smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Quote:
Seriously, I am an old guy about ready to retire. I have had many technically orientated hobbies in my life. When I went to school for computer programming we used punch cards. I have been involved in computers and all sorts of electronic pursuits but nothing has captured my imagination like astrophotography, I feel like a kid again.
Bob
When I get my setup I'll give you a ring and you can ask your mom if you can come out to play! 
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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justabob
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/05/07
Posts: 1062
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I think what you have there will teach you the ropes. The camera is very sensitive and will not require long exposures or initial auto guiding. There is always something better, but this will wet your appetite.
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http://www.pbase.com/rkn/astro&page=all
Vixen Sphinx SXW LXD55
Self modded 350d
DSI PRO II
73 DE W9HS
Bob
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AlanT
sage
Reged: 08/20/07
Posts: 271
Loc: 122º36' W, 47º37' N, WA USA
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Congrats on the new equipment... All great choices. You're going to have a lot of fun (who needs sleep anyway).
Hope you ordered some good weather and clear skies to go with the gear 
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Meade 80mm APO
Celestron C6
CGE, CG-5 GT
DSI Pro, DSI Pro II, ST-2000xcm
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smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Actualy I did order a full week of clear skys and the optional dark site, but they said it was on back order.
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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Eddy
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/30/04
Posts: 1198
Loc: Aix-en-Provence, France
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Hi Neil,
I think you made a wise choice. This equipment will last a long time and will give you a lot of satisfaction.
But, and I know you have your limit on the budget, like others mentioned, this will double (at least) in the coming years.
You are going to add a second scope, buy another CCD and use your DSI as a guider, buy a filterwheel, filters (RGB and narrowband), a bigger and sturdier mount, etc...
You know this is an expensive hobby and there is always that "other" item that you would like to improve your imaging results. But, for now, you are set.
Good luck with the weather and keep us posted about the results.
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Cheers,
Eddy
C8 XLT, W.O. ZS80-FD 10th anniv. ed. with MoonLite D/S focuser, Tak TSA102N
Tak EM-200 Temma II, Vixen PortaMount
SXV-H9, SXV guider
SBIG CFW-10 SA filter wheel, Astromik Type2 LRGB and Astronomik 6nm H-α, 13nm SII, 13nm OIII
Taurus Mini Tracker OAG
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showgallery.php?cat=580
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smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Quote:
Hi Neil,
I think you made a wise choice. This equipment will last a long time and will give you a lot of satisfaction.
But, and I know you have your limit on the budget, like others mentioned, this will double (at least) in the coming years.
You are going to add a second scope, buy another CCD and use your DSI as a guider, buy a filterwheel, filters (RGB and narrowband), a bigger and sturdier mount, etc...
You know this is an expensive hobby and there is always that "other" item that you would like to improve your imaging results. But, for now, you are set.
Good luck with the weather and keep us posted about the results.
Yea I know what you mean. I sometimes think we will keep buying until we see the big bang! 
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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I thought of something today. I'm not sure how a clam shell will mount to the atlas mount. Do I need a special piece to do this?
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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cocobolo
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/27/07
Posts: 1550
Loc: british columbia, canada
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OK, so you blew the budget by just a bit. Super nice equipment though. We had a post a short while ago explaining about the clouds. The two week cloudy period does not start until you actually receive your goodies. Looking forward to the pics. Keith
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 6776
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Hi Neil,
Do you have any plans for autoguiding? Other than that it looks like you have a great start!
Patrick
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Discovery 10" f/6 Split Tube Dob
Celestron C6 SCT
Denk Binoviewers
AT66ED Refractor
Oberwerk Ultra 15x70 Binocular
475B Geared Tripod & 501HDV Head
Oberwerk 9x60 Binocular
Celestron Regal 8x42 Binocular
Canon 30D DSLR
Mini EQ1
My Astronomy Pages
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smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Quote:
Hi Neil,
Do you have any plans for autoguiding? Other than that it looks like you have a great start!
Patrick
I'm not even sure what I would need for auto guiding. PLEASE enlighten me.
