Quick Ha Bubble with old 12” SCT

[JeremyS]

Wow, impressive, Bryan 👍🏻

[assouptro]

4 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Wow, impressive, Bryan 👍🏻

Thanks Jeremy 

I appreciate the comment 😊

Bryan 

[Adam1234]

10 hours ago, assouptro said:

Tbanks Adam 

I hope I can maintain the detail with the rest of the filters!? 
 

Thanks for your comment 

Bryan 

I'm sure you will! I look forward to the final colour image

[Cozzy]

On 11/08/2021 at 13:10, assouptro said:

Thanks Tim 

I’ve been imaging from my back garden in Lancaster for 12 years or so and I have to say Narrow Band has opened a whole new world of possibilities for me! 
I’d love to live somewhere dark enough to go deep with visible light imaging but I am where I am! 
I notice you are just up the road in carnforth? It’s a bit better up there I suspect? 
PS I went to Carnforth high school in the 80’s 😊

Cheers 
Bryan 

Yes the light pollution is a little less here, and not too far a drive for darker skies (if the mood takes me).

PS: My better half is from Carnforth, I'm an out-comer 😊 from Salford, I came up here in 86 and yes 'still an Out-comer' according to some of my local friends.

but hey that's Carnforth eh.

[kirkster501]

Magnificent.   Those tubes weight a ton.

[ollypenrice]

Damn, that really is good! And it's a pleasure to see an unconventional choice of rig in action, as well.  The combination of focal reducer and wise decision to bin 2x2 mean that you're working with certain numbers very close indeed to my own Bubble in the TEC140 with the same camera, unbinned. The resolution of just under 1"PP is nearly the same, and the F ratios are similar (6.3 and 7). However, you have more aperture and bigger effective pixels so you have more light per pixel, which is what really matters. To my eye there's precious little to choose in final resolution and I think your processing is lovely. The detail is delicious but there's no forcing.

So... an instructive comparison. I have an early 10 inch Meade ACF which I've never used but this certainly inspires me to give it a run at last.

Oh, and let's hear it for your EQ6! Well done that mount.

Olly

[assouptro]

10 hours ago, Cozzy said:

Yes the light pollution is a little less here, and not too far a drive for darker skies (if the mood takes me).

PS: My better half is from Carnforth, I'm an out-comer 😊 from Salford, I came up here in 86 and yes 'still an Out-comer' according to some of my local friends.

but hey that's Carnforth eh.

You will have to wait a generation to be reluctantly accepted! 😂

go a tad further north (over yonder!) to Kendal and I think it’s at least 3 generations before you’ll be spoken to in the local spar shop! 
 

[assouptro]

3 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

Magnificent.   Those tubes weight a ton.

Thank you!
You’re not exaggerating! 
I often miss the wedged fork mount, but I would really miss the versatility of the azeq6, being able to swap scopes relatively easily for a new setup. 
 

Thank you for the comment 

Bryan 😊

[assouptro]

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Damn, that really is good! And it's a pleasure to see an unconventional choice of rig in action, as well.  The combination of focal reducer and wise decision to bin 2x2 mean that you're working with certain numbers very close indeed to my own Bubble in the TEC140 with the same camera, unbinned. The resolution of just under 1"PP is nearly the same, and the F ratios are similar (6.3 and 7). However, you have more aperture and bigger effective pixels so you have more light per pixel, which is what really matters. To my eye there's precious little to choose in final resolution and I think your processing is lovely. The detail is delicious but there's no forcing.

So... an instructive comparison. I have an early 10 inch Meade ACF which I've never used but this certainly inspires me to give it a run at last.

Oh, and let's hear it for your EQ6! Well done that mount.

Olly

Hi Olly!

As always, it’s an absolute pleasure to receive feedback, let alone praise from you! 
Having been a member of this forum for 12 years I consider you a celebrity!

I was very fortunate with the weather conditions here, it was so still, and clear, a rare combination.

 
I knew I was pushing the seeing at under 1”pp but sometimes you have to ‘break the rules’ to see what’s possible! 

I truly appreciate your input, it is honestly encouraging and I hope I get chance to complete the image and do the Ha justice 

Correct me if I’m wrong, I read sometime ago you were bequeathed  a 14” lx200, do you still have that beast? 

My tube isn’t ACF and although I’d love that, I understand it’s harder to use focal reducers? 
Dust off that 10” and have a play!! 

I had just “serviced” the azeq6 giving it a good grease up with Lubriplate No.105 motor assembly grease and I think that helped! 

Thanks again for the comment 😊

ps 

We are definitely overdue a holiday, It would be awesome to come and experience your skies sometime 😎

Bryan 

Edited August 13, 2021 by assouptro
Extra info

[ollypenrice]

8 hours ago, assouptro said:

Hi Olly!

As always, it’s an absolute pleasure to receive feedback, let alone praise from you! 
Having been a member of this forum for 12 years I consider you a celebrity!

