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  #21  
Old 07-05-2019, 02:57 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Peter
Some more information on collimating a Newtonian Telescope
Some practical advice with diagrams

Go to Starizona.com

Cheers
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  #22  
Old 07-05-2019, 03:37 PM
bluesilver (Peter)
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Thanks for the link, explains what i am trying to chase down.
It tells me if the focuser drawtube is not centred in the secondary mirror reflection, while everything else appears centred, a longitudinal adjustment is required (longitudinal error)

I have the secondary mirror up as high as i can possible get it, so it would then assume that i will need to undo the primary mirror screws and lower it down as far as it can go and go from there, that is about the only thing left to move.
At least i know know what was causing this effect.
Thanks.
Peter.
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  #23  
Old 08-05-2019, 03:10 AM
Renato1 (Renato)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesilver View Post
So from the sounds of things so far, as a few have advised me, my eye pieces i am trying to use for DSO's are not right, i need wider ones, around the 25 mm.
That helps explain a lot to start with.

The only issue with planets that are letting me down and this could just be my setup / collimation, i am using the laser collimation tool for this.
Adjust the secondary mirror until red dot is in centre of primary, then adjust primary until red dot disperses in middle of collamination tool, back to secondary and make sure it is in centre of primary.

When i view Jupiter, i can't quiet get a good clear image, slightly fuzzy, but can see the moons around it as stars.
With Saturn, it is a little fuzzy and although i can see the rings, i can't really see the individual rings.


Thanks.
Peter.
Hi Peter,
Sorry to come in at this late stage. The image you describe of Jupiter and Saturn is extremely poor.

Your telescope's specs says it is f/4.7.

Firstly, I disagree completely with the notion that for DSOs you need a 25mm eyepiece. That's okay for the bigger DSOs - where you want to get the whole object inside the field of view. Otherwise, for typical galaxies an eyepiece that delivers a 2mm exit pupil is best - which means the eyepiece closest to 4.7x2= 9.4mm. So, a 9mm or 10mm eyepiece would do well.

For the small class of DSOs which are faint open clusters, I personally find a 3mm exit pupil better = 4.7x3= 14.1mm eyepiece.

Secondly, with respect to collimation. If you aim at a bright star and throw it out of focus, you may be lucky and see a bulls-eye pattern. The bulls-eye pattern has to be concentric if your telescope is in collimation, and the telescope is pretty easy to collimate when the bulls-eye pattern is off centre/non-concentric.

But in my 14.5" dob f/4.5, the bulls-eye pattern does not come out. But it can be made to come out by making an aperture mask. Grab a piece of cardboard, or big piece of plastic (like from a large folder) and cut out an aperture mask to fit over your telescope. Draw a 10" circle on it, then draw a concentric circle the size of your secondary mirror on it. Then draw a circle whose diameter is between the 10" mirror and the secondary, and cut it out. Either affix the apreture mask to the front of the telescope with tape, or use lots of tape to make a mounting for it such that it slides over the front of the telescope tube.

Aim at a bright star, throw it out of focus, and you should have a nice bulls-eye pattern which, if skewed to one side or the other, you adjust the three knobs or screws behind the primary mirror to collimate, and get the bullseye pattern centered. The aperture mask will always be useful - on nights when the atmosphere is bad and the planets are not sharp, putting on the apeture mask will sharpen them dramatically (but you lose resolution).

Hopefully you have an annulus or at least a black dot stuck accurately to the middle of the primary mirror - without which your Cheshire eyepiece would be useless.

If your Cheshire says it is collimated, but you don't have a concentric bulls-eye pattern from the aperture mask - that suggests that the centre mark on your primary is in the wrong position.

From your description, your Cheshire has the cross hair on it as well. My one doesn't - instead it just relies on the dark spot of the secondary being perfectly concentric within the black annulus in the middle of my main mirror. Does that happen with your telescope?

Regards,
Renato

P.S. The poor images of Jupiter and Saturn you describe are also exactly the same as what I had the other night with my 5" Mak for an hour or so before it cooled down. Something similar also happened in my refractor when I was viewing Jupiter over my house with the heater going, though there one can see a blurry bit heading off to one direction. So make sure you have given your telescope a chance to cool down, and try avoid looking over your or neighbours' houses with heaters going (or air-conditioners going in summer).

