1219 replies to this topic

[nateman_doo]

What focuser do you use?

Mine is a Baader Diamond Steeltrack RT with 80mm of range

I use a rack and pinion one that looks just like yours.

 

https://www.teleskop...avel-95-mm.html

[Mert]

Ah, ok! I already have a 3d printed extension for the baffletube, works great!

Edited by Mert, 11 August 2022 - 02:55 PM.

[Mert]

Here you can see my version 1, nowadays I have improved the extension

and it works great!

I used the same angle as the baffle tube has so the extension continues

with this angle.

 

 

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[Mert]

Hope to have some clear sky tonight to do some test shots

[Mert]

Ok, I did some test frames of 10 seconds, Focal length with reducer now 1255mm

instead of 1148mm before mounting and collimating with the new tiltplate.

Focus is much better then before and the ASTAP results speak for themselves.

I will have to fine adjust a bit more but this is with the scope collimated

during daytime with my Takahashi collimating scope.

Right now I am impressed!

 

 

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[nateman_doo]

Looks lovely. I think I stopped at 7% visually aligning. Never bothered to tweak it any further. Next new moon I may touch it up as a Cherry Springs Star party is coming up in Sept.

[ekallgren]

Mert,

That look very good!

I'm still waiting on clouds or full moon.

[Mert]

Right now I started a sequence on IC1396 with the L-Extreme filter.

Let's see how that turns out.

The sky is really sh.t, looks like my flatpanel and some high haze/clouds

making HFD go higher.

Evenso with 120 second exposure stil around 3.35 with imagescale 0.625"/pixel

so aprox. FWHM 2"

With ASTAP the calculated SQM of 1 frame is 17.39 ( Bortle 8 )

[Mert]

And here the aberration inspector of Pixinsight on 1 frame

of 120 seconds.

Maybe something not 100% in the lowerleft corner.

Upperleft corner has almost no stars but in Pixinsight

zooming in on some stars they look nice and round everywhere.

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Edited by Mert, 12 August 2022 - 05:28 PM.

[nateman_doo]

Pretty sure just stacking will make that look better, or the stars themselves are deformed. Flat earther stars. 😆

Either way it's lovely isn't it? I have never been more excited to use the RC since I made the adapter.

Edited by nateman_doo, 12 August 2022 - 06:51 PM.

[Mert]

Yes it does look great "straight out of the box"
It only took me 2 hours or something to mount everything and collimate with the Takahashi collimating scope.
I'm exited to see better focus and lower HFD value then before!
I got clouded out but will post the resulting image.

Edited by Mert, 13 August 2022 - 12:54 AM.

[Mert]

As promised, the result of only 76 x 120 seconds, RC8 with nateman_doo's
tiltplate, CCDT67 reducer, ASI1600MCC ( OSC ) and L-Extreme filter.
This was processed as a SHO image
Clouds prevented me from grabbing more frames.
Anyway, the sky was whitish and with high haze and quit strong
wind gusts, so it's not too bad for bortle 8 conditions.
Also full moon did it's thing.
The target was IC 1396 or also know as the elephant trunk.
I'm quit happy with the way the stars are, seems to be close to
a good collimation.

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Edited by Mert, 13 August 2022 - 08:21 AM.

[Mert]

Still some work to be done since I forgot completely

to check collimation of the focusser.

Today I did  a little fine adjustment to the tiltplate and

the secondary to make the Takahashi collimating scope

and the laser collimator coincide.

Now waiting for some clear skies.

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Edited by Mert, 13 August 2022 - 02:07 PM.

[nateman_doo]

Id ditch the Takahashi for one reason, its using mechanical.

 

Bounce a laser on the secondary in the center ring by adjusting the tilt plate, and bounce it back to the laser by adjusting the secondary.

 

Then play with the primary with the Takahashi if you want and finish with a star test, and adjust with ASTAP image inspection.  

[Mert]

Id ditch the Takahashi for one reason, its using mechanical.

Bounce a laser on the secondary in the center ring by adjusting the tilt plate, and bounce it back to the laser by adjusting the secondary.

Then play with the primary with the Takahashi if you want and finish with a star test, and adjust with ASTAP image inspection.

I'm quit confident with the precision of the Takahashi collimating scope and simply did not
check how things are with the focusser.
Now all looks centered and fit for a new test session

[ekallgren]

I'm quit confident with the precision of the Takahashi collimating scope and simply did not
check how things are with the focusser.
Now all looks centered and fit for a new test session

    we are waiting!

[Mert]

Must be good since I'm still clouded out

Edited by Mert, 15 August 2022 - 11:57 AM.

[ekallgren]

That is the same thing that has happened to me.

  I hope to have a few hours on IC1340 the Bat Nebula.

[ekallgren]

This is about 4 hrs of data on IC1340 the Bat Nebula.

 

As you might remember that I had near perfect collimation as in post #113 where the Tilt measured .08 and the Off Axis Aberrations were .26.

I then installed the CCDT67 which gave me a fl of 1171 @f5.9.

But it also changed the Tilt. to .42 and the Off Axis Aberrations are now .29. This is not enough to make me want to mess with the Collimation any further, so I 'm going to stop there. Very happy with the added nateman_doo tilt plate. It holds collimation as good as any other scope in my arsenal and they are all Refractors.  

Thumbs up to nateman_doo!    

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[nateman_doo]

I took my CCDT67 out of the image train because I felt it did more harm than good.  But it seems yours is way nicer than mine.  Glad to hear your results are good and the plate is worth the upgrade! 

[Mert]

I've also noted that the CCDT67 reducer is not a flattener!
Yesterday I shot a couple out of focus images, 1 shot with a bright Star and tried the abberation inspector of the Nina Hocus Focus plugin.
All indicate I'm very close to good enough.
The tiltplate really performs great, I'm happy to have done the upgrade!
Lateron I'll download the session and post some images.

[Mert]

Ok, as promised here go 3 images ( due to size limit each in a thread )

For the moment I'm happy with the result.

I think fine tuning under the stars could improve a little bit but doing that in

the dark is a bit of a problem for me ( not so good eyesight ).

So here go the 3 images.

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Edited by Mert, 16 August 2022 - 10:14 AM.

[Mert]

And #2 showing the star is still a tiny bit "decentered".

I will look into that some other day.

 

 

 

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[Mert]

And last but not least #3

 

 

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[Mert]

Still not collimated to my taste so I checked again and fine adjusted a tiny bit.

Let's see how that works out whenever I get some clear sky again

Edited by Mert, 16 August 2022 - 12:38 PM.