Mak'n'tosh...

[Mak One]

I managed to catch a quick hour of cloud dodging last Wednesday evening.  Went out with the sole intention of getting the best possible shot of Copernicus.  As you'll see below I got a bit distracted... 

The "Mak" bit:  The seeing was iffy and the Mak had less than a hour of cool-down time, but decided to make the best of it.  Having captured a few AVI's I processed them in AS!2 which gave some good results.

The "tosh" bit:  However, I think I need lot's more practice with Astra Image as the results from the L-R process were very noisy - couldn't seem to find a happy medium for the settings.  So I've spent time today running the same AVI's through Registax and I've got to say, I prefer them to the Astra Image results.  Old habits, or perhaps one piece of software deals with poorer seeing better?

Here's the results (in no particular order) from the Registax run:

Clavius:

Tycho and Longomontanus:

Working away from Tycho I noticed the phase gave a nice mottled effect to the landscape around Stofler from the ejecta rays from Tycho - almost like a sort of lunar camouflage:

Schiller and Hainzel:

Kepler and Encke:

Deslandres:

Eastern Mare Nubium:

Copernicus (the reason I went out in the first place!):

Montes Alpes:

Palus Putredinis:

Overall, not too bad given the conditions and the mid-week, work-the-next-day rush.

Thanks for looking.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice collection

[David Smith]

A nice set.

[astrojohnarthur]

Hello, super images. Thinking of purchasing a Mak - any advice? Thanks JP

[Davey-T]

Hello, super images. Thinking of purchasing a Mak - any advice? Thanks JP

Keep an eye  on FLO clearance thread, you never know what might turn up

Dave

[Mak One]

Hello, super images. Thinking of purchasing a Mak - any advice? Thanks JP

Thanks for the nice comments. As for advice, nothing really that you won't find elsewhere: great for lunar work and planets, not so hot on DSO's given the focal ratio. For best results give the 150 an hour outside to cool before viewing/imaging. Bit of wobble when focussing - added a Baader steeltrack on the back to overcome this. Watch out for any number of combinations of thread size/adapters on the visual back of the 150 - they don't all come out of the factory the same, and the star diagonal is "basic". You'll need a dew shield (homemade works fine) for the corrector plate. Little if any CA. For the price it's a lot of scope. The 127's get fantastic reviews for what they are, or if you really want to work at long focal lengths the 180 is supposed to be a "planet killer". I'd say the 150 and 180 need a CG5/AVX or HEQ5 min for mounting.

If getting up close views of The Moon with great contrast is your thing, you won't be disappointed. The Moon's disc pretty much fills the view with the standard 28mm LET eyepiece supplied.

Hope that helps.

Clear skies!

[Nick Smith]

Nice Ash

Used to have one of these scopes a few years ago; found the optics were excellent

[Stargazer33]

That's a lovely set of pictures.

[Pete Presland]

Nice set of images some very pleasing detail showing.

[Mak One]

Thanks all. Hoping for some clear skies at the end of the week as have a few days off so no stupid-o'clock starts for work next day.