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VikkiFord

By VikkiFord
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VikkiFord

VikkiFord

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My name's Vikki and I've had a long time interest in astronomy but never done anything about it. At my time in life now I find I have money to spend (albeit wisely). No debts and able to save quite aggressively for those bigger items.

I got fed up of looking up and seeing the stars and saying to my other half, I wish I had a telescope, if I had a telescope I wouldn't be looking up saying I wish I had a telescope.

So we went to Sussex Astronomy Centre and I got a Skywatcher Startravel 102 refractor. By the way, this is going to be a tortuous route into astronomy and cost me more than it should have but it's not all bad  :grin: We took Lily our dog and went across by train. Funny how things get heavier the closer you get to the station-home-front door.

It had a flimsy tripod and a manual altaz mount and it was great - for a while. I have an interest in photography (amongst other things) and decided that AP was the way to go. Marry one hobby to another. That's pretty much when the problems started. I got the adaptor for my EOS 1200D and started photographing the moon. Didn't do too bad on that but focusing while under high magnification led to many frustrations with the moon legging it like it was camera shy and the telescope doing the dance of the sugar plum fairy every time I touched the focuser - but I managed.

Did I say why I went manual? No! Ah, I wanted to learn the sky. AP put me in my place on that one. Well, I didn't know I was going to take to AP so strongly.

OK, on with the story. I decided I needed a mount that could track and started looking around. I saw a shop selling a Skywatcher AutoTrak mount with a 130p reflector. The price was such that the telescope that came with it was only £18!!! Based on the mount's price on its own. Well, I thought, be rude not to. So I ordered it and it duly arrived and I was pleased - for a while. It did track but it didn't track very well, there was no lunar tracking speed and the moon legged it but at a slower pace. The moon had acquired a walking stick! My photos got better but focusing was still a bind. I got a Bahtinov mask but didn't really use it because I hadn't cottoned on to one crucial piece of info - once focused on a star how the Dickens do I slew to another target with just a non-goto hand controller and a camera that was reluctant to show faint objects? Ah but it gets worse.

I decided to buy a Goto handset for the mount and that wasn't cheap. But it WORKED  :grin:  It was glorious, instead of struggling to find things and losing valuable AP time I could now go where I wanted quickly so I could do the photography - my love. But it wasn't to be (is this getting familiar?). I decided that I should get a descent planetary camera and bought a ZWO ASI120MC as it was also good for SOME deep sky objects. This little thing was a revelation and a purchasing decision I haven't regretted. But the (you guessed it) mount was letting me down. It was cheaply built and there were no bearings used in the thing and friction was being a problem. I machined up a holder with two deep groove roller blade bearings - one at each end of a short cylinder and fitted this to the Alt axis of the telescope. The friction between moving and non-moving parts was vastly reduced and the thing tracked a good bit better. But it wasn't perfect, and neither could it be when ordinary DC motors are driven so slowly.

OK, it was bite the bullet time. I was seriously into AP by now and I had plenty of savings (I save for big items, I'm credit shy and like to buy things outright now) so I ordered a Skywatcher 200pds with an HEQ5 Pro mount!!! Oh, My, God! The difference in quality was astounding. The three boxes arrived at home and when I got home from work and saw them my jaw not only dropped to the floor but detached itself and ran out of the room! Trust me, that critter was built up pretty quick and that night I was lucky to have a clear sky and I had a wonderful time using my new toy. You get what you pay for and I took a stupidly long route. I've only had three clear nights since I got it and now the evenings are so long that using it is out till mid-end of August  :sad:

However, it's not all waste. I can use the 102 as a guide scope (when I learn how) and the 130p gives me a shorter focal length. Ah! That reminds me!

My 130p was not at all happy with my cameras. I couldn't achieve focus unless I had a 2x Barlow fitted. That is what also prompted the purchase of the 200pds. It was camera ready. I cut about an inch of the back end of the 130p and still couldn't quite make focus. I cut as much of the front end of the focuser as I could and suddenly I could achieve focus. But! I had to have the T-ring mounted directly to the focuser and it ended up at an unadjustable odd angle. OK, I saw where I could gain a little extra. I turned off the T-ring thread on the focuser (I have a little lathe and a mini-mill), stuck my adaptor in and attached the camera and - BINGO! Focus easily achieved with some to spare.

