I got me an APO!

[Ags]

I have been doing solar sessions all week, the scope gives lovely views, but I just can't push the magnification because of floaters. This was my main concern with getting a small scope, but you can't break the laws of physics. It's also probably why I am struggling with tighter splits of doubles - the floaters are still there even if they aren't immediately apparent. 🙄

[Stu]

1 minute ago, Ags said:

I have been doing solar sessions all week, the scope gives lovely views, but I just can't push the magnification because of floaters. This was my main concern with getting a small scope, but you can't break the laws of physics. It's also probably why I am struggling with tighter splits of doubles - the floaters are still there even if they aren't immediately apparent. 🙄

Yes, that is a challenge with smaller scopes. I get them even with a 4” scope  so normally use binoviewers for lunar and solar observing. I’ve used them with my Telementor (63mm) as well so may be worth considering.

[Ags]

Not sure that would help... I get masses of floaters looking up at a blue sky with both eyes open. Looks like I can't really go much above 60x with this scope. At 80x I can still shake the floaters aside for brief moments, but that's it. The scope gets lovely views up to 60x, but I think I just have to accept the limits of my vision. 

This is why I got a C6, so I could get up to around 130-150x on planets, but that scope feels too fragile and pricey to travel with. So now I have a smaller, cheaper, more robust scope, but now the compromise is limited magnification. 

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by Ags

[Ags]

Feel in a less dark mood now I had my first lunar session with the scope. Somehow the floaters that have been annoying me at 65x while observing the Sun were not apparent observing the Moon even at 80x. Lovely crisp views. No false color on the Moon's limb - at first I thought there was, but it was the eyepiece.

[Ags]

On a hazy be-Mooned night I tried a couple of doubles. Cassiopeia is coming back up so I  tried out Eta Cass, which was an easy split (12"). Sigma Cass at 3" was unsplittable, although it was elongated. With the haze and moonlight maybe I couldn't pick out the secondary from the brighter primary. I could however make out the much fainter companion of Polaris.

[Stu]

8 hours ago, Ags said:

On a hazy be-Mooned night I tried a couple of doubles. Cassiopeia is coming back up so I  tried out Eta Cass, which was an easy split (12"). Sigma Cass at 3" was unsplittable, although it was elongated. With the haze and moonlight maybe I couldn't pick out the secondary from the brighter primary. I could however make out the much fainter companion of Polaris.

Glad you are feeling more positive after having viewed the Moon. The Sun is certainly the worst target in terms of floater visibility at high power, I too find them less troubling on the Moon.

Izar is quite easy in a 60 ish mm scope, slightly tighter but much brighter, so I suspect you are right in that the secondary was probably washed out by the Moon and haze. One to try again.

[Ags]

Despite the conditions I did say hello to M31 with my new Speer WALER 13.4 mm eyepiece. Just a smudge with city light pollution, Moon and haze, but I hope for better things in two weeks time. 

[Ags]

The Double Cluster was spectacular tonight in my 13.4 mm. Despite the small aperture the stars seemed to be on fire. M31 in the same eyepiece was just a smudge, but there were hints of "wings" either side. Maybe one day under darker skies...

Moving on to the planets with my 6.7 mm eyepiece (58x). Jupiter looked suprisingly large with one cloud belt and hints of other detail. Three satellites were showing and they looked like little discs for a change. Saturn looked surprisingly small but very sharp. 

The Ring nebula was a ring, a palpable ring. Zeta and Epsilon Lyrae were well split in the RACI finder and were a lovely sight together with Vega in the same view. The ZS66 couldn't however split the Double Double into four at 58x. Almach and Delta Cephei rounded off the evening. Almach is usually strongly colored but it was just white dots tonight. Delta Cephei was an eye poppingly beautiful yellow-blue combination. I normally struggle to see blues, only really seeing a cold white, but this star was vividly blue. Also, while scanning the sky around Delta Cephei, I stumbled across a bright really really red star.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Ags

[badhex]

Sounds like a nice session. Could you pick up any hints of colour at all in the Ring? 

