What did the postman bring? V2

[IB20]

Not the postman but a relay between myself and @festoon, nice to meet you btw!

Probably the scope I’ve wanted the most since starting the hobby and realising what my observing preferences are. It looks the business, sits on the AZ75 perfectly and I can’t wait for first light.

It feels like a real piece of SGL heritage too.

 

[F15Rules]

On 05/10/2024 at 18:42, Alan White said:

Very Astro related.

Mrs W came home and said,
you will love this….she was right.

Now we can sleep under the stars whatever the weather.

 

Quilt cover from Morrisons, so no postman and tenuous link to Astro 

 

Some interestingly shaped stellar images there Alan..

Are you sure the duvet cover is correctly collimated??🤔🤭😋

Dave

[Alan White]

20 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Some interestingly shaped stellar images there Alan..

Are you sure the duvet cover is correctly collimated??🤔🤭😋

Dave

 

Well spotted Dave, but I can report that it induces Sweet Dreams and a good nights sleep.

Thankfully visible even when cloudy too 😉

[Sunshine]

8 hours ago, IB20 said:

Not the postman but a relay between myself and @festoon, nice to meet you btw!

Probably the scope I’ve wanted the most since starting the hobby and realising what my observing preferences are. It looks the business, sits on the AZ75 perfectly and I can’t wait for first light.

It feels like a real piece of SGL heritage too.

 

A beauty! congratulations! can’t wait to hear about your first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth…..light!

[TiffsAndAstro]

Potential light panel from eBay ordered Friday £8.95 Inc postage

Looks nice but after plugging in I'd guess no chance it's bright enough, but I'll try it out tonight in Nina flat wizard as a test.

 

[Elp]

1 hour ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Looks nice but after plugging in I'd guess no chance it's bright enough

Probably the same as mine, looks the same, if you hold the on button it dims or brightens. I use it on the lowest setting even with diffusing material between it and the scope.

[TiffsAndAstro]

15 minutes ago, Elp said:

Probably the same as mine, looks the same, if you hold the on button it dims or brightens. I use it on the lowest setting even with diffusing material between it and the scope.

Maybe mine is broke as it doesn't seem very light but if it works for broad band I'll try it for NB right after

[John]

On 13/10/2024 at 13:20, IB20 said:

Not the postman but a relay between myself and @festoon, nice to meet you btw!

Probably the scope I’ve wanted the most since starting the hobby and realising what my observing preferences are. It looks the business, sits on the AZ75 perfectly and I can’t wait for first light.

It feels like a real piece of SGL heritage too.

 

Congratulations on the FC100-DL 🙂

Yours may well have been one of the very first of the first run of these available in the UK. The one that I have is possibly one of the last of that run !

 

[IB20]

42 minutes ago, John said:

Congratulations on the FC100-DL 🙂

Yours may well have been one of the very first of the first run of these available in the UK. The one that I have is possibly one of the last of that run !

 

Thanks John. I did always have an eye on the for sale section in case you ever decided to part with yours. I suspect the first and demo model will be quite impressive optically however. 
Seem to have offended the weather gods with the purchase though. 😏

[TiffsAndAstro]

4 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Potential light panel from eBay ordered Friday £8.95 Inc postage

Looks nice but after plugging in I'd guess no chance it's bright enough, but I'll try it out tonight in Nina flat wizard as a test.

 

quick follow up on this: holy cow it seems to work!

nina's flat panel wizard told me it was too bright, even with my usual two layers of tshirt across the dew shield. after lowering it to the medium setting,  it was fine with both with my uv/ir cut and my sv220. the nb flats took 6 seconds down from 9. broadband less than a second still.

next clear night ill do my normal flats and use this and then stack using both just to compare as another check but for 8.95 uk sterling inc delivery (ordered friday afternoon i think got it 8 am this morning) its looking pretty good.

i think i've managed to scratch the front but hopefully that won't matter. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

2 hours ago, Elp said:

Probably the same as mine, looks the same, if you hold the on button it dims or brightens. I use it on the lowest setting even with diffusing material between it and the scope.

i had to use medium setting as nina flat wizard complained it was too bright lol. maybe i was looking at the back, this morning?

[GeordieStew]

4 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Potential light panel from eBay ordered Friday £8.95 Inc postage

Looks nice but after plugging in I'd guess no chance it's bright enough, but I'll try it out tonight in Nina flat wizard as a test.

 

Can you share a link for it please?

[TiffsAndAstro]

23 minutes ago, GeordieStew said:

Can you share a link for it please?

Was just a random find on eBay. The micro usb lead might even be long enough to use while on my mount pointed at zenith

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404690054580

Probably same as many other sellers.

 

Edited Monday at 19:31 by TiffsAndAstro

[Elp]

2 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Probably same as many other sellers.