Am I happy with the 200pds? Oh yes, that's a big fat yes from me!  :grin: It tracks superbly considering where I've come from. I'm looking forward to finding out how long it can track for before drift occurs. I'm looking forward to trying out the handsets Polar Align function. I'm looking forward to trying drift alignment. I'm looking forward to doing it all  :grin: This mount has held the moon rock solid while I've taken photos, added Barlows and moved about. It is BRILLIANT!!!

I've probably forgotten some bits here and there but I figure that's enough waffle from me  :smiley:

Vikki.

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damnut

damnut

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Hi Vikki,

Warm welcome to SGL.. Sounds like you are well down this wallet emptying hobby. I would say go and buy 'making every photon count' it is a great guide into astro-photography  and will still save you money!

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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Welcome, and its nice to see youre happy with the 200pds (thinking of getting one myself soon). If you are going down the AP route with that telescope, the next step will be to get a coma corrector and some guiding sorted out (50mm finderguider will do the job nicely).

Getting some guiding onboard means that you wont have to be so accurate with your PA (ie: no need to drift align). And once its guiding and taking snaps, it leaves you free to do other things (get out a 2nd scope or bins for observing - or study the data coming in).

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VikkiFord

VikkiFord

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Thanks guys :smiley:

I forgot to say - this all happened in a period of three months :eek:

I couldn't get hold of Making every photon count so I got Astrophotography by Mark Thomson and read Budget AP too.

I was thinking of piggy-backing my 102 as a guider when I learn how to do it. Bit big I guess.

Vikki.

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xtreemchaos

xtreemchaos

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hi Vikki. and welcome from south wales, i think everybody gos through a bit of telescope fever like you but the main thing is we get there in the end, im glad you like the 200pds there a fine scope and skywatchers are well made.i have the 200p on a eq5 mount and piggybacked with a ED80 the mounts is 2kg over weight but it still tracks well.i wish you clear skys.all the best.charl.

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Vikki and welcome to SGL, so you are now looking up as often as you can on a clear night with your new gear. It is just a shame you did not stumble across SGL when you first had the craving to expand into Astronomy and your resulting AP. If you had, you would have been directed to Steve's book, which is only available through FLO see top of page or direct from the author himself, this may well have saved you a lot of headaches in the long run. 

You are, however, obviously a very capable lady, able to adapt yourself through DIY to further your advances in Astronomy and AP. We do have another lady, Gina whom I am sure you will run across sooner than later, who is held in high esteem on the forum, with her skills and tools, undertaking all sorts of adventurous projects akin to Astronomy, routes that many on here would fear to tread, including me. Good luck with your photography and I sure you will benefit much from the forum :) 

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VikkiFord

VikkiFord

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Thanks :smiley:

I think my route wasn't too bad as at the time I had no idea I would fall so heavily for astrophotography :smiley:

What I've ended up with is a quick and dirty Goto mount for the quick and dirty stuff and a superb mount and 'scope for the heavy duty stuff. While I'm not fond of the 102 refractor (the blue and red splitting out is a pain) I think I can press it into service as a guide scope when I'm ready to tread those waters :shocked:

I think at the start I was directionless and thought I would be happy with observing but seeing grey blobs and smudges told me AP was the way to go. In some respects I think I learnt quite a lot on taking this route and at the start I would not have been able to justify £1000+ I spent on the 8" and HEQ5 Pro. Knowing what I know now, though, well, it would have been justified. On the other hand, I have useful gear and learnt a great deal and that the money was justified. Oh dear, this could get very circular, hehehehehehe.

It was when I saw the motors and the control method when modifying the goto mount that I realised that the thing wasn't going to cut it. I needed stepper motor drive and the HEQ5 Pro had all that and more. I am one happy kitty :grin:  

Vikki.

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VikkiFord

VikkiFord

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Oh, Tony, the pain, the pain. It doesn't get dark now till about 11pm so I fear my viewing days are done till end of August - unless I get a cracker at the weekend and pull a late, late nighter :shocked:

Mind you, the moon is still a viable target that won't keep me up late :smiley:

I'm looking forward to trying my Canon on the moon but using multiple frames and stacking rather than the one shots I've done. I found the ZWO did a cracking job but someone at work noticed the image was better but lacked the resolution of the Canon. I figure I can do multiple Canon stills and try that. Might even attempt a mosaic :grin:

I got lots of joy to come yet :smiley:  and so much more learning. I'm gonna have me some fun (to quote the guy from Predator).

Vikki.

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