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WadeH237
sage
Reged: 02/24/07
Posts: 258
Loc: Snohomish, WA
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I just bought a new 8" LX200ACF optical tube for use as an imaging scope. I had posted here a week or so ago asking questions about how the mirror lock worked.
At the time, we were having typical northwest weather, which meant clouds and rain. There were a couple of nights that threatened to clear, and I learned that the OTA shipped way out of collimation but didn't have enough clear sky to do anything about it.
Anyway, it was clear all night long last night, so I got a chance to play with the scope. I'm happy to say that the scope is going to work well for imaging. Fixing collimation was easy once I got a few minutes to fiddle with it. Also, the stars are nice and round all the way through my ST-10's field and into the self guiding chip. This field is definitely more imaging friendly than my C8 (which is now a visual scope.)
I'm going to post some images here with the caveat that last night was cloud free with good seeing, but otherwise abyssmal for serious imaging. We had high humidity, poor transparency and moonlight you could read by.
The first image is a single 60 second luminance exposure of M13 with the LX200ACF, an SBIG ST-10, an IDAS LPR filter, and an Astro-Physics telecompressor yielding 1622mm of focal length. The image is unprocessed except for bias, dark and flat calibration, and quick and dirty stretching in Photoshop with curves and levels.
Thanks,
-Wade
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Stuff
Visual Stuff (shared with wife and kids, 10 & 12): Celestron Nexstar 5, Generic 6" F/8 Dob, Celestron C6 or C8 on ASGT mount, CGE-1400, Coronado PST, 12x70 Binoculars.
Imaging Stuff: Meade 8" LX200ACF with Optec TCF-S focuser on CGE mount, SBIG ST-10XME with CFW8, Astrodon filters, Canon EOS 20D.
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WadeH237
sage
Reged: 02/24/07
Posts: 258
Loc: Snohomish, WA
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This is a CCDInspector report of the M13 focusing frame. You can see that ideal focus is a bit off center. This is because I had FocusMax touch up the focus using the brightest single star in the frame, which is not inside the cluster.
Thanks,
-Wade
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Stuff
Visual Stuff (shared with wife and kids, 10 & 12): Celestron Nexstar 5, Generic 6" F/8 Dob, Celestron C6 or C8 on ASGT mount, CGE-1400, Coronado PST, 12x70 Binoculars.
Imaging Stuff: Meade 8" LX200ACF with Optec TCF-S focuser on CGE mount, SBIG ST-10XME with CFW8, Astrodon filters, Canon EOS 20D.
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nik hodges
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/20/07
Posts: 530
Loc: UK
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thats a very nice result and you look to have a pretty flat field was that with the CCDT67 compressor?
could i ask what spacing you used?
cheers
nik
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"LX200R" (8") with AP CCDT67 reducer & moonlight focuser
Megrez 80mm triplet apo & mkIII FF
DSI Pro II
StarlightXpress SXVF-H16 camera/trutek filter wheel
AstroEngineering MegaWedge
Maxim DL/Maxpoint + adobe PS3extended
On AP900 notification list
delusions of grandeur
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WadeH237
sage
Reged: 02/24/07
Posts: 258
Loc: Snohomish, WA
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Finally, even with the poor transparency, I decided to take a picture. I wanted something with a busy star field so that I could see how things looked out to the edge of the chip. M27 was nearby, so I shot it.
This is an LRGB with 12x120 seconds per channel. The color channels are binned 2x2. Bias, dark and flat calibration in MaximDL, basic processing in Photoshop CS2, and a quick touch with GradientXTerminator.
I have to say that I am very pleased with this scope.
Thanks,
-Wade
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Stuff
Visual Stuff (shared with wife and kids, 10 & 12): Celestron Nexstar 5, Generic 6" F/8 Dob, Celestron C6 or C8 on ASGT mount, CGE-1400, Coronado PST, 12x70 Binoculars.
Imaging Stuff: Meade 8" LX200ACF with Optec TCF-S focuser on CGE mount, SBIG ST-10XME with CFW8, Astrodon filters, Canon EOS 20D.
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WadeH237
sage
Reged: 02/24/07
Posts: 258
Loc: Snohomish, WA
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Quote:
thats a very nice result and you look to have a pretty flat field was that with the CCDT67 compressor?
could i ask what spacing you used?
cheers
nik
Yes, that is with the Astro-Physics CCDT67 and 2" nosepiece mounted directly to a CFW8 on the ST-10XME. There was a Hutech IDAS LPR filter added to the telecompressor.
Thanks,
-Wade
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Stuff
Visual Stuff (shared with wife and kids, 10 & 12): Celestron Nexstar 5, Generic 6" F/8 Dob, Celestron C6 or C8 on ASGT mount, CGE-1400, Coronado PST, 12x70 Binoculars.
Imaging Stuff: Meade 8" LX200ACF with Optec TCF-S focuser on CGE mount, SBIG ST-10XME with CFW8, Astrodon filters, Canon EOS 20D.
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WadeH237
sage
Reged: 02/24/07
Posts: 258
Loc: Snohomish, WA
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I missed the question about spacing.
The nosepiece that I used is the Astro-Physics AP16T. This telecompressor and nosepiece are specifically designed for the SBIG ST series cameras. It is supposed to give .67 with the CFW8 and .75 when attached to the ST-10 directly.
It is a reducer only and not a corrector, so I don't think that the spacing is as critical to a flat field as it would be with a reducer/corrector.
Thanks,
-Wade
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Stuff
Visual Stuff (shared with wife and kids, 10 & 12): Celestron Nexstar 5, Generic 6" F/8 Dob, Celestron C6 or C8 on ASGT mount, CGE-1400, Coronado PST, 12x70 Binoculars.
Imaging Stuff: Meade 8" LX200ACF with Optec TCF-S focuser on CGE mount, SBIG ST-10XME with CFW8, Astrodon filters, Canon EOS 20D.
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nik hodges
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/20/07
Posts: 530
Loc: UK
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thnxs i have the same flattener but havnt had a chance to test it yet but your data looks really encouraging
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"LX200R" (8") with AP CCDT67 reducer & moonlight focuser
Megrez 80mm triplet apo & mkIII FF
DSI Pro II
StarlightXpress SXVF-H16 camera/trutek filter wheel
AstroEngineering MegaWedge
Maxim DL/Maxpoint + adobe PS3extended
On AP900 notification list
delusions of grandeur
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Tomvictor
sage
Reged: 08/09/04
Posts: 334
Loc: N.59.11.47. Norway
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Very nice Wade, looks promising for my new 10" ACF.
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Tom Victor
http://www.ccd-astrophoto.com/
EM-200 - FSQ106ED - 10" LX200ACF - Artemis 4021 - Mini Borg 60ED - FLI CFW - DSI PRO II.
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Sky Captain
Scope Builder
Reged: 11/07/04
Posts: 5298
Loc: Seattle Washington
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Great photo's Wade! 
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Equipment Overload!
http://scopebuilder.webs.com/
Kerry.
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Joad
Wordsmith
Reged: 03/22/05
Posts: 11468
Loc: Mt. Pinos @ 5600' alt.
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Wow, those are great photos. And with an 8 inch advanced SCT! Who needs an APO?
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45° 25 X100 Oberwerk BT
Meade 8 inch LX10 SCT
StellacamEX
Orion Binoviewer
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