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0.5x reducer for NV to speed up to x f/2.1


vineyard

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Hello,

As mentioned in this report, after last night's first run w Ha+PVS14 on nebulae, I was tinkering to see if I could speed up the TV76+PVS14 NV system.  I noticed that there was a short patch of clear skies and fast clouds earlier this evening while Cygnus was still fully up above the roofs.  And so I tested it - put it on an old EZTouch manual alt-az, pointed it at Sadr, and hey presto it works as you can see from the two photos below.

Comparing it to this constellation guide, I'm fairly certain that's the Butterfly Nebula, Sadr and the patch on the other side (inverted E-W in the images below)?  I think that may also be the Crescent peeping in at the bottom?

The photo is again just a free handheld.  The increase in speed really does make a difference - unfortunately I couldn't do a like-for-like comparison it against the same targets as yesterday b/c the clouds then came in thick tonight.  But the nebulae just popped in the PVS14 w this faster system - it was v easy & restful, and this is w a 6nm Ha (I guess 3nm would make it sing even more).

The setup was a simple Antares 0.5x reducer, threaded on to a nose that was itself threaded onto a Baader Zeiss T2 prism.  The EP side was the same TV40 plossl & PVS14.  I was hoping that using the prism would keep the optical length short enough for the reducer to still find focus & indeed that's so :) (trying a longer path mirror diagonal didn't work).  I reckon this takes the speed to c f/2.1.  

The good thing about this is that hopefully this means a reducing system that can plug & play into a variety of scopes without needing a TV55 or TV67 - let's see.

Cheers,

Vin

 

(PS - the photos really don't do the actual EP view justice - there's far too much glare in these but I guess that's b/c they're handheld & also the iPhone stock low-light camera seems to take 3s exposures?)

IMG_4466.jpg

IMG_4468.jpg

Edited by vineyard
added PS
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Certainly ic1318, there is a lot of nebulosity around the area to tease out including the propellor. I am lucky that a cheap 0.5x reducer gives me a l it tle boost, but doesn’t mash the stars too badly. I bought a 2” version and it was ugh!!

Peter

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