Hehehehe, hmmm, Cent A may've just shot to the top of the list! Although looking at your collaborative image again its really an exquisite image and likely to be a benchmark for a long time - like the 15 minute barrier in the Men's 1500mm freestyle lasted.
Greg.
Yeah, but it took two of us...you have the equipment to do it all by yourself
You must be pretty excited to get it onto something, anything! ...we all wait with bated breath
Just an update. I have started imaging with the Honders even though I am waiting on a couple of adapters so I can fit a FLI Atlas focuser to the imaging train.
I managed to mount it fine but its a bit of a struggle being a solidly built scope. After I got it all set and started to home the mount the penny dropped - oh, the scope is facing the wrong way. Oh no.
So I had to take it off, turn the saddle around and remount it with more grunt and puff.
Balance was no real problem.
Even though the scope has a feathertouch microfocuser and its a superbly made AP focuser with stainless steel drawtube this scope is extremely precise and focuses in a very small critical focus zone. Manual focus is somewhat challenging and I am only getting it quite close but not perfect. Hence the Atlas that is about to be used. I can see this as being a necessity on this scope. It certainly snaps to focus though - wow, getting sharper, sharper and then the graph tends to suddenly spike. The microfocuser does not really have tiny enough shifts to optimise that but that's the Atlas focuser's job once fitted.
The scope has some nice touches such as removable back plates to air the primary mirror and help with cooldown. Also the dewshield is extremely well made with a clever system of attaching. The inside of the scope plus the inside of the dewshield is flocked with a very high quality flocking and incredibly neatly done.
No sign of any large halos around bright stars so far that I have seen in some Honders images. I notice there is a flange about 5mm high around the end of the secondary mirror shroud. It sticks outwards. No doubt that would help. So not sure if I will encounter them on super bright star scenes like Horsehead or if Roland has modified the scope to suppress haloing. It seems baffling is often an area scopes are worked on after they have been around for a while.
Dew does not seem to be an issue and the thermal blankets it comes with work well. There has been some slight dewing on the corrector plate though first thing in the morning but nothing showed in any images so I assume it must have been after dawn. I intend to use some dew straps though (never used them before).
The scope seems also very sensitive to CCD squareness. The little tilt tip adapter on the SX Trius camera was a bit off from my last use and it showed heavily in the focusing images. I fixed that mostly but still a tad more adjustment required. It seems somewhat unforgiving of that.
The Proline was happy though with good stars.
12 inch F3.8 has the main advantage of a bright image fast. Wow, subs look very bright and detailed in a fraction of the normal time.
I'd estimate this scope is 3X times faster than my refractors and about 1.5 times faster than a fast Tak BRC250 F5 I used to use.
Its not far from my CDK17 at F4.5 (hard to compare slightly light polluted sites to my dark site where everything looks better).
Focus does not appear to shift appreciably over the course of the night. I will be implementing autofocus periodically but comparing star sizes over a 4 hour period they did not seem to change too much that would not be accounted for beyond going lower in the sky.
This scope will be incredible at narrowband imaging. A 20 minute 1x1 Ha image (new 5nm Ha filter) of a dim LMC neb was really bright.
The PMX is handling the scope but I think a new Tpoint model is needed as this scope with gear on it is nudging 30kgs +. Some autoguiding is not as good as what I was getting last with the AP140. Tweaking the Polar Alignment is needed as there is some drift between subs. I am not sure if TPoint is more accurate than Pempro polar alignment.
I will be able to post an image shortly I hope.
I'll take some photos of the scope on the mount and post them later as well.
A very interesting read and your experience surely goes against what some people might think- that if you get a high end gear everything is super easy. I feel that quality gear helps to elevate experience and skills to new impossible before levels
Looking forward to further updates and to seeing your new astro-photos.
Interesting read! I think you absolutely need a new T-Point model for this scope and equipment. But, be sure to save your old model to re-use with the AP140. All you need to do is a short recalibration into the old model and you are good to go. The old model certainly contains a lot of terms that would be completely wrong with the new scope.
Interesting read! I think you absolutely need a new T-Point model for this scope and equipment. But, be sure to save your old model to re-use with the AP140.
