Yes focus slop could be causing this with collimation on top. The baffle rings though are from the old baffles. Is this a new scope with the new baffle. The telescope should be an f8 not an f9. If you have an f9 scope you can either send the scope back or flock it yourself.
Paul - My GSO RC was F/8 and suffered the baffle rings and the earlier droopy focuser... The only GSO RC's that were F/9 were the initial pre-production 8", and the current line of 6"... None of the 8" production runs that made it to the open market were F/9.
Actually today I was told that all the second batch of 8" scopes that landed and were bought were f9 and not f8. The baffles were not replacable because the new scopes are f8. Many people thought that the first and second batch were in fact f8 but this is as I am told not true.
Looks like a focuser slop issue, or a collimation issue to me... The ETA shot looks a lot like focuser slop... make sure you lock up the focuser TIGHT when you're ready to image.. Real Tight!
I don't see how that is going to help with this type of focuser. My one works off a Linear Guideway.
I have replaced the focuser with a feather touch but will check the lock is on *tight* next time round (it was only 2 degrees and my fingers were feeling it!)
I have also not collimated the scope from receiving it, just on the fact if there is something wrong with it then I would like to say thats how I got it. Is collimating a scope reason to reject warranty due to modifying/changing its config?
needless to say the baffle problem raised its ugly head here and is going to affect imaging for sure down the track if its not fixed under warranty/modification.
This weekend more shots will be taken with the bahtinov mask on, located in all for corners of the field of view for comparison too.
My images from the 8" RC that I got (first one sold in Australia.) are a perfect match of the field of view indicators given in both The Sky 6 and Starry Night 6 Pro... In both these programs I'd set the camera as SBIG ST10XE and an 8" F/8 telescope.. Being that mine was the first purchased in the country, I would imagine then that this means that by what Paul has been told that mine was F/9. And both starry night and The Sky 6 mysteriously got their scaling wrong.. and both showed an F/9 field of view even though it was set up to show an F/8... Strange... Or maybe my cameras sensor was slightly bigger than all other KAF-3200 based sensor.. I dunno... Something tells me that maybe mine was an F/8.. But hey... Someone told Paul different, so they must be right...
If it makes you feel any better, thats a really nice image... I had a quick play with it in photoshop.. a slight curves and levels adjustment along with a very slight unsharp mask and that 253 really jumps out and wacks you in the face...
unless I've got my numbers wrong somewhere my image is matching the F9 version
I checked the FOV of your image as well and it's a F9. Did you get it from the first batch from Andrews? I hope it wasn't sold to you as an F8 / redesigned model.
OK here goes... GSO sends aus dealer wrong scopes (said they were F8) aus dealer sells them all as F8 (thats what they were told)
In light of this Lee has agreed to accept the scope as a return and replace it. When more 8" RC stock arrives well that will be is anyone's guess as is currently waiting on stock
Great news. Postage back to Lee should only be about $20, so I would take him up on this offer.
This mean you will get the redesigned baffle tube and a slightly faster scope.
I really want to know if the focuser was updated. Does anyone know?
Yes the new focusor has a metal bar running down it and makes for better focus control. Peter Ward has done an image with the new focusor and it held up the STL11K. So that should keep everyone happy.