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Imaging using meade lx200 with asiair plus


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Is it a LX200 Classic, or a LX200GPS ?

Do you have a wedge for it, so that it can be Polar Mounted ?

You can ST-4 guide with a cable from the ST-4 port on the ASI to the guide port - make sure the cable wiring is compatible.

Then a USB from the camera to the PC/Laptop.

Or ideally Pulse Guide with a Meade #507 cable from the PC/laptop to the RS232 port on the mount.

And the USB from the camera to the PC/Laptop.

You will need to load the ASCOM Platform 6.6 and Net 3.45 and an ASCOM Driver - the one marked "Use this First" is current and supported.

https://ascom-standards.org/index.htm

Michael

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4 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

Maybe a PC/Laptop isn't required.

I'm unfamiliar with everything ASIAir can do, I know it can guide.

Maybe you just substitute ASIAIr for where I said PC/Laptop ?

Michael

Oh, if the ASIair can talk to the mount then it can probably guide it, either directly or via ST-4.  The link I posted earlier seems to indicate the ASIair can interface with this mount. Unfortunately I’m not near my ASI currently so I can’t check.  We really need someone who has the mount or knows. Have you tried asking ZWO, @David at Bythel Obs?

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I have a 14 inch LX200 for visual and it's nice - though very wobbly. Years ago, in my first steps in imaging, I tried a wedge-mounted 10 inch LX200. My conclusion? That the exercise was a total and complete waste of time. I was advised by Ian King not to waste time on it and I should have listened, but instead I went ahead, bought a wedge, faffed around with it and tried imaging. The mount can deliver about 10% of what's needed. What's more, the days of the long focal length instrument for amateur imaging are over. You simply don't need these focal lengths because pixels have become smaller, making the resolution allowed by the seeing available to much shorter focal lengths.  (There are exotically high-end imagers on vast budgets who are using long focal lengths, certainly, but from remote mountain tops with superb seeing. Down here in the real world you can do anything possible with a metre of FL.)

The LX200 is not an imaging mount.

Olly

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On 29/06/2022 at 14:06, ollypenrice said:

I have a 14 inch LX200 for visual and it's nice - though very wobbly. Years ago, in my first steps in imaging, I tried a wedge-mounted 10 inch LX200. My conclusion? That the exercise was a total and complete waste of time. I was advised by Ian King not to waste time on it and I should have listened, but instead I went ahead, bought a wedge, faffed around with it and tried imaging. The mount can deliver about 10% of what's needed. What's more, the days of the long focal length instrument for amateur imaging are over. You simply don't need these focal lengths because pixels have become smaller, making the resolution allowed by the seeing available to much shorter focal lengths.  (There are exotically high-end imagers on vast budgets who are using long focal lengths, certainly, but from remote mountain tops with superb seeing. Down here in the real world you can do anything possible with a metre of FL.)

The LX200 is not an imaging mount.

Olly

I agree. And mine is on a decent mount!  I have been imaging with the C11Edge for about a year and most of the time I end up frustrated due to sky conditions.   I could  bin 2x2 or 3x3 or even 4x4 or 5x5. But then one must Ask oneself, what is the use of using big aperture to create postage stamp size images with a pixel scale equivalent to what is produced by a small refractor.  It’s basically a wide field image without the wide field.  It is, of course faster, but speed at any cost?  No.  Of course, on nights of excellent seeing, it’s much better.  But seeing has to be darn good to overcome what can be produced with a quality 5” scope also in good seeing.  Maybe 20% of days are clear with no Moon where I am. Of those, maybe 50% have no wind.   Of those, maybe 20% have ok seeing. Of those, maybe 10% have seeing that allows legitimate use of focal lengths over 1,900 mm.   So, most of the time, I should use a refractor.  
it’s called aperture fever for a reason!   I think I will use it from now on only for lunar and planetary.   

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8 hours ago, David at Bythel Obs said:

Suspect the lx is a dinosaur.

Generalising there David.

Plenty of fork-mounted LX200 users making good images.

Just increasingly difficult as the aperture goes up from 8" with a 0.63 FR, and 12 inches is not for the faint-hearted.

Michael

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  • 1 month later...

Just chipping in 

I have owned a 12” lx200 gps for about 15 years, I have imaged with it on a Wedge and in the last few years now use it de-forked on a Azeq6 (which it is too heavy for) and I have really enjoyed using it 

It definitely throws up some challenges and I can end up having to be selective with the subs due to any gusts of wind above 5mph 

I have ended up with a small arsenal of scopes and lenses to choose from these days but still enjoy close up imaging on some nights with the old beast! 
 