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1711
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You need a guide scope, a second camera (or webcam), an EQMod adapter (from Shoestring astronomy) and PHD Guiding (freeware from Stark Labs) in order to guide the imaging scope. But I believe that you have put these off for a later time (which makes sense as you don't need to autoguide right away).
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smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Yes! I will just have to wait to get into that, after I've cut my teeth for a while with this setup. It will also take me a while to pay all this stuff off, so I'll just have to make do. For my second primary scope I was thinking of something like the Stellarvue - SV115T27 - 4.5" f/7 ED APO Triplet in combo with the SBIG - STL-11000M Class 2 ABG CCD Camera and using the DSI II for a guide camera.
This makes me ask a question. Can a toUcam serve as a guide camera?
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1711
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Yes but the DSI makes a better guide camera.
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smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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It's just that my credit card is still smokin' and I'm gonna have to cut some corners somewhere. I WILL eventually have the right setup though! It might take a couple of years. About the same time as it will for me to really shine in AP. Thanks for welcoming me to a wonderful family of friends. This is the only place for me to share this passion that I have had since I was 3 years old. The people I'm usually around look at me like I'm crazy and say things like "can't you just look up those pictures on the net?" Sigh!
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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s58y
Post Laureate
Reged: 12/12/04
Posts: 4832
Loc: Eastern NY
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Quote:
For my second primary scope I was thinking of something like the Stellarvue - SV115T27 - 4.5" f/7 ED APO Triplet in combo with the SBIG - STL-11000M Class 2 ABG CCD Camera and using the DSI II for a guide camera.
Interesting coincidence. I'm currently using the SV80S + TRF-2008 combination with a DSLR, and recently got on the waiting list for the SV115T27 (which I think has now become the SV115T35). Eventually, I would hope to guide through either scope and image through the other (depending on how big the target is). The Feathertouch on the SV80S should makes it a nice (but expensive) guidescope.
I think the STL11000 supports some sort of remote guidehead, so you probably wouldn't use the DSI for guiding with the STL11000. It also does self-guiding, so you wouldn't really need the guidescope at all in many cases -- just use the SV115T35 by itself. This assumes that your Atlas EQ-G mount supports the usual SBIG autoguiding inputs.
Speaking of mounts, the SV80S, SV115T35, STL11000 combination deserves a really good mount. Maybe something like the AP900, MI-250, or a TAK mount (NJP, for example)? This is where the $$$$$$ that everyone has mentioned come in.
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Hutech 30D, SBIG ST-402 autoguider
SV80S, SV66 guidescope
AP900, G-11, Barndoor tracker
http://www.pbase.com/s58y
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smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Well, in a weird twist of events, I no longer have a setup on the way. The Atlas mount was on back order until who knows, and that would make everything else pretty much useless. So, in the meantime I'm going to borrow my brothers Celestron 6" SE and get my feet wet taking pictures of the moon and planets until I've got a good feel for what to expect. I am sad that I don't have many packages on the way, but it's just as well, because this will give me even more time to consider my choices, and read and talk about my experiences with my bros scope and hear yours as well.
Do you guys think I should try and modify my toUcam for DSOs with the celestron, or will that be a waste of time. I've been trying some imaging through my 12" dob with humorous results. I has been a blast trying though.
I guess in the end, I'm still on the lookout for what I will buy, for my final set up.
Was this, this hard for everyone's first set up?
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1711
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No but I wished I had asked the same questions you did. You end up making the best of what you have (regardless of whether or not you made the best decision). Although when I started out, I didn't think I would like imaging. I figured that I would let Hubble take pictures and concentrate on using my scope visually.
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smokin oakum
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/24/07
Posts: 1420
Loc: Wilmington, NC
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Quote:
No but I wished I had asked the same questions you did. You end up making the best of what you have (regardless of whether or not you made the best decision). Although when I started out, I didn't think I would like imaging. I figured that I would let Hubble take pictures and concentrate on using my scope visually.
 So how did that work out?
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Broadcasting live views of the night sky @
Sparkcast
C11 CGE / Hyperstar
MallinCam Hyper Plus Color
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
MoonLite Focuser
Round Table Platform
12" Parralax rings
Cape Fear Astronomy Club
|
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