rcd47
sage
Reged: 03/15/08
Posts: 259
Loc: East Texas, USA
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I'm really starting to like this scope (125PE) better than any I've had. It's so versatile. I can have it set up in minutes, it packs away nicely, optics are excellent and it's very portable. It is great on planets, great on star clusters, stars are pinpoint and it even does a pretty fair job on the faint fuzzies! (can't wait to try it with my Stellacam) Oh, and I'm one of those guys that happens to love go-to, so that's a real plus. Here's a shot of Jupiter that my son and I got last night with the Philips 900nc. This was our second attempt at Jupiter and we are both newbies with the webcam and yet it was really pretty easy, even in alt-az. I can only imagine what someone with some real imaging experience could do with this set-up. I really want to try this scope in equatorial mode and see how well it works.
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Randy
Edmund Astroscan
Meade ETX125PE
Skywatcher 102mm F5 & Alt/Az Mount
Orion ST80/Mini EQ1
Tasco Starguide 114/Celestron Hand Paddle
Pentax 10x50 Binoculars
Philips SPC 900NC
Stellacam EX
Edited by rcd47 (06/28/08 04:40 PM)
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Jefferson1964
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/15/04
Posts: 570
Loc: Mansfield, Texas
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Those are the reasons I purchased TWO of them...one for me and one for my son....we do alot of camping and taking my 8"lx200 out camping...is not the easiest thing to do when the vehicle is already full....etx not a problem...
BTW...excellent shot of Jupiter....
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10x70 Binos
Astroscan 2000
8" LX200GPS UHTC
ETX-125EC
ETX-125PE
The ETX Travel Buddies.....
DSIProII DSIPro
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rcd47
sage
Reged: 03/15/08
Posts: 259
Loc: East Texas, USA
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Yep, makes me wonder why I'd even bother wrestling with my C6R. In fact, I think I'm going to try to sell it and give my wife back the space in the closet.  The ETX gives me about the same performance in a much smaller package, plus go-to.
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Randy
Edmund Astroscan
Meade ETX125PE
Skywatcher 102mm F5 & Alt/Az Mount
Orion ST80/Mini EQ1
Tasco Starguide 114/Celestron Hand Paddle
Pentax 10x50 Binoculars
Philips SPC 900NC
Stellacam EX
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Lee Jay
sage
Reged: 02/27/08
Posts: 463
Loc: Westminster, CO
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Quote:
I really want to try this scope in equatorial mode and see how well it works.
Very, very well. But read this article first. It looks intimidating, but it's just long-winded, not complex or hard to do. In fact, it takes me less than 5 minutes total.
http://www.weasner.com/etx/ref_guides/polar_align.html
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rcd47
sage
Reged: 03/15/08
Posts: 259
Loc: East Texas, USA
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Thanks for the link! That will help a lot.
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Randy
Edmund Astroscan
Meade ETX125PE
Skywatcher 102mm F5 & Alt/Az Mount
Orion ST80/Mini EQ1
Tasco Starguide 114/Celestron Hand Paddle
Pentax 10x50 Binoculars
Philips SPC 900NC
Stellacam EX
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Lee Jay
sage
Reged: 02/27/08
Posts: 463
Loc: Westminster, CO
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You are welcome. Lovely image, by the way.
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13787
Loc: CyberSpace
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Thanks for posting the Excellent photo of Jupiter... 
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Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's 
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InterStellarGuy
sage
Reged: 06/25/08
Posts: 248
Loc: Nebraska
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wow nice image. What were your exposure/gain settings with this?
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Celestron C8 on ASGT
Celestron First Scope 114
Stellarvue 70ED
Celestron Nexstar 60
Celestron accessory kit
Celestron UHC 1.25 filter
Celestron UV/IR cut off filter
Celestron NexImage
Orion Starshoot Deep Space Imager Pr
Oron Starshoot Autoguider
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rcd47
sage
Reged: 03/15/08
Posts: 259
Loc: East Texas, USA
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Quote:
wow nice image. What were your exposure/gain settings with this?
Using Astro Capture: Turn off all auto settings. Open WcCtrl for settings: Brightness 24
Gam 32
Gain 56
Shutter 1/250
FPS 5
Auto Exposure Off
Auto White Balance On
Color Mode On
Saturation 50
Contrast 49
We used Registax 3 to stack the images. Seems like it was around 400 frames. Then adjusted wavelet, contrast and size to suit. Here's the final image after processing in Photofiltre.
Thanks guys for the kind words. My son and I are still pretty new at this imaging stuff.
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Randy
Edmund Astroscan
Meade ETX125PE
Skywatcher 102mm F5 & Alt/Az Mount
Orion ST80/Mini EQ1
Tasco Starguide 114/Celestron Hand Paddle
Pentax 10x50 Binoculars
Philips SPC 900NC
Stellacam EX
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starquester
sage
Reged: 09/03/04
Posts: 465
Loc: Three Rivers, MI U.S.A>
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Fantastic Photo,
Well Done,
I can't wait to get my camera hook up going,
Alan
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Alan D. Otterson
Windy Ridge Observatory
41-58.966N
85-43.069W
Alan Otterson
Founder&Owner
A Yahoo Observatory Group
Flip Top & Clamshell & Rubbermaid Observatories
http://tinyurl.com/yz9ckk
The Nikon D40 Astrophotography Group
http://tinyurl.com/5j8qw2
A Yahoo Astrophotography Group
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rcd47
sage
Reged: 03/15/08
Posts: 259
Loc: East Texas, USA
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Thanks! You're going to have a blast with the camera. I can't wait to try my Stellacam on the ETX. I may need a focal reducer though.
