" LX200 and put it on an ALT EQ6 using a losmandy plate.   My idea is to then piggyback a 103PDS onto the LX.  I was then thinking that when imaging with the 103 I could use the LX as a guidescope and vice versa.  Is this completely bonkers? (And what is the easiest way to piggyback the 103 on the LX). Just bought a 314L+ in anticipation!

Many thanks

Ig

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A lot of wonderful images taken by the 130PDS here! They inspired me to get my own recently. I must say its a pleasure to use and the images it produced are far better than I imagined coming from previously using some relatively Rubbish scopes.

Once I get my processing abilities up, I look forward to getting images something like that I see here!

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Just tried mine out for the first time and in daytime with the eyepiece and focused on distant objects. It's actually the first time I've looked through a newt! The view was very clear but somewhat disturbed by an out of focus dark spot in the centre of the fov. Standing back from the eyepiece (28mm, 2") it became clear this was the mirror/spider vanes. Is it normal for them to impinge like that? There didn't seem to be anything wrong otherwise. Maybe collimation needed?

Louise

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i think it must be out of focus for you to see the secondary like that if it is in the center

Um, I was focused perfectly on a distant spire (about a mile away). The dark area was like a small fuzzy (very out of focus) blob in the centre of the fov. I could almost ignore it but it was definitely there. As I say, standing away from the eyepiece revealed the secondary and vanes. Maybe my eyesight? Maybe because it was daytime?

Louise

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Hard to say, ive never looked through mine during the daytime. It shouldnt be a problem once you get a camera on it.

Surprisingly light these little newts are eh? Well, they are until you load them up with kit... I think mine doubled in weight when the imaging gear and legweights were attached (feels like it anyway!).

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Ok, guys - thanks! I'll have to properly check collimation when I get a minute, anyway. I've had the 150pds for a year now - never looked through it, never adjusted collimation either! I think the 130pds will be easier to collimate as it's that much shorter.

Rob - Mine doesn't feel all that light to me but I'm not very strong! For me, it still needs two hands to load it onto the mount (AVX). It'll definitely need extra counterweight, compared to the ST80, once I have a camera and guider on it. Looks like wall-to-wall cloud for the next week or more... :(

Louise

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Hard to say, ive never looked through mine during the daytime. It shouldnt be a problem once you get a camera on it.

Surprisingly light these little newts are eh? Well, they are until you load them up with kit... I think mine doubled in weight when the imaging gear and legweights were attached (feels like it anyway!).

I used to be able to take my whole system outside in one go before I upgraded. Now I have to take the scope, mount and counterweight in seperate trips! Well worth it though - my previous kit was a SkyHawk 4.5" on EQ1! ;-)
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Hi guys. Would appreciate any guidance on my post #328 above before i press the "BUY" button!

Many thanks.

Hi

Personally,  your proposal doesn't feel right to me. Using the 130pds as a guide scope might work but keeping everything rigid could be a challenge. I'd have thought an oag for the lx200 would be better. Vice versa doesn't sound practical either. However, don't let me put you off getting a 130pds!

Louise

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Igwiz, on 09 Feb 2015 - 2:24 PM, said:

Inspirational thread guys! Thank you!

A question if I may:  I am about to defork my 10" LX200 and put it on an ALT EQ6 using a losmandy plate.   My idea is to then piggyback a 103PDS onto the LX.  I was then thinking that when imaging with the 103 I could use the LX as a guidescope and vice versa.  Is this completely bonkers? (And what is the easiest way to piggyback the 103 on the LX). Just bought a 314L+ in anticipation!

Many thanks

Ig

Not sure the LX will make a good guide scope since its a far longer FL than the 130pds. And with it being a longer FL, comes the problem of the star "jumping about" a bit too much, meaning that your autoguiding will respond accordingly (by jumping about). Perhaps a way to get it to work would be to adjust some of the PHD settings so its less sensitive. A better solution perhaps would be a separate, short focal length frac that will happily do both (ST80?) - you might even get away with a finderguider.

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Ok thanks guys.  I will go back to the simple set up - 130pds on an alteq6 (to allow heavier scopes in the future).  

Uranium  - are you suggesting the ST80 as a guidescope (the ones about £100 right?).  How does it mount onto the 130pds? Do I need to buy an extra mount plate?

My only other consideration is whether an ED80 is better than the 130pds?  It will sit on a permanent pier so I am leaning towards the 130.

Just want to press the button!!!

