First Light with ED127

[FlashDrive]

First Light with ED127
Took ED127 out in the yard last night .. bout' ...10.30pm ... Jupiter was very nice .. could easily see the " brown bands " across the planet .. and of course the moons just stood out like diamonds.

The air was very stable over Deception Bay last night ... very good " seeing " conditions.

Panned over to the Pleadies ( think that's how you spell it )... and boy .. what a sight it was ... using my 35mm Panoptic .. I got the whole lot " in the eyepiece ". It was beautiful.

The 2 speed focuser really brings " stars " to a nice pinpoint .. especially if you have " good quality " eyepieces.

I then changed to using Tak' eyepieces ... smaller FOV but the " darker " background that these eyepieces give you is very pleasing .. and again stars are " pin point "

Very pleased with this so far ... just need a decent mount... after a while, high cloud dampened any attempts to get a decent look at M42 ( Orion Neb' ) .. so back inside I went.

Flash ... :hi:

[Octane]

Congratulations.

I used to have one before I upgraded to Takahashi gear, and, it took very darn nice images on an APS-C sensor. It wasn't so good for a 35mm full frame as it showed horrible vignetting and spherical aberrations.

The focuser was a bit of a joke, too. For visual, though, I imagine it's fine.

Enjoy! It's a great value scope which should last you plenty, particularly for visual.

H

[FlashDrive]

Thanks H .... Nice to hear from a previous owner. :D

[Jen]

:D woohooo Colin hope you enjoy your new toy :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[wasyoungonce]

Hi Colin there are a few 127ED users on this forum...a good place to ask questions and quite a few good heads here.:thumbsup:

[FlashDrive]

Thanks to Jen ... yes indeedy ... nice toy alright...:D

Thanks also to Brendan ... aaaahhh ..!!! I see you have one :D

Flash :hi:

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup:Beautiful Flash ! , not much not to like ? aye mate .
What mount are you thinking of ? :question: i was wondering how heavy it is ?
Brian.

[Stardrifter_WA]

Very nice Flash ;). A 127ED or 152ED Explore Scientific is likely to be my very next telescope purchase, sometime in the near future.

What make is your 127?

Cheers Peter

[adman]

I was just about to start the exact same thread! Glad to hear you are liking your new purchase Colin.

I bought an ED127 triplet from a forum member several weeks ago, and with this and that I haven't really given it a good try-out. I had it out tonight for a spot of visual - just the moon and Jupiter - but jeeeez! the best views I have had of either object. Jupiter with a 5mm Takahashi LE eyepiece (giving about 190x) showed the 2 main bands very easily as well as some of the fainter ones. After an hour or so one of the moons peeked out from behind the planet and I watched its shadow transit across the disc - first time I have ever seen this! Just for a laugh I tried using the 5mm with my 2x GSO ED barlow - I could still see the moons shadow - but it washed out all but the 2 main bands.

The moon is impressive at 190x, and took the barlow well yielding more detail, but the seeing started to look like someone had cast the moon under a clear but very wobbly jelly. There was a little hint of colour if the focus was not spot on - but none if I focused right.

All in all - very impressed with the optics of this scope - it bodes well for some imaging!

Humayun - its nice to hear it goes well on the APS sensor. I have taken a couple of happy snaps with it, and have been surprised at the lack of off-axis aberrations. It is touch and go whether I am going to bother getting a flattener for it to use with my EOS.

Adam

[Octane]

Guys,

If you're interested in what this scope is like with an APS-C sensor (a modified Canon EOS-40D):

The Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) in Sculptor (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Cootamundra/Cootamundra_20090920_Sculptor.html)
The Pleiades (M45) in Taurus - Mark II (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Lostock/Lostock_20091016_M45.html)
The Diamond Cluster (NGC 2516) in Carina (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Belanglo/Belanglo_20091113_NGC_2516.html)
The Orion Nebula (M42), de Mairan's Nebula (M43) and The Running Man Nebula (NGC 1977) in Orion (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Cootamundra/Cootamundra_20090921_M42_M43_NGC_19 77.html)
NGC 4945 in Centaurus (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Snake_Valley/Snake_Valley_20100313_NGC_4945.html )
NGC 6188 in Ara - Mark II (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Snake_Valley/Snake_Valley_20100313_NGC_6188.html )
The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83) in Hydra (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Snake_Valley/Snake_Valley_20100313_M83.html)
The Lambda Centauri Nebula (IC 2944) in Centaurus (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Snake_Valley/Snake_Valley_20100314_IC2944.html)

And, one final one taken with my 5D Mark II:

Ptolemy's Cluster (M7) in Scorpius (http://members.optusnet.com.au/mrozycka/Manar/Manar_20100515_Ptolemy%27s_Cluster. html)

That has been heavily cropped, yet, you can still see the aberrations around the edges. Also, I've had to crop lots from the top and bottom (to retain a 3:2 aspect ratio) because of the vignetting from the focuser.

All-in-all, it is a wonderful scope. Just make sure you check your focus every 30 minutes, or, so, as it is very susceptible to showing chromatic aberration if not focused on the orange/red side of aberration.

H

[AdrianF]

An ex owner here. I managed to get some good photos throught the ED127, nothing I would publish though. I had someone in Rockhampton rebuild the focuser, he changed some of the internal friction plates(?) and modified the locking mechanism so it would hold the 350D safely.

Adrian

[FlashDrive]

H ... very nice photos there .
I am using mine purely for visual use ... and I don't know what all the " fuss " is about the Focuser ... mine is " smooth " to use.... quite a nice " feel " to it actually.... I'm happy :)

I could " lash out " and get a Moonlite ... maybe later on :D

Flash :hi: