October 13, 2020: Mars animation

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Here is the animated gif I made of last night's data

Olympus Mons is also nicely visible, which is a first for me

[alex_stars]

Fantastic animation. I am so amazed to see Olympus Mons rotating. May I ask which scope you used?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

2 minutes ago, alex_stars said:

Fantastic animation. I am so amazed to see Olympus Mons rotating. May I ask which scope you used?

I took this with my Celestron C8 (25 years old in two weeks), on a Vixen Great Polaris mount with an ASI183MC camera. I used no Barlow, but used some a flip mirror, an R&P focuser, and extension tubes so the scope focuses at F/12-F/13, which is near optimal for the pixel size.

[alex_stars]

Thanks @michael.h.f.wilkinson! Good to know the setup sometimes to compare and see what would be possible. That would make a sampling scale of 0.2 arcsec/pixel on your setup if I did the math right.

I will make an attempt tonight with my 180 Mak. Let's see if the sky remains clear.

Clear Skies,

Edited October 14, 2020 by alex_stars

[Peter_D]

16 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

I took this with my Celestron C8 (25 years old in two weeks), on a Vixen Great Polaris mount with an ASI183MC camera. I used no Barlow, but used some a flip mirror, an R&P focuser, and extension tubes so the scope focuses at F/12-F/13, which is near optimal for the pixel size.

Nice to see such great results from an older SCT!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

10 minutes ago, Peter_D said:

Nice to see such great results from an older SCT!

Thanks! I am thinking of getting a C11, but they can take this scope out of my cold dead hands. It is a brilliant, portable piece of kit

[NGC 1502]

Brilliant.  Sometimes SCTs get caned for optical quality - large central obstruction - compromised design - poor QC etc.

Of course all optical designs can have examples of being dodgy.

But if you can get results like that SCTs are fine in my book 👍

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

59 minutes ago, NGC 1502 said:

Brilliant.  Sometimes SCTs get caned for optical quality - large central obstruction - compromised design - poor QC etc.

Of course all optical designs can have examples of being dodgy.

But if you can get results like that SCTs are fine in my book 👍

One thing I really like is how collimation is rock solid. I got this image of Jupiter after about 20 years of scope usage, without collimating once (I check every time, but only recently did I give it a tweak)

 

[Peter_D]

 

2 hours ago, NGC 1502 said:

Brilliant.  Sometimes SCTs get caned for optical quality - large central obstruction - compromised design - poor QC etc.

Of course all optical designs can have examples of being dodgy.

But if you can get results like that SCTs are fine in my book 👍

I agree. I have a used de-forked Meade 2080 from 1995 or 1996 that I have been very impressed with optically. It has some focus shift but I've put a Crayford focuser on the back. Like Michael has said, collimation is rock solid. It probably helps that I do all my observing from home.

Edited October 14, 2020 by Peter_D

[orion25]

Great animation, Michael. Love seeing Olympus Mons rotating!

Reggie