rawhead Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 This looks cool Orion Telescopes & Binoculars: Buy Online & Save! - Telescope.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveL Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Nice to see more Adaptive Optics options out there, but its still more expensive than the SX version (plus add the tax and import duty).I liked this comment at the bottom of that orion item Please note this product was not designed or intended by the manufacturer for use by a child 12 years of age or younger.lol... as if! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beamish Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 It does kinda make you wonder what may have occurred to warrant such a disclaimer !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickH Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 not cheap though...crikey! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technobill Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 I just got one of these. I have to say I am a convert. It has exceeded my expectations. I have always had problems with football stars on my 12" F10 lx200R. The optics on the scope are wonderful, after 3 years still hasnt needed a collimation. It just seems to have some tracking issues even when guided. I have pec'd it to death with pem pro but still get more bad frames than good ones when taking longer exposures (even when guiding).But a couple of weeks back, after hearing about the great improvement a friend got with one of these I picked one up and on Day one I was blown away. Uut of 25 x 10 minute exposures only one was not perfect (and there were small wind gusts for it to contend with too) This device and its software are excellent, adjusting the image many times a second and occassionally knudging the scope. I think if you already have good results through normal guiding it would not be of any help, but where you have not perfect polar alignment or a not to good RA drive, even if there is a light breeze this thing is the bees knees. I think it would be excellent when out in the field as you would not have to get perfect polar alignment before starting to image.From my perspective, I gave DSO's a big miss for a year as I just could not tame the beast, but now I am waiting for the clouds to go away (over a week and still waiting) so I can get out there and actually image something.Bill D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawhead Posted October 11, 2011 Author Share Posted October 11, 2011 Still bloomin expensive Glad its working well for you. I suppose at F10 you were always going to be up against it. Looking forward to seeing some results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollypenrice Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I think that these devices come into their own, as Bill has found, at long FL. Even if you don't have Meade PE to contend with, a long FL is terribly dependent on the seeing. Also a big scope is going to respond more slowly to the guider simply because of its inertia, I would guess.Bill, you seem to say that it was hassle free on the IT and mechanical front?Olly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riklaunim Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 And it needs really sensitive and noise free guider to do sub second exposures on usually faint stars Or maybe just get EMCCD - http://junior-ccd.fn-f.de but that's also very expensive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technobill Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I think that these devices come into their own, as Bill has found, at long FL. Even if you don't have Meade PE to contend with, a long FL is terribly dependent on the seeing. Also a big scope is going to respond more slowly to the guider simply because of its inertia, I would guess.Bill, you seem to say that it was hassle free on the IT and mechanical front?OllyHi Olly,Hardware wise no issue at all. I have only used it a couple of times so far. It is a second hand unit, I know the guy who owned it and he has used it a fair amount.The steadystar software is pretty neat and basically at the push of a button or two does an auto calibration of the AO unit and then the scope and works out the angles. From theire you hit guide and it just works a treat.The software generally works well but it has a few bugs. The biggest problem I had was that pressing the main Find Star' button which you need to do to have it guide, would crash on the latest version but I tracked this down to using a video camera at full PAL res. I have reported the problem and they informed me they are looking into it and there is new version of software coming out soon. In the meantime I received my lodestar guide camera and this is excellent and very sensitive. The software had no issues with this camera.Bill D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollypenrice Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Thanks Bill, I use a Lodestar amongst others and do like it also.Olly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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