Show us your set up in action at night.

[Stub Mandrel]

21 hours ago, Piero said:

Here's another one  

Lovely flamed veneer! Far too good for a scope...

[Piero]

1 minute ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Lovely flamed veneer! Far too good for a scope...

Thanks! In daytime the colour is more plain wood actually. 

[Nigella Bryant]

My 12inch f4 orion optics UK in action with the lunar eclipse. 

[Yawning Angel]

Cloud dodging on the Western Veil. So many wires and telltale leds! Clouds backlit by the rising moon

[Piero]

Here's my refractor with its finder friend pointing at Jupiter.

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by Piero

[Rob Sellent]

45 minutes ago, Piero said:

Here's my refractor

Lovely kit, Piero. Not sure if this is the right place to ask but I have 3 questions for you 😋

i) what's that lovely AZ mount of yours? ii) I imagine the tripod is a Berlebach but which one? (there are so many, I get lost) iii) do you have a gut feeling preference between your Tak and dob?

[Piero]

7 hours ago, Rob Sellent said:

Lovely kit, Piero. Not sure if this is the right place to ask but I have 3 questions for you 😋

i) what's that lovely AZ mount of yours? ii) I imagine the tripod is a Berlebach but which one? (there are so many, I get lost) iii) do you have a gut feeling preference between your Tak and dob?

Thank you, Rob

The mount is an AOK Swiss Ayo 2. FLO sells them if you are interested. Waiting list is long though!

The tripod is a Berlebach UNI 19 with leg spreader and double leg clamps.

No preference between the refractor and the dobson. They complement each other, and I would keep them both. My third and last telescope is a Televue 60mm f6. That is also different from the two above and another I would not part with.

[Rob Sellent]

Thank you, Piero. That was very kind of you to get back and so swiftly to boot

Your 3 scope set up is the business; one for going deep, another for those apo black-velvet-crispy-clean visuals and the ultimate grab n go. I think all three are keepers and see no reason for moving them on. I really like the look of the Ayo 2 and Berlebach. I'm on the hunt for something that will stop my 4" from jittering at high mags and your set up looks the business. Shame FLO are stocking, but then again, it'll give me time to save

Thanks again and look forward to meeting you more on the boards

[JamesF]

Here's my modest little contribution to this thread.  I paused the imaging runs this evening so I could take a photo.  Much work remains to get wiring tidied up, amongst other things

James

[Piero]

6 hours ago, Rob Sellent said:

Thank you, Piero. That was very kind of you to get back and so swiftly to boot

Your 3 scope set up is the business; one for going deep, another for those apo black-velvet-crispy-clean visuals and the ultimate grab n go. I think all three are keepers and see no reason for moving them on. I really like the look of the Ayo 2 and Berlebach. I'm on the hunt for something that will stop my 4" from jittering at high mags and your set up looks the business. Shame FLO are stocking, but then again, it'll give me time to save

Thanks again and look forward to meeting you more on the boards

Thank you, Rob!

I do find that complementary equipment tends to remain. 

Regarding the mount, the UNI 19 enables one to observe on a normal chair or standing up without any adjustment of the back or neck. This is comfortable. If you are very tall, you can get the UNI 29. For my size, 1.76m, the UNI 19 is perfect. The Ayo 2 competes against the Giro Hercules, but with larger bearings, which in my opinion help make the movements more stable and smooth.

I have specific threads on SGL for my dobson, Tak-100, and mount tripod if you are interested. You could find useful comments in there. 

Piero

[Gina]

WOW James, that's a great load of kit! 

[JamesF]

9 minutes ago, Gina said:

WOW James, that's a great load of kit! 

It's been a bit of a surprise as I've got everything out of where it's been stored -- things that have come up for sale used, for example, and I've thought "That'll be great when I get the observatory sorted", then mostly forgotten I had :)

Somehow I appear to have ended up with seven tripods!  I have no idea how.  I'm sure I don't have seven mounts :)  I may repurpose one or two for binocular mounts however.

James

[Gina]

Ah yes, if I brought out all the old telescopes there would be quite a lot, though mostly smaller than yours.  I haven't sold old telescopes due to the transport problem.  The main "bottleneck" in multiple imaging is filters - I have only one set of Astrodon 3nm NB filters (Ha, OIII, SII).  I certainly can't afford any more though I think there are now some competing ones that don't cost an arm and a leg.  This hobby could make me even more broke than I am already!

[DaveS]

9 hours ago, JamesF said:

Here's my modest little contribution to this thread.  I paused the imaging runs this evening so I could take a photo.  Much work remains to get wiring tidied up, amongst other things

James

I think that qualifies as a "Shed load of kit"

[JamesF]

Just now, DaveS said:

I think that qualifies as a "Shed load of kit"

Very droll

James

[JamesF]

I should actually point out that not all the flight cases are in use.  When Maplin closed down I managed to pick up a few on the cheap, knowing they would probably get used at some point...

You are right about the filter bottleneck, Gina.  They're an easily-forgotten and hideously expensive item if you want to image using mono cameras.

James

[mihaighita]

My Mesu+ FSQ 106 on the future observatory place. This photo is from last year

 

 

Mesu with Officina Stellare preparing for first light. Same spot but the column is installed.

And finally, preparing for an event at a Tuscan winery, 10 inch RC  + FSQ. 

[Gina]

20 minutes ago, JamesF said:

You are right about the filter bottleneck, Gina.  They're an easily-forgotten and hideously expensive item if you want to image using mono cameras.

James

Just had a look on FLO.  Baader have filters almost as narrow as Astrodon and much cheaper - 3.5nm, 4.5nm, 4.5nm.  ZWO do a set of 7nm filters at under £400.  I have Astrodon Ha and SII in 5nm bandwidth.  I guess I could get a Baader OIII to give me an effective 5nm set.  that would cost around £300.

[JamesF]

I seem to recall there are people who aren't that happy with the performance of the Baader OIII filters though.  It may just have been a bad batch.  I think you'd need to be in a position to test it well to make sure you're happy with it.

James

[Gina]

OH!!!  That's not good news!  Do you know what the problem was?

Edited August 29, 2019 by Gina

[JamesF]

I've not followed it in great detail as buying more filters wasn't really at the front of my mind at the time anyhow, but I seem to recall there was some sort of problem with bad halos around brighter stars.  I know that can happen with cheaper narrowband filters, but on the box of each of my Baader filters it actually says something like "no halos".

James

[DaveS]

That was with the old 8.5 nm filters. These 4.5 nm ones are a new design and look to be pretty good.

 

Edit; Found the thread in Imaging Discussion. this is page two with some images

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by DaveS

[Gina]

That looks a lot more promising.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Gina said:

I have only one set of Astrodon 3nm NB filters (Ha, OIII, SII). 

Be honest Gina, possession of a full set of Astrodon 3nm filters puts you on a par with the landed gentry...

[Gina]

Well, I intend to make the best possible use of them.