I also can't quite split the double double in my ZS73 - nearly, very nearly but not quite. I think I was trying at 86x last time I tried it. 

Any idea what the red star was? 

 

[Ags]

No idea about the red star, but it was the reddest star I have ever seen!

I have just about split the Double Double with the ZS66 at over 100x.

No color in the ring though I did glimpse green once in another telescope far far away, a long time ago.

I jsut realised I typed Delta Cygni when I meant Delta Cephei. Three times.

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, Ags said:

I jsut realised I typed Delta Cygni when I meant Delta Cephei. Three times.

At least you're consistent. 😉

[AdeKing]

4 hours ago, Ags said:

No idea about the red star, but it was the reddest star I have ever seen!

I think RW Cephei might be a potential culprit for the red star as it's in the right part of the sky.

[Ags]

I tried out the ZS66 for some "imaging" tonight. I spent only a few minutes on each target. However the first issue was that I could not reach focus with my camera - I need an extension tube. Then I had the bright idea to take the 6.3 reducer from the SCT and attach it the ZS66 - problem solved, with the benefit of reduced focal length and more speed!

I took off the IR filter from the camera because it might cut IR but it adds nasty haloes, guess I need to spend more money there. 

The ZS66 is a nice pairing with the AZ-GTi, I look forward to using it on a less cloudy and hazy night.

Deneb:

Polaris:

Somewhere near NGC7000:

 

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by Ags

[RobertI]

Very nice results! Nice looking stars. It’s a good scope for sure. I’ve done a bit of imaging with mine either with a 0.8x reducer/flattener for use with DSLR or the 0.63x reducer for use with narrowband EAA using my tiny chipped Lodestar. 
 

For your info I was using it to observe Jupiter last night - with the binoviewers attached, the views were very detailed - like adding another inch or two to the the aperture. 

[Ags]

8 hours ago, RobertI said:

Nice looking stars.

That's the 2 second subs doing their thing, the mount can't take any credit 🤣

Very happy with the scope. If it is clear tonight I will try a bigger spacing to the reducer.

[Ags]

I have just realized my Revelation barlow is the extension tube I needed last night, as I can unscrew the lens part.

Really pleased with how well the reducer worked. At least for the little ASI178MM chip, no flattener is needed.

Edited August 14, 2021 by Ags

[Ags]

I did some brief pics on Cassiopeia tonight to calculate the F ratio given by the SCT reducer. THe scope is natively 388 mm and F5.9. I can only reach focus at 388 mm using a barlow tube as an extension tube. 

Then photographed the same spot with the reducer and varying spacings. The barlow tube was too much spacing (ran out of infocus) but I could space the 1.25" nosepiece with some T2 spacers. At one spacing I got F4.5 and another I got F4.0!

Not at all bad! Here is the F4.5 version.

 

[Ags]

The start of my equatorial adventure. Not sure this will work. The scope can collide with the wedge AZ bolts, the counterweight fastener bolts collide with the power cable...

[happy-kat]

I think the bolt colliding issue has been commented on before and how to resolve it

[happy-kat]

Also when in EQ mode the mount is not mounted the same way as before

[Ags]

@happy-kat I have the scope on the wrong side? It is mounted for right arm unless I am confused (perfectly possible....)

Edited September 2, 2021 by Ags

[happy-kat]

Is the picture the position you start from with the wedge and mount?

Edited September 2, 2021 by happy-kat

[Ags]

Nevermind - it was the right side. Had a few issues with alignment, but I did get a brief capture of M31.

[TerraC]

20 hours ago, Ags said:

The start of my equatorial adventure. Not sure this will work. The scope can collide with the wedge AZ bolts, the counterweight fastener bolts collide with the power cable...

 

Looks good.    I replaced the black knobbed screw on the wedge with a smaller hex nut to stop scope hitting it.  

I also used an AZ5 extension tube between the tripod and wedge to stop scope clanging on the legs. 

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-az5-extension-tube-215cm.html

 

 

[Ags]

With the mount offset by the long dovetail, it won't collide with the fastening bolt. The scope is not long enough to hit the tripod legs, just the AZ adjusters.