Olly is probably right in suggesting the use of smaller Pixels allowing the same resolution with shorter focal lengths which will give more consistent results in less time  but I’m not in a rush to part with my 12” scope and get a lot of satisfaction from producing a final image 

That’s all, just had to get that off my chest

Thanks

Bryan 😊

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  • Cornelius Varley changed the title to Imaging using meade lx200 with asiair plus
37 minutes ago, assouptro said:

Just chipping in 

I have owned a 12” lx200 gps for about 15 years, I have imaged with it on a Wedge and in the last few years now use it de-forked on a Azeq6 (which it is too heavy for) and I have really enjoyed using it 

It definitely throws up some challenges and I can end up having to be selective with the subs due to any gusts of wind above 5mph 

I have ended up with a small arsenal of scopes and lenses to choose from these days but still enjoy close up imaging on some nights with the old beast! 
 

Olly is probably right in suggesting the use of smaller Pixels allowing the same resolution with shorter focal lengths which will give more consistent results in less time  but I’m not in a rush to part with my 12” scope and get a lot of satisfaction from producing a final image 

That’s all, just had to get that off my chest

Thanks

Bryan 😊

Ah, sounds very similar to me. I got the obsy up and running in 2005 and the faithful 12 has sat on a Milburn wedge ever since. I would agree with Olly that it wouldn't be a choice for AP but it is capable of a lot once you realise its limitations. 

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I also had a 12'' LX200 for a while which I had a crack at imaging with.

Everyone's points above are very valid. Make sure you have a really good heavy wedge. The single biggest change I made was changing from one of the Meade cast wedges, to some fat aluminium plate wedge someone had homebuilt. Astrophotography when from impossible to quite possible. 

Collimation was the other pest. I found the old quip... SCT users spend half their time collimating, and the other half wondering if the collimation is OK... applied quite accurately to me. I was forever faffing with collimation. Cool down time is also loads longer than you might think. Even having mine in an obsy it could take 90 mins to cool once opened to the air, with the first 60 giving complete mush. 

I think overall the LX200 was a very capable telescope. I always thought it had more capability than I could extract from it with my skills and patience. 

Mostly, despite some frustrations, it was a really fun scope to have and use. Tinkering, improving, figuring out how to get the best out of what we have, is (for me a least) a good portion of the fun. I absolutely accept an LX200 isn't the most efficient way to go imaging. There is something fun about long FL imaging though.

Have a go with it. See if you like it!

Edited by yuklop
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16 hours ago, David at Bythel Obs said:

Thanks for your encouragement I certainly agree that the lx200gps 12inch has been a good friend for  17yrs and I am still learning. Latest was to get better eyepieces . Only been collimated once in 17years by telescope house! How often do you collimate?

david

I have found mine holds collimation well (bobs knobs was the first of many upgrades although in hindsight not a necessary one) 

I collimate or at least check collimation if I have traveled with it in the back of the car or if I can see signs in any images of miscollimation, sometimes once or twice a year for me

I have tried all sorts of tools and gadgets but rely mainly on a star test 

I agree with Yuklop regards the wedge I originally had one made by a friend who worked at an engineering firm but ended up with a really heavy duty Astro Engineering mega wedge which I bought second hand and still own

I was also impressed by the fork mounts ability to carry a large payload (when balanced) 

B6A0746A-8796-4D44-9F6A-1F03E5F2898A.thumb.jpeg.2a6532d77deb88f4277e79a1c69415bb.jpeg

Some of the other upgrades that made a difference to me were the Peterson Ez clutch Ez focus and engineering gears upgrade, each upgrade made imaging with it just a bit easier 

Adding a few images taken with the telescope although most were taken mounted on the azeq6

77C8696B-7BFE-4974-BDC7-8E6B03932C84.thumb.jpeg.761b20a5c883ad0e36d514dd1e2d8044.jpegB2EBDB5D-584B-4E9C-B0F2-38996778CE42.jpeg.a9b9e0957907c3aba39da211a3e6f6bc.jpeg9E6D229D-6A71-4E71-A9D8-A1DEC2ACC8EA.thumb.jpeg.10fc713b0f60103e1d2bec992fff5846.jpeg9135A939-664A-4FC7-B26F-3A460B8AD02E.thumb.jpeg.4c5f383f505d468959e4f6406a1026d5.jpegEB0A23AC-09C1-4EFB-AC80-B09AE10E42FE.thumb.jpeg.f47e0d54a455f14436b05ff30a5119a3.jpegA7B13AE4-50B9-42D2-A00F-0745E1B5E36D.thumb.jpeg.8adf99d3d55c82473db2f0f62815b5b7.jpeg

 

Not ideal for Ap but quite capable if you are willing to work at it and have patience! 
Cheers 

Bryan 

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