Look what Santa delivered...

[Andy01]

Well the kids love it anyway ;)

My 10" f4 Carbon Fibre Newt - as pimped up by Diego Colonnello. Has a Helmerich tube, Moonlite focuser, Auto dew heater & fan, Paracoor corrector, beefed up TE spider vanes, enhanced secondary etc. riding on a well loved TAK NJP mount....this thing sounds like a jet engine taking off!
Can't wait to get this beast out under the stars :)

[Atmos]

Love the photo :lol:

Diego has made some great work with that scope so I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun with it :)

[RickS]

Congrats, Andy!

[strongmanmike]

Rather similar system to what I have right now, with just a slightly coarser image scale...say good bye to the comfort zone that was APO refractors and slow RC's ;)

Mike

[Peter Ward]

' Tis the season to be jolly.

I'm confident you'll have the new kit pumping out some great images soon enough :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

I’ll be happy tonight if I can get round stars across the frame, and get the new mount polar aligned etc. & yes, it comes with a pedigree alright!


Woohoo! Cheers Rick :)



Well if it worked well for you then there’s hope for me too!
I’m just following in the footsteps of giants :thumbsup:



Fingers crossed Peter, it was some of the comments from Red Symons that prompted me to look hard at my kit- hopefully I can do this beasty justice!

[blink138]

lol that is an ace photo andy!
pat

[GrahamL]

It is :)

[sharpiel]

The picture is worthy of being a screensaver itself! You all look like a great family. Have great times together all of you.

Congratulations Andy.

[SimmoW]

Ah this is great to see, Al Sam and I started off the custom building/modding thing ages ago, Diego quickly caught on (esp once I told him about Klaus' excellent work on the CF tubes) and now the 10 inch craze is taking off!

Has to be the best value imaging setup IMHO, esp compared to some of the more expensive retail packages available. And an added bonus, good exercise lugging the thing onto the mount when you set up! Have fun Andy

[gregbradley]

Good one Andy.

I can practically see the awesome images now!
That's a great rig. The NJP is a very reliable mount, I had one for several years.

You just turn it on and it goes.

Amazing isn't it really? One of the first telescopes ever invented and we are still using that formula. Isaac Newton really got it right eh?

Greg.

[Andy01]

Cheer Pat, credit to the wife, she's a brilliant photographer :)



:D



Cheers Sharpie :D:thumbsup:



Cheers Simmo - Yes, I was all set to get a TAK 120 - in great condition too - but then Diego brought this weapon around for me to "test" with my camera.
I also remembered what Al Sam could do with his 10" in a short time, with this, my previous 30min subs became just 7mins, stars are round cnr to cnr, and the detail is fantastic! - so I bit the bullet and bought it off him!
Conveniently Clive was about to sell his NJP as well - so, here it all is.



Cheers Greg!

I plugged everything in last night it all just worked! Sky Safari talks to the mount, guiding looks even better than the EQ6 (which was excellent), and the camera/paracoor combo delivers the goods.

Andy & a Newt - who'da thunk it? Can't argue with imaging at f4 though :)

I'm a HUGELY relieved, very happy camper now - first light image coming soon - er, the Christmas thing takes precedence of course! :D

[Atmos]

That looks to be guiding very well!

I'm eagerly looking forward to the first light with your new kit :thumbsup:

[Andy01]

Quick link to first light HERE (www.astrobin.com/full/382405/0/)
(back to Christmas party now - LOL :)

[strongmanmike]

Well looki that :thumbsup: :)...aaand to recall some of the advice and suggestions given when you were looking to start this journey (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=160871&highlight=imaging+galaxies) 15 months ago...after a slightly false start...you look to have gotten there in the end ;)

Mike

[Andy01]

Yep, it’s all ringing in my ears now Mikey- you guys were 100% right! (-incl. Ray, Alsam, Diego, Simmo et al)- so happy to be right here right now :)
HUGE sigh of relief too...
David Bowie once said - “Go out in the deep end and when you’re feet can’t quite touch the bottom, you’re in a place to do something exiting” and to paraphrase Big Kev, I’m Exited! :D

[leon]

Top Photo indeed, congratulations.:question: but Santa hasn't been yet :shrug:
Enjoy:thumbsup:

Leon:thumbsup:

[kosborn]

Nice one Andy.


Weeks and weeks ago I ordered a carbon fibre 10" f/5 Newt from Diego and Paul. After a bit of a wait it arrived 2 days ago. I was looking forward to posting a first light image on IIS (with a promised credit to Diego and Paul). I'll still do that but it looks like the ST 'scopes have become a popular option so my image will probably be an "also ran..." amongst the other images posted on IIS. Regardless, it promises to be a great OTA and to quote Diego, "it was built with love and care". It's only been under the stars once (last night) to check collimation, coma and back focus. Images to come...


Kevin

[Slawomir]

Congratulations Andy, this is some serious imaging apparatus!