Imaging with the 130pds

[sagramore]

22 minutes ago, Dbswales said:

That's very nice. I can't get to image this favourite of mine due to trees and a 3 storey house that someone rudely decided to build a few years ago. Chainsaw and a couple of gallons of petrol might come in handy. ?

Lovely image and I also appreciate your sub information. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thank you! Yeah, I have three houses that surround my back garden so I had 3 hours to get as much data as I could! There's a street light I have to hide with an umbrella as well because it is about 5 metres from my scope when I'm out there. Far from ideal, but with some perseverance you can get something

[Susaron]

Dear all

As promised in this thread

I am the first (fortunate) customer of the new 5'' flanges specifically done for the 130PDS,and today I have done the installation.

FYI, in order to complaint with the original focusing limits it is only need to add the 0.5'' spacer provided with the installation kit.

The total cost including taxes has been 480 euros.

Here you have some pictures

[Susaron]

And a couple of pictures with the photo equipment just to check the balance on the AZEQ5.

[Susaron]

First try with the tuned SW130PDS, a single frame of 60 seconds from IC7456 in Ophiucus. Just a JPG with levels adjusted.

Canon 70D + PHD2 + IDAS LPS D1.

I have to say that the image has been taken in the outskirts of Madrid, just under the light pollution dome, and I am not sure if the IDAS if effective here, I am a little bit disgusted with the LP suppresion it does, the Optolong UHC does a better job from my point of view.

On the other hand the focuser behaviour is superb, handling the DLSR is now extremely easy.

[Thalestris24]

4 minutes ago, Susaron said:

First try with the tuned SW130PDS, a single frame of 60 seconds from IC7456 in Ophiucus. Just a JPG with levels adjusted.

Canon 70D + PHD2 + IDAS LPS D1.

I have to say that the image has been taken in the outskirts of Madrid, just under the light pollution dome, and I am not sure if the IDAS if effective here, I am a little bit disgusted with the LP suppresion it does, the Optolong UHC does a better job from my point of view.

On the other hand the focuser behaviour is superb, handling the DLSR is now extremely easy.

Hi

I think you'll get a more pleasing result by taking multiple subs, stacking and aligning the histogram peaks. Also, use a Bahtinov mask to get focus spot on . A coma corrector is also a useful accessory for imaging.

Louise

[John78]

So here's an Andromeda from last night, 120sec x 10.  

 

I went to the darkest field I could find locally, literally a field surrounded by trees on 3 sides, and although I can make out the Milky Way with my eyes the light pollution is heinous, I tried 120sec at M33 first and it was super orange, so I moved up in the sky and tried 240sec exposures at M31 and it was still orange out.

On the plus side, my 9x50 board cam guide scope performed flawlessly on its first outing

So on this months Astro shopping list is a EOS CLS clip filter, and looking at the coma at the edges a baader CC financial controller permitting.

I actually have a modded 130P with at 2.5" draw tube focuser, will I need any special adapters to get the CC into my image train?

[Susaron]

Hi Louise,

I did use the MPCC and the bahtinov along with the APT focusing aid, but along the night the collimation and focus went even worst, I need to check the secondary spider as I got horrible results like this one with Vega ( 5 seconds exposure) at the end of the night. It seems that the spider vanes are tilted.

Any advice will be highly appreciated

[Susaron]

36 minutes ago, John78 said:

So here's an Andromeda from last night, 120sec x 10.  

 

I went to the darkest field I could find locally, literally a field surrounded by trees on 3 sides, and although I can make out the Milky Way with my eyes the light pollution is heinous, I tried 120sec at M33 first and it was super orange, so I moved up in the sky and tried 240sec exposures at M31 and it was still orange out.

On the plus side, my 9x50 board cam guide scope performed flawlessly on its first outing

So on this months Astro shopping list is a EOS CLS clip filter, and looking at the coma at the edges a baader CC financial controller permitting.

I actually have a modded 130P with at 2.5" draw tube focuser, will I need any special adapters to get the CC into my image train?

No you don´t the Baader MPCC does not change the focal ratio but it is claimed that it increases the backfocus.

[Thalestris24]

3 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Hi

I think you'll get a more pleasing result by taking multiple subs, stacking and aligning the histogram peaks. Also, use a Bahtinov mask to get focus spot on . A coma corrector is also a useful accessory for imaging.

Louise

ps Always take subs in raw format!

[Thalestris24]

3 hours ago, Susaron said:

Hi Louise,

I did use the MPCC and the bahtinov along with the APT focusing aid, but along the night the collimation and focus went even worst, I need to check the secondary spider as I got horrible results like this one with Vega ( 5 seconds exposure) at the end of the night. It seems that the spider vanes are tilted.

Any advice will be highly appreciated

Hi

You maybe right re the spider vanes! Focus will change - especially as temperature drops. I think it's recommended to allow the scope to cool down for ~an hour before focussing and imaging. In any case you need to check focus periodically

Louise

[Adam J]

How are people dealing with secondary mirror dew on the 130P-DS, I have been using a hair dryer but to be honest its not ideal as a intermittent solution when the thing dews up half way through a 20 min sub and you lose it. I have been thinking about glueing a 400ohme / meter nichrome wire onto the back of the secondary. But I am shocked to say that I cant find much in the way of advice on this online...

Any advice from my fellow 130P-DS users would be appreciated. 

[Crose01]

I'd rotate the tube so that the camera and focuser are between the tube and the mount. I would suspect that the combined weight of the focuser and camera maybe twisting you tube ever so slightly

as to throw out your secondary. It will have less momentum than on the outside of the curve. I know this is a rigid tube as I use mine for visual work.

