Thanks everyone for the positive comments. It's a lovely little field that I could easily spend another 20 hours imaging. The some of the fainter galaxies only just starting showing detail in the last few hours of the luminance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Nice job Paul, both this and Rays awesome result show pretty clearly that one simply does not need an expensive RC or even a traditionally long focal length scope to produce a cracker galaxy image  ...have I said that before...   ...sorry  besides the greater speed also tends to mean exposures measured in dozens of hours, are not necessary either.
Mike |
Yep I am sold on the fast Newt small pixel combo. I really do like the speed aspect. Coupled with a half decent image scale it makes life a lot easier when imaging. However, I do not really like taming the tilt or gravity induced movement in the secondary assembly (something that GSO needs to get sorted in their next lot of scopes. The secondary cage is under engineered by miles and not suitable for off the shelf imaging event with a QSI). Something the RC does not suffer from fortunately, though it has its own issues.
I think that both systems have their strengths and weaknesses which I will be reminded of when I commission the RC back into the dome (the Newt will be in the roll off roof). Then I will have to be patient with collecting data with RC and use the speed boat for doing fainter stuff.
Overall I am a happy camper with the Newtonian. If I could afford a bigger
Hercules Newtonian with the rotating secondary I would snap it up in a minute and do away with the RC altogether.
