Apologies to SW Astronomers

[KJ Dalley]

Apologies but I have bought some new (second hand!) equipment online.

What I used to call "the internet" I now keep hearing referred to as "The Cloud".

Ergo if I order online, clouds come with the delivery?

In my effort to migrate towards astrophotography I've just bought myself a second hand DSLR and T-ring adaptor.

If I get no joy with the scope at least I can justify the expense with nice piccies of the family.

I've also had that excting email to say that its been despatched.

Now just have to play that game of "Dare to go out before the delivery driver arrives".

There's not much point to this I'm afraid its just that I haven't ordered anything for years so very excited

Clear Skies

[Astroboffin]

apology accepted......lol

[Jokehoba]

Hi Kev,

Not wanting to dampen your excitement, but my initial forays into DSLR astrophotography were with my SW130P and as it is primarily for visual use, the only way I could reach focus was with a barlow. Even after discovering there was an M42 thread on the 2" focuser insert - allowing direct connection to the T-ring - there was still not enough in-focus travel to gain a clear image. I accepted the reduced FoV as a trade-off but as you can see from my sig, I ended up reducing the tube length to regain the native FoV. That was fine until I got a coma corrector and then I had to shorten the tube a little bit more!

So really just a warning that you may need a few more bits and pieces - or an angle grinder! The SW200P-DS has a shorter tube for astrophotography, so I do hope you can achieve focus successfully with the SW200P.

John

[KJ Dalley]

Thanks John

I've learned over the years that I rarely have all the right bits and pieces to go out and do what I want to do first time.

Well I'll just keep experimenting.

Just one more visit to the parcel tracking website then...

[RichM63]

Buy as much stuff as you can, hopefully you'll 'suck' all the clouds away from me.

No need to appologize.

[JamesF]

So the last 24 hours weather has been your fault, eh?  I reckon you must have bought something you're not telling us about.  A Mesu 200 perhaps.

James

[KJ Dalley]

Just figured out how to attach my DSLR to my OTA - the eyepiece is threaded and can be unscrewed and then a T-ring adaptor can be attached very easily (as pointed out by John but I still failed to understand even this. I think this could be a big learning curve!).

Just tried a dummy run focusing in on distant buildings in daylight and seem to be able to achieve focus.

I've read a lot about problems with reflectors being able to achieve focus. This was causing me some concern but with my rig I seem to be able to do it without adjusting the primary mirror position or using Barlow lenses.

I know this is entirely the wrong time of year and my choice of objects to aim at will be limited but I am tremendously excited!

Think I'll start with the moon at the first opportunity. Head's now buzzing with fstops, shutter speeds and ISO settings - or that may be due to the coffee...

Oh boy its only now midday, how on Earth am I going to get through the next 12 hours???

[swamp thing]

Just figured out how to attach my DSLR to my OTA - the eyepiece is threaded and can be unscrewed

 

That doesn't sound right to me. The eyepiece is not screwed on to the scope. I've no idea what you are unscrewing but this sounds completely wrong.

[Jokehoba]

 

That doesn't sound right to me. The eyepiece is not screwed on to the scope. I've no idea what you are unscrewing but this sounds completely wrong.

Hi Steve,

The 1.25" eyepiece holder sits in a focuser insert, on which there is an M42 thread. I discovered this by accident but apparently it's been found before... http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/172286-skywatcher-130-mystery-thread-connection/

John

[Jokehoba]

And found another thread with pictures of the items in question - http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/194635-skywatcher-explorer-150p-eyepieces/

[RichM63]

KJ why wait?  The late morning day time moon is looking really good against a clear blue sky.

But you will need to check your exposure on such a bright object to get shadow details. 

Best,

Rich

[KJ Dalley]

Hi Steve

Must admit your message made me go all the way to brown alert there and thanks to John for sending some links.

I was about to contact FLO for some advise this morning when I stumbled upon this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTM3-SHwAbY

Made sense as the 200P is supposed to be easy to connect to a DSLR but I couldn't quite make the connections.

Sorry for any panic - I should have described it as the connecting eyepiece barrel rather than a threaded eyepiece.

Thanks for the warning though!

[swamp thing]

Sorry Kev  

What a faff about that is. No wonder people get confused.