Peter
Somehow I doubt Rick will be giving him back the AP140! Hehe
A very interesting read and your experience surely goes against what some people might think- that if you get a high end gear everything is super easy. I feel that quality gear helps to elevate experience and skills to new impossible before levels
Looking forward to further updates and to seeing your new astro-photos.
Its a precision instrument for sure and requires precision handling. I am starting to get used to it now. I have imaged over three days now with it. I was surprised at how easily I picked it up and put it back in its case. Getting it out of the car though - wow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobF
Yep, some photos would be nice to drool over.
Sounds like pure astro-porn
Coming up shortly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PRejto
Hi Greg,
Interesting read! I think you absolutely need a new T-Point model for this scope and equipment. But, be sure to save your old model to re-use with the AP140. All you need to do is a short recalibration into the old model and you are good to go. The old model certainly contains a lot of terms that would be completely wrong with the new scope.
Peter
(PS Thanks for the package!)
Thanks for the lend. Yes a new T-point model for sure is needed.
Now I have to figure out why T-point wouldn't link images. It was before. Oh well. more problems to solve!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidTrap
Somehow I doubt Rick will be giving him back the AP140! Hehe
DT
Thanks for reminding me. I only stopped crying about it yesterday!!!
Loving the updates Greg, Such a beauty of a scope! Out of interest, are you using the top clamp/dovetail screw on that versa plate or just the bottom 2?
Loving the updates Greg, Such a beauty of a scope! Out of interest, are you using the top clamp/dovetail screw on that versa plate or just the bottom 2?
The bottom 2. The top 1 I screw all the way in to prevent a slip out. I noticed the knob has a hexagonal hole in the centre so you can tighten using Allen keys. So I did. A nice feature to make sure everything is snug.
The bottom 2. The top 1 I screw all the way in to prevent a slip out.
Greg.
How will it slip out the top? unless you point bellow the horizon (maybe working on the focuser? I would like to suggest, your pointing will be better if you use all 3 screws, I'm sure of that. I noticed less movement of my full length dovetail on my scope when i used all 4 plungers on the ME as opposed to just 3. Just had to add some weight to the versa plate at the front to get the Dec to balance.
How will it slip out the top? unless you point bellow the horizon (maybe working on the focuser? I would like to suggest, your pointing will be better if you use all 3 screws, I'm sure of that. I noticed less movement of my full length dovetail on my scope when i used all 4 plungers on the ME as opposed to just 3. Just had to add some weight to the versa plate at the front to get the Dec to balance.
Josh
Good tip. I 'll look at shifting that around. I think I got that wrong, it was the bottom knob that screwed in. Pointing wasn't too bad - a bit off. Not a problem with the Proline as its a large FOV. With the Trius it was a bit off with its smaller FOV. Autoguiding though wasn't so great which surprised me as the last I used the mount with the AP140 it was spectacularly good. The heavier load is showing up its not perfect. I think the Polar Alignment needs to be tweaked. Balance was perfect. It had been raining recently so perhaps its shifted a tad. I noticed drift between subs so the PA is out a little.
Also the scope requires the camera to be very very square otherwise you get some odd shaped stars in the corners. My tilt tip adapter on the Trius was off.
Precise focus is another thing that I wasn't able to achieve manually although I got it pretty close. I am sure it can get closer with the Atlas focuser. It really is quite a small critical focus zone. Its the fastest scope I have ever used (F5 Tak BRC and my CDK 17 with reducer is F4.5 are the 2nd fastest).
I should look up exactly what a Riccardi Honders is. It looks a lot like an SCT with a corrector but its more than that with a different shaped corrector plate and mirrors with a corrector lens of some type. The mirror coating is on the underside of the primary mirror glass which is very unusual. I guess it can't get dirty or degrade there.
Greg.
Last edited by gregbradley; 30-04-2015 at 04:33 PM.
Wow. Seeing the big FLI filter wheel against it really emphasises the size of the beast. Thanks for sharing some pics Greg. Work of art
It feels like its the work of a perfectionist who has a real passion for scope making. It is fairly large but almost half of that is the dew shield and without that its quite stubby!