I was very fortunate with the weather conditions here, it was so still, and clear, a rare combination.

 
I knew I was pushing the seeing at under 1”pp but sometimes you have to ‘break the rules’ to see what’s possible! 

I truly appreciate your input, it is honestly encouraging and I hope I get chance to complete the image and do the Ha justice 

Correct me if I’m wrong, I read sometime ago you were bequeathed  a 14” lx200, do you still have that beast? 

My tube isn’t ACF and although I’d love that, I understand it’s harder to use focal reducers? 
Dust off that 10” and have a play!! 

I had just “serviced” the azeq6 giving it a good grease up with Lubriplate No.105 motor assembly grease and I think that helped! 

Thanks again for the comment 😊

ps 

We are definitely overdue a holiday, It would be awesome to come and experience your skies sometime 😎

Bryan 

'I knew I was pushing the seeing at under 1”pp but sometimes you have to ‘break the rules’ to see what’s possible!'

I don't think you were breaking any rules. 1"PP or so is a routine image scale for galaxies. When Yves Van den Broek and I were running his 14 inch ODK we were at about 0.62, which was excessive and required the images to be presented at less than full size, but the only downside was taking longer than necessary at the capture stage.

'Correct me if I’m wrong, I read sometime ago you were bequeathed  a 14” lx200, do you still have that beast? '  

That's right, it belonged to Alan Longstaff who bequeathed it to me. It's going strong but strictly in visual use where the GoTo Alt Az mount is wonderful.

'My tube isn’t ACF and although I’d love that, I understand it’s harder to use focal reducers? ' 

You can't use the regular SCT reducers because they also flatten, which isn't necessary, but I have an Astro Physics telecompressor which works fine. Alternatively, with CCD at least, you can just bin up the pixels to match the FL. How this will play with CMOS, though, I don't know.

Olly

[GalaxyGael]

I think it is a wonderful image, right up close and the stack is doing the talking. Especially for such a large SCT, that is one of the best I've seen a quite a while. Nicely done. Bin 2 for that image scale was a good choice.  

[assouptro]

9 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

'I knew I was pushing the seeing at under 1”pp but sometimes you have to ‘break the rules’ to see what’s possible!'

I don't think you were breaking any rules. 1"PP or so is a routine image scale for galaxies. When Yves Van den Broek and I were running his 14 inch ODK we were at about 0.62, which was excessive and required the images to be presented at less than full size, but the only downside was taking longer than necessary at the capture stage.

'Correct me if I’m wrong, I read sometime ago you were bequeathed  a 14” lx200, do you still have that beast? '  

That's right, it belonged to Alan Longstaff who bequeathed it to me. It's going strong but strictly in visual use where the GoTo Alt Az mount is wonderful.

'My tube isn’t ACF and although I’d love that, I understand it’s harder to use focal reducers? ' 

You can't use the regular SCT reducers because they also flatten, which isn't necessary, but I have an Astro Physics telecompressor which works fine. Alternatively, with CCD at least, you can just bin up the pixels to match the FL. How this will play with CMOS, though, I don't know.

Olly

Thanks for the info Olly 

“I don't think you were breaking any rules. 1"PP or so is a routine image scale for galaxies. When Yves Van den Broek and I were running his 14 inch ODK we were at about 0.62, which was excessive and required the images to be presented at less than full size, but the only downside was taking longer than necessary at the capture stage.”

Sorry I got confused with the numbers, I was only just below 1” pp which is ideal if the conditions allow. 
 

“You can't use the regular SCT reducers because they also flatten, which isn't necessary, but I have an Astro Physics telecompressor which works fine. Alternatively, with CCD at least, you can just bin up the pixels to match the FL. How this will play with CMOS, though, I don't know.”

Thanks for that information. 
I might start looking for a used ACF tube to add to my arsenal, when I’ve looked at the Celestron edge equipment, their dedicated focal reducers seemed expensive and limited to that size of scope and I’ve always liked the ability to choose F10 or F6.3 or even F3.3 although I’ve never used that reducer due to spacing issues.

 On the other hand the Astro physics telecompressor looks like a versatile bit of kit that should work nicely with a Meade ACF or an RC scope 

Thanks Olly 

Bryan 

[assouptro]

8 hours ago, GalaxyGael said:

I think it is a wonderful image, right up close and the stack is doing the talking. Especially for such a large SCT, that is one of the best I've seen a quite a while. Nicely done. Bin 2 for that image scale was a good choice.  

Thank you for the kind comment

I was lucky with the weather conditions 😊

Cheers 

Bryan

[ollypenrice]

Bryan, the 3.3 is only workable on the tiny old webcam sized chips.

Olly

[Ags]

Starizona produce an F4 Night Owl reducer that has a 15mm image circle.

[assouptro]

1 hour ago, Ags said:

Starizona produce an F4 Night Owl reducer that has a 15mm image circle.

Oooh! Thanks! 
that looks very interesting 🤔 

Bryan