Last edited by Renato1; 08-05-2019 at 11:25 AM.
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  #24  
Old 13-05-2019, 09:35 AM
bluesilver (Peter)
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Hi, Looks like i finally got some clear skies to test out my Collimation, It turned out that the laser collimator was a bad unit, was way out even after collimating it.
Got things spot on with the chesiere and i was reading too much into the collimation process, found a simpler way of doing things.
But looking at Jupiter, everything was crystal clean, even could see the bands around it.
But if i i was looking to do a little bit of astophotrapraghpy on the planets,
I was looking for a better suited scope than my current 10 inch Dobsonian,
I was looking between either the Skywatcher Black Diamond 120/900 ED
or the Skywatcher Black Diamond 180/2700 Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope.
Would both be a very good choice or one better suited to planetary astrophotagraphy that the other?
Thanks again.
Appreciated.
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  #25  
Old 13-05-2019, 10:37 AM
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Atmos (Colin)
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The 180/2700 would be better suited to planetary AP due to the larger aperture, longer native focal length and better colour correction (largely reflective rather than an ED doublet).
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  #26  
Old 13-05-2019, 10:38 AM
raymo
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The SW 180 Mak is very good indeed for planetary, as good as you are going
to get in a relatively mass produced scope. It will resolve smaller details
than the 120/900 due to its much greater aperture.
raymo
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  #27  
Old 13-05-2019, 01:18 PM
bluesilver (Peter)
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Thanks for the replies, appreciated.
I would also need a good decent mount for it also,
Now just have to figure out what would be the best mount for the scope.
Any suggestions is appreciated, Sorry for all these questions by the way.
It is appreciated.
Thanks.
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  #28  
Old 13-05-2019, 03:15 PM
raymo
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The Skywatcher HEQ5 equatorial mount is a good fit, and the two sometimes come as an advertised package. The HEQ5 also has the advantage of not
suffering from field rotation, if you should decide to do some deep sky
imaging at some time in the future.
raymo
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  #29  
Old 14-05-2019, 07:05 AM
bluesilver (Peter)
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Thanks for the reply and advice.
It is appreciated.
Peter.
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  #30  
Old 20-05-2019, 01:55 AM
TareqPhoto (Tareq)
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My images from Skywatcher 180mm Mak

https://i.postimg.cc/65T668wk/22-36-40-lapl6-ap67.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/pVQ7mTZm/01-29-...l6-ap89-25.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/qvZg55Km/03-03-16-lapl3-ap193.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/SN604trF/22-20-...p15-conv-a.jpg
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  #31  
Old 20-05-2019, 04:03 AM
Ukastronomer (Jeremy)
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You don't say HOW you imaged, what was used and the seeing
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  #32  
Old 20-05-2019, 09:28 PM
TareqPhoto (Tareq)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ukastronomer View Post
You don't say HOW you imaged, what was used and the seeing
Ok, all of above are common with 2 things, same scope and same mount

Skywatcher Skymax 180mm Maksutov
SW AZ-EQ6

But i used 2 cameras, or maybe 3 cameras, but cameras isn't the main factor here as it is about telescope for visual and for imaging, so any camera can be fine, i have 3 cameras to use for the moon, all are ZWO"
ASI385MC
ASI290MM
ASI174MM

And later i am adding a forth camera on time hopefully.

The seeing was poor.
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  #33  
Old 01-07-2019, 04:30 PM
frenchy7322 (Jarrod)
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Hi Peter,

Random question, but are you on the NW coast?
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  #34  
Old 03-07-2019, 06:47 PM
bluesilver (Peter)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frenchy7322 View Post
Hi Peter,

Random question, but are you on the NW coast?
Hi frenchy7322 , yes i am
Devonport area
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  #35  
Old 04-07-2019, 02:55 PM
frenchy7322 (Jarrod)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesilver View Post
Hi frenchy7322 , yes i am
Devonport area
Oh nice, I'm in Burnie and very new to it all (currently shopping for my first scope). Let me know if you ever go out for a look and want a buddy! And if you plan to sell your 10" dob...
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  #36  
Old 04-07-2019, 05:05 PM
bluesilver (Peter)
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Will do for sure.
I am still looking at a larger Dob, but no decision made yet.
One thing you should do an i highly recommend it, is to go to this years Tastrofest
It was in Ulvestone last year and highly recommend attending the Lectures, sounds boring, but very interesting and they make it entertaining.
I will be there for sure
https://www.tastrofest.com/
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