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Randy
Edmund Astroscan
Meade ETX125PE
Skywatcher 102mm F5 & Alt/Az Mount
Orion ST80/Mini EQ1
Tasco Starguide 114/Celestron Hand Paddle
Pentax 10x50 Binoculars
Philips SPC 900NC
Stellacam EX
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ngc6475
Fearless Spectator
Reged: 03/02/02
Posts: 4999
Loc: 38°21'N 120°55'W
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Outstanding photos, Randy! 
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Walter
"There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls."
-George Carlin
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Talstarone
Vendor (Inner Planetary Products)
Reged: 09/12/06
Posts: 7905
Loc: Benson, North Carolina
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Excellent Job,Randy.
The Image Of Jupiter Is Stunning To Say The Least.The Crispness of the edges along with the distinct Banding is extremely impressive as well as inspirational.
I have the same set-up you used including the Philips SPC900NC.After seeing your image I am ready to get out and try my hand at Imaging.
Thank You For Sharing Such Great Work With All Of Us.
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Todd C.
Celestron NexStar 4SE(102mm F/13)Maksutov-Cass
www.innerplanetaryproducts.com
Meteorites and More....
"Outer Space at Down to Earth Prices"
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n1toga
super member
Reged: 05/15/08
Posts: 197
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Great Image Randy,
Thanks for posting something that all of us can aspire to achieve one day.
silly question.....what is the diameter of the corrector lens? Meade advertises this scope as having 5" clear aperture with a primary mirror diameter on 5.43".
Thanks
Rahul K.
ps. how would you describe Jupiter through the eyepiece?
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Lee Jay
sage
Reged: 02/27/08
Posts: 463
Loc: Westminster, CO
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Meade is correct.
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rcd47
sage
Reged: 03/15/08
Posts: 259
Loc: East Texas, USA
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Quote:
Great Image Randy,
Thanks for posting something that all of us can aspire to achieve one day.
silly question.....what is the diameter of the corrector lens? Meade advertises this scope as having 5" clear aperture with a primary mirror diameter on 5.43".
Thanks
Rahul K.
ps. how would you describe Jupiter through the eyepiece?
Thanks! I'm not sure about the actual aperture. Images are nice and bright, so I'd assume that the Meade specs are correct...as LeeJay says. Jupiter through the ep is very bright, with lots of detail, though not nearly like the stacked photo. I would say it's on par with what I see in my C6R. I believe it's as good as it can get in a scope this size. I would recommend this scope to anyone, especially at the current price. 
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Randy
Edmund Astroscan
Meade ETX125PE
Skywatcher 102mm F5 & Alt/Az Mount
Orion ST80/Mini EQ1
Tasco Starguide 114/Celestron Hand Paddle
Pentax 10x50 Binoculars
Philips SPC 900NC
Stellacam EX
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jgraham
Postmaster
Reged: 12/02/04
Posts: 6751
Loc: Dayton, Ohio
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The clear aperture of the ETX-125 is 127mm while the mirror is 138mm in diameter. The design of Schmidt cameras, SCT's, MCT's (the ETX-90, 105, and 125), and SN's requires that the mirror be a tad larger than the corrector.
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-John
================================================
Homebuilt scopes from 4.25-16.5"
Meade LXD75-N6/SN6/SC8, DSX-90, ETX-60BB, ETX-125PE, DS-2130
Orion StarBlast, BinoViewers, Coronado PST
Rebel XT/XTi, DSI Pro (I, II, & III), DSI, LPI, Electronic Eyepiece, Phillips SPC900NC
Tasco 60mm Refractors
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rcd47
sage
Reged: 03/15/08
Posts: 259
Loc: East Texas, USA
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Quote:
Excellent Job,Randy.
The Image Of Jupiter Is Stunning To Say The Least.The Crispness of the edges along with the distinct Banding is extremely impressive as well as inspirational.
I have the same set-up you used including the Philips SPC900NC.After seeing your image I am ready to get out and try my hand at Imaging.
Thank You For Sharing Such Great Work With All Of Us.
Thanks! The Philips webcam is really impressive for the money. I still can't believe the images I see that people get with an inexpensive webcam. All I can say is you will have a lot of fun with the ETX/Philips combo and you should try it asap! I got the Baader IR filter to go on mine. I don't know if it's necessary, but everyone seems to recommend it. I've really enjoyed watching my son with this. I did the settings on the camera, focused the scope and let him capture the video, then guided him through Registax and let him decide what looked good before we saved it. He's been having as much fun as me!
Please post your images when you get some.
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Randy
Edmund Astroscan
Meade ETX125PE
Skywatcher 102mm F5 & Alt/Az Mount
Orion ST80/Mini EQ1
Tasco Starguide 114/Celestron Hand Paddle
Pentax 10x50 Binoculars
Philips SPC 900NC
Stellacam EX
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stefanj
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/15/07
Posts: 1755
Loc: Western New York State
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Well my ETX 90 should be here Wed. and I have the LPI and the laptop all set ready to go- Now I have some inspiration- Great shot!
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Life is a circus- and I'm stuck in the FREAK TENT
If these are blue- it means the moon is full!
Meade ETX 90RA w/ tripod
Meade AZ 70 (now solar)
Meade DS 2130 AT
Zhumell 10" Dob
Simmons 10x50 Binoculars
GLPx8
LPI
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n1toga
super member
Reged: 05/15/08
Posts: 197
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Thanks Randy and Jgraham,
for setting the record straight. Meade also claims a pretty long run time on just AA's ....what sort of power source are you guys using....will it work fine with AA's (rechargable kind)?
I do have a regulated 12V 1.5 amp power supply just in case.
Rahul K
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