Imaging with the 130pds

[JemC]

All being well  I hope to be contributing to this thread soon as I have just taken possession (thanks nightfisher) of SW 130P-DS

My intention is to use it on my pier mounted EQ5 so weight wise I think I should be ok compared to my 200p

[Uranium235]

"ok" will be a bit of an understatement! You will be able to lift it (fully loaded) with one hand.

Heh I see you wasted no time in getting it into your sig!

[Night Hawk]

This is a nice thread demonstrating how great the 130pds is. Thanks for sharing your images.

[Nigeyboy]

Hi all

Damn, damn and blast it!! I really regret finding this thread!! The images you lot have been posting on this thread are amazing –I mean REALLY amazing! And to think they come from a sub £200 OTA is all the more incredible!! I doff my hat to you all. The time and dedication that you must put in to get these images is off the scale.

I salute you all, and keep them coming.

Now, to rethink my new set up – I was going to get a SW short tube frac, but looking at these images I may punt for a 130PDS instead! I am not heading into AP just yet, but I may as well spend the money on the 130 OTA to future proof myself!

Cheers

Nige

[Marky1973]

I'm not affiliated with them, but Astroboot has one for £110 at the moment - full 12 months warranty.....

[Pompey Monkey]

I'm not affiliated with them, but Astroboot has one for £110 at the moment - full 12 months warranty.....

It's almost worth buying for the dual-speed focuser alone at that price...  

[Marky1973]

sssssh.... you'll convince me if you're not careful....

[Pompey Monkey]

sssssh.... you'll convince me if you're not careful....

Oh noes!! It has <Mysteriously> disappeared from the astroboot website...

Gonna set my Dremmel on my Revelation 10" in the near future. Sorry 130'ers, but photons rule the day!

[Marky1973]

Ah temptation gone... in the immortal word of Shaggy, "It wasn't me..." - someone got a nice bargain though.

[JonC]

Looks like two of us on here picked up a 130pds from astroboot, they have had a couple on there, the one I grabbed was £99. Hopefully get my hands on it on Friday, just need to sort a mount now.

[Nigeyboy]

Blimey - that was quick. Had a gander at work and there it was. Checked back the following day and gone!!! I must be quicker off the mark next time!!

[JonC]

They seem to be averaging 1 a week at the moment, I missed out of a 150pds a couple of weeks ago.

[SvartSork]

This is M51 from Stockholm, Sweden sometimes feb/mar 2015.

183x60s subs using a Canon 500D unguided on EQ5 mount and of course the 130 PDS

Used Drizzle 2x in DSS, then some processing in StarTools and then final adjustments in GIMP.

[JimFR]

This is M51 from Stockholm, Sweden sometimes feb/mar 2015.

183x60s subs using a Canon 500D unguided on EQ5 mount and of course the 130 PDS

Used Drizzle 2x in DSS, then some processing in StarTools and then final adjustments in GIMP.

M51BDrizzleProc1.jpg

Thats a similar setup to mine except for the Pentax ist*DS...

So currently effectively limited to 30s subs.

Thats a superb image!

[SvartSork]

Thats a superb image!

Thanks!

Here is another image of M81 using the same equipment.

Exposure is 202x60s.

[halli]

These are lovely images with nice colours

They almost undermine the benefit of guiding  !

I always thought that the aim was to take as long an exposure as possible to reveal the finer detail ,  however you have revealed a lot of detail  with a large number of smaller exposures.

 I guess there is a limit as to when adding more exposures reveals anything further and the potential to reveal faint detail is greater with longer exposures.   However long exposures require good tracking and delicate setting of ISO levels so as not to over expose especially in light polluted areas.  This results in more bad subs during an imaging session.

The simplicity of shorter exposures cannot be underestimated in the light of these results !

[Uranium235]

Short exposures are ok if your telescope is fast, the target is bright, and youre not expecting to go deep. For the harder stuff, long subs are quite unavoidable (moreso in narrowband) because if you have something that barely shows up in one 1200s sub, its not going to appear at all in a 300s sub (ie: as 4 x nothing is still nothing!)

[beamer3.6m]

Looks like I will be joining the 130PDS club very soon - whoohoo.

Managed to find one on ABS for a good price.

Fingers crossed.

[Robp]

Looks like I will be joining the 130PDS club very soon - whoohoo.

Managed to find one on ABS for a good price.

Fingers crossed.

Welcome to the club!

I'm again considering getting a second one and attempting a dual shooter on my HEQ5...Clouds breed madness it seems

[acharris77]

I also will be joining the 130PDS club. I ordered one this morning from Astroboot for £110. There was 2 on there this morning. Just waiting for it to turn up now.

[Uranium235]

The 130pds army continues to grow.....

[simmo39]

Once FLO get them back in stock Ill be getting one and joining the club,

[sidelight]

I know Uranium235 has already posted one, but in the time I've had the CCD its about the only target I have managed and am happy with (with thanks because I never even knew the Propeller Nebula was there).

Cheers

Ross

Edited May 28, 2015 by sidelight

[Uranium235]

Nice image! It took me a couple of seasons to find that one as its slightly off the beaten track and doesnt appear in the handset (DWB catalogue). So you have to either use stellarium/CdC or bang its RA/DEC straight into the handset.

Other wierd stuff here:

http://www.elisanet.fi/jere.kahanpaa/astro/MACindex.html

(lists bright/dark nebs by constellation... handy if youre doing a "whats on tonight" search)

[glowingturnip]

there's this book too - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Observing-Handbook-Catalogue-Deep-Sky-Objects/dp/0521256658/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1432798460&sr=8-2&keywords=deep+sky+object+catalogue#reader_0521256658

gives an 'impossibly' detailed and comprehensive list of DSO's.  The sections on the big targets, where it breaks them down into individual NGC's by type is pretty interesting, for example if looking at one of your own andromeda pics you can identify individual star-forming regions, clusters etc