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The ST80 would be a better choice for a guidescope if you want to use it with both the LX or the 130pds. Normally a finderguider is good enough, but that probably wouldnt cut it with the focal length of the LX200 (finders can only guide you up to about 1000mm FL). Having said that, the 130pds would happily guide the 200LX.

But.... hang on a mo - the alarm bells are ringing in the weight department. If you combine a 10" SCT with a newt (on a dual saddle), with all the imaging gubbins... and then chuck on an ST80 - thats going to be quite a lump (even for an NEQ6). Plus there is the downside that if mounted, there is no way of adjusting the LX/130 to match, not unless you invest in a quite expensive (and heavy) adjustable saddle. So in conclusion, its probably best to only use one - not both. Using both will just over complicate things when really, all you want is to be up and running as soon as possible.

As for whether the 80ED is better than the 130? Well I have both, and while the 80ED can yield some fantastic, sharp images (if given time) - its just nowhere near as fast as the 130pds (especially when reduced). In the last 12 months I think the 80ED has been out only twice, but it didnt take long for me to get the thirst for speed again. But I still wont sell the 80ED, I still have plans for it (would be nice to turn it into a solar scope with a quark ep) - plus its always good to have a reliable backup telescope should anything go horribly wrong.

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I'm planning to buy a 130p-ds to be my main imaging rig, does it need a coma corrector?

Also, i can't find anywhere a store in the US or here in brazil that sells it. Guess I'll have to import it from the UK anyway.

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Cheers Uranium.  Yep, I have already abandoned the idea of piggybacking the 130 and the LX together. Just the 130 solo with the ST80 (thanks for the advice on that) on an alteq6.  Only thing I am still grappling with is how the ST80 sits on the 130 (do I need to be anything extra to do that?) and whether my Atik 314L will find focus or whether I need an extension tube of some variety?  Want "Night 1" to be as painless as poss!! Nearly there!

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I'm planning to buy a 130p-ds to be my main imaging rig, does it need a coma corrector?

Also, i can't find anywhere a store in the US or here in brazil that sells it. Guess I'll have to import it from the UK anyway.

Hi

They have different names over the pond i.e. BKP 130 DS. This is the site in Canada:

http://ca.skywatcher.com/_english/01_products/02_detail.php?sid=336

It's probably better to use a coma corrector - depends how ambitious/fussy you are with your images!

There appears to be a Brazilian deler: http://armazemdotelescopio.com.br/loja/index.php/telescopios but doesn't specifically list a 130pds. Maybe they can order one in for you?

Louise

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Igwiz, on 11 Feb 2015 - 06:49 AM, said:

Cheers Uranium.  Yep, I have already abandoned the idea of piggybacking the 130 and the LX together. Just the 130 solo with the ST80 (thanks for the advice on that) on an alteq6.  Only thing I am still grappling with is how the ST80 sits on the 130 (do I need to be anything extra to do that?) and whether my Atik 314L will find focus or whether I need an extension tube of some variety?  Want "Night 1" to be as painless as poss!! Nearly there!

Take a look at the post linked by happy-kat, it goes into the question of whether you really need an ST80 to guide a 130pds. Which in reality, is a bit of overkill - not unless you plan to use it with the LX200 as well.

To mount the ST80, you can either get a dual vixen saddle and guidescope rings. Or to go the cheap route you can just bolt another dovetail and the tube rings directly to the top of your 130pds tube rings. Theyre an M6 thread if im not mistaken. The aforementioned method means you have no adjustment because its fixed, but they should be aligned well enough to guide off. Another downside is that you have made your rig quite "tall", so as it tracks the sky - gravity will have more of an effect on the balance.

If the 130 is going to be your primary imaging telescope, and you have a spare 9x50 finder - then I'd just go with that. All you need then is a half decent guide cam with an on camera st4 port - that will plug straight into your EQ6 st4, and youre up and running! (barring a little configuration of PHD). 

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Hi

They have different names over the pond i.e. BKP 130 DS. This is the site in Canada:

http://ca.skywatcher.com/_english/01_products/02_detail.php?sid=336

It's probably better to use a coma corrector - depends how ambitious/fussy you are with your images!

There appears to be a Brazilian deler: http://armazemdotelescopio.com.br/loja/index.php/telescopios but doesn't specifically list a 130pds. Maybe they can order one in for you?

Louise

Thank you, Louise

Didn't know they had different names. Gonna make a search fo it.

that brazilian site you gave me is the store i bought my current telescope and it's a very good store, i contacted them but they don't sell it and are not importing at the moment.

For the moment i think i'll pass on the coma corrector right now as i'm still learning, maybe later when i get more demanding :)

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