Plenty of these on Amazon too, they're pretty much all the same. The key words are "led" "tracer"/"tracing" "panel" or "light" "box" which is what it is really, a replacement of the animators light boxes of old.

Edited Monday at 22:26 by Elp

[TiffsAndAstro]

On 14/10/2024 at 23:24, Elp said:

Plenty of these on Amazon too, they're pretty much all the same. The key words are "led" "tracer"/"tracing" "panel" or "light" "box" which is what it is really, a replacement of the animators light boxes of old.

Well I did wizard nebula for about 6 hours last night then b33 230am until 5am when I woke up

Mad high speed mist flying past moon so I did both flats and tore down. Then looked up and it was perfectly clear to my eyes anyway.

I've stack b33 with my previous tablet flats and new tracing panel. The tracing panel stack has slightly less edge gradient in histo view. On auto stretch they look same same. Can post them if anyone interested.

I'd say if someone needs a flat panel light source, this is a very cheap and seemingly good option. 

I'll still use my tablet and tracing panel next couple of sessions just to be sure, then I retire my tablet

Bare in mind I'm a noob and could be massively mistaken.

B33 looks ok for the two hours narrowband I got. The stack of about 14k seconds from last night and previous sessions didn't look as good but will try and process it to within an inch of its life later.

Haven't tried wizard yet. I do  have about 16k seconds of broadband to compare it to when I get a chance, later

 

Edited yesterday at 12:44 by TiffsAndAstro

[Elp]

It helps to use a diffusing material between the panel and the scope, I use around 4 perspex sheets of various colours to dim the panel down further, I believe a few sheets of paper also works but you have to look at the panel/flats to make sure any diffusing material doesn't create/introduce patterns.

[TiffsAndAstro]

1 minute ago, Elp said:

It helps to use a diffusing material between the panel and the scope, I use around 4 perspex sheets of various colours to dim the panel down further, I believe a few sheets of paper also works but you have to look at the panel/flats to make sure any diffusing material doesn't create/introduce patterns.

I use a double layer of NASA approved white t-shirt stretched over dew shield then tablet (now tracing panel) on top.

I'm really quite shocked how well the dim seeming £9 tracing panel seems to have worked. Processed in strong sunlight so maybe too soon to tell.

Thankfully it's cloudy now so I can have a proper look. It's possible my stack looks better with the new tracing panel

[Elp]

The key thing is, as long as you do it the same every time, the exposure lengths of your flats is usually consistent and doesn't change. So at the end of a session using a cooled camera (you can even do it at the beginning once the camera has cooled) you only need to take flats and pack away, all your dark flats you can do anytime and reuse to match the flats length.

[TiffsAndAstro]

12 minutes ago, Elp said:

The key thing is, as long as you do it the same every time, the exposure lengths of your flats is usually consistent and doesn't change. So at the end of a session using a cooled camera (you can even do it at the beginning once the camera has cooled) you only need to take flats and pack away, all your dark flats you can do anytime and reuse to match the flats length.

Yup I just copy my flats and darks from my "library". Cooled camera makes end of session a lot smoother.

Just do my flats then rip it all down go sleep

My guiding last night on wizard nebula ran for an hour at a time under 1" including dither. No idea why

Unrelated, just wanted to brag 

[Nicola Fletcher]

On 13/10/2024 at 13:20, IB20 said:

Not the postman but a relay between myself and @festoon, nice to meet you btw!

Probably the scope I’ve wanted the most since starting the hobby and realising what my observing preferences are. It looks the business, sits on the AZ75 perfectly and I can’t wait for first light.

It feels like a real piece of SGL heritage too.

 

Wow, congratulations and the very best of luck with it! Its pedigree goes before it 👍🏻

Edited 20 hours ago by Nicola Fletcher

[Nicola Fletcher]

The perfect activity for a rainy, misty Friday night. I fitted a new quick release bracket to my TSA120 and its 7 x 50mm finder. I really like it - I think I will use the finder a lot more now that it’s easy to mount on the scope. 

I ordered a replacement safety screw for the counterweight bar on my AZ-EQ5 from FLO this week. To justify the postage, I got the quick release bracket and a new book. It was economical (that’s what I keep telling myself anyway 😂).

 

Edited 19 hours ago by Nicola Fletcher

[Bivanus]

Breakfast of champions 😂 

Don't you just love early morning delivery !!!

[Ratlet]

1 hour ago, Bivanus said:

Breakfast of champions 😂 

Don't you just love early morning delivery !!!

As I'm watching this getting stuck into a bowl of Coco pops, a plate of meat and cheese seems like a much better option.

[Nicola Fletcher]

2 hours ago, Bivanus said:

Breakfast of champions 😂 

Don't you just love early morning delivery !!!

That’s my absolute favourite eyepiece. Enjoy!

[JeremyS]