Sh2-112 with RC 6"

[Epicycle]

Hello,

I thought I should share my first steps with a new RC 6" from TS. I've been quite impressed with some of the images produced by these scopes

(John and Sara's images are excellent examples), that I decided to join the club. The scope has several attractive features: decent focal length when reduced, no coma and fairly light. I went for the 6" version mainly because a pixel scale of 1" is something that my HeQ5 can handle comfortably and

below 1", I feel my local seeing conditions offset any potential gain in resolution.

I purchased the scope already with a feather touch focuser and I also got a Lakeside unit, so my imaging train now is:

-Astrophysics telecompressor CCDT 67

-SX minifilter wheel with Costar as guider

-Atik 460

The spacing is so that the CCDT67 operates at 1.033" per pixel.

I've also joined the club of Sequence Generator Pro users and I can now see why everyone raves about it! It does make life a lot easier

once you set up everything.

Below is a recent image with the RC: it's Sh2-112, a nebula that seems to fill quite nicely the field of view that I have.

The data is:

-27x1200s Ha 5nm

-9x1200s Oiii 3nm

More details at:

How about the dreaded collimation? Well, it did take some time, but I managed to get close enough for my liking with a cheshire and then a slightly defocused star in the CCD. The trick was to tweak the primary with the star at the center and then the secondary to balance the edges. It's not perfect, but I've decided not to obsess about it; next time I try it should be quicker.

Overall, very pleased with the new scope!

Comments welcome and thanks for looking!

Epicycle

[swag72]

I like that image and congrats on the new scope!

[johnrt]

Welcome to the club, great image to start off on theses RC's are the business once you get them going.

[Epicycle]

John and Sara: thanks for the feedback!

Just in case it helps anyone else: I set up everytime (I don't have an obsy) but with the RC 6" and the Heq5 I can still carry everything in and out

without dismantling and this saves quite a bit of time. It's difficult to think of another combination with about 1m of focal length @f6 that will allow

to do the same (well, maybe some very fancy refractor? But those are heavy and surely  cost several times more than a GSO scope),

E.

[toxic]

cracking image E.lovely colors as well.

[Epicycle]

Thank you Chris!

E.

[Phillyo]

Lovely image! I've been considering a RC scope for some time now but cannot decide on what size. I thought the 6" might be too small but looking at it I might get away with it...interesting.

Thanks for sharing this and the info on collimation. Once again, great image!!

Phil

[johnrt]

I also don't have an observatory, I have to set up and tear down everytime I image and that's the main reason I stuck with the 6" over upgrading to the 8". The only competitor I can think of is the Skywatcher MN190, but that is considerably heavier, more expensive and needs as much, if not more tweaking before it can really excel.