 

Regards

Chris

 

[Susaron]

6 hours ago, Crose01 said:

I'd rotate the tube so that the camera and focuser are between the tube and the mount. I would suspect that the combined weight of the focuser and camera maybe twisting you tube ever so slightly

as to throw out your secondary. It will have less momentum than on the outside of the curve. I know this is a rigid tube as I use mine for visual work.

 

Regards

Chris

 

I am going to try to put the guide tube backwards to reduce the bending moment on the forward part. Also I will put the camera inwards the RA axis to balance it.

Thanks.

[Susaron]

Eleven stacked frames of IC4756 only with bias. DSS + Fitswork postprocess.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

A Crescent nebula from last night, only about 30 subs as the scope was about to hit the mount!

This had the same gradient issue as my Andromeda elsewhere, but not as severe and gradient exterminator got rid of it.

I have tried not to stretch too much to limit the noise, and cropped a bit to keep some nice minor asterisms and colourful stars.

[Tiny Small]

M33 with 6 hours of data at 0.85"/p. I've taken 15mm off my focuser but it's still protruding into the light cone. Pretty sure my collimation isn't great either. This image is also posted in the deep sky sub forum.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

NGC7217 is an unusual galaxy with an outer ring of blue stars around a redder core of old stars. The HST pulled out incredibly fine detail, including more concentric rings. There's debate over whether it is  the result of two galaxies merging, but its near-perfect symmetry suggests otherwise. It's tempting to crop, but it is at the West end of Pegasus and close to Cygnus and the Milky Way - how many reasonably close galaxies lie in such a rich and colourful starfield?

Certainly deserves more/longer subs, and perhaps a visit with the 150PL

[carastro]

Well I have been reading this post almost since it's inception, and it has inspired me.  Twice I almost pressed the "buy" button and then hesitated as I already have several scopes and felt I was being greedy.

Anyway, today I have been and gone and done it.  Looking forward to using this little baby. 

Carole

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by carastro
typo

[Squiddy]

I've read the first and last 10 pages of this thread and must say I'm impressed with this inexpensive little tube. One thing that strike me is that some of you have a camera and mount worth thousends of euro and still choose to use a €200 tube.

I've used a megrez 90 for a while now, but I'd like to try a newtonian tube with a greater aperture and I've been thinking of getting a 150PDS for some time now. So my question to you all are, is the 130PDS better  than the 150PDS, or should I expect pretty much the same result?
The increased weight is no issue as I'm far below the limit of my mount (a Celstron CGE).

Best regards, Kent

Edited October 9, 2016 by Squiddy

[Susaron]

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 10:31, Squiddy said:

I've read the first and last 10 pages of this thread and must say I'm impressed with this inexpensive little tube. One thing that strike me is that some of you have a camera and mount worth thousends of euro and still choose to use a €200 tube.

I've used a megrez 90 for a while now, but I'd like to try a newtonian tube with a greater aperture and I've been thinking of getting a 150PDS for some time now. So my question to you all are, is the 130PDS better  than the 150PDS, or should I expect pretty much the same result?
The increased weight is no issue as I'm far below the limit of my mount (a Celstron CGE).

Best regards, Kent

The optics for both tubes is the same, the only thing you will "suffer" is that on the 150PDS your photo field will be smaller than with the 130PDS due to the longer focal length. On the other side as the main mirror is bigger you will catch more photons than with the little 130.

Cheers.

[Victor Boesen]

19 minutes ago, Susaron said:

The optics for both tubes is the same, the only thing you will "suffer" is that on the 150PDS your photo field will be smaller than with the 130PDS due to the longer focal length. On the other side as the main mirror is bigger you will catch more photons than with the little 130.

Cheers.

What would you recommend? i am thinking about buying the Heq5 pro synscan with the 150P-DS. Is it the best idea?

[Susaron]

3 hours ago, Bossen said:

What would you recommend? i am thinking about buying the Heq5 pro synscan with the 150P-DS. Is it the best idea?

I would recommend both. I friend has the 150PDS, and I owe a 130PDS and a 200PDS.

It will depend on what you want to photograph, the 130PDS will allow you wider fields, it is close to what a ED80 can offer, open clusters, big nebula complexes and some big globulars will perfectly fit to it. With the 150PDS you will be capable to attack individuals as galaxies, planetary nebulas etc..., as I do with the 200PDS, for visual use the 150 will give you more light gathering. With a good x3 or x4 barlow the 150PDS will allow to attack Jupiter and Saturn with confidence.

In terms of cost they are quite similar, so it is more a matter of what you want to do with it.

Regards.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Susaron

[Victor Boesen]

2 hours ago, Susaron said:

t is more a matter of what you want to do with it

If i put the skywatcher 0,9x coma corrector on the 150P-DS, then it will have a focal length 25mm longer than the 130P-DS, so i am probably going for the 150P-DS.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Bossen

[carastro]

Quote

Well I have been reading this post almost since it's inception, and it has inspired me.  Twice I almost press the "buy" button and then hesitated as I already have several scopes and felt I was being greedy.

Anyway, today I have been and gone and done it.  Looking forward to using this little baby. 

Was so excited on Friday, but today I got a message from FLO to say they will deliver my 130PDS when it is available.  

Yet they have taken my money  and are delivering the coma corrector, which is not much use without the scope.  

Hope it won't be long.

Carole 

[FLO]

12 minutes ago, carastro said:

Was so excited on Friday, but today I got a message from FLO to say they will deliver my 130PDS when it is available.  

Yet they have taken my money  and are delivering the coma corrector, which is not much use without the scope.  

Hope it won't be long.

Carole 

Don't worry Carole, all three items are already packed for dispatch so will be with you tomorrow  

HTH, 

Steve