More silver dollars...

[Peter Ward]

Despite a 1/2 moon, managed to get a 'rittle bit more data last night.

Still somewhat noisy, but using the AO-8T I think helped (due a recently arrived Precise Parts adapter) keep things nice and tight.


Same link as before (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery269.html)

[gregbradley]

Beautifully tight stars. Really tight. Nice, you must be happy with the preliminary results from the AO.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Greg.

While I'd had that AO unit for a while, this is the first time I've used to AO-8T on the Honders.

Despite the lack of good guide star candidates, AO guiding was dead easy at 3Hz. It will be very interesting to see how the system goes at 10Hz or better.

Attached is a picture of the imaging train.

Everything is bolt-on, and hence there is *very* little room for error when specifying custom adapter length for use with the FLI focuser.

I breathed a sigh of relief when focus came in at almost exactly 1/2 of the FLI's travel range. :)

[naskies]

A dream image train! It's hard to tell from the photos, but it looks like the new AO-X is thinner than the AO-8 - or is that just a trick of perspective since it's also wider/longer?

[Peter Ward]

Ta. You are correct! The AO-X is thinner than the AO-8

(requiring yet more adapters :lol: )

[gregbradley]

Very nice. I thought it was the AOX unit. But the results speak for themselves. Are you expecting the newer AOX unit to perform even better than this AO-8T? I don't know a lot about AO units never having used one but I feel I am missing out on some extra performance because of that.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Oh for sure, AO works. Everything else being equal you get smaller FWHM's and about 25% higher stellar intensity profiles.

Performance of the AO-X I expect will be identical. Same software etc.

The STT based system (or STXL) is certainly easier to use due zero filter attenuation, but I expect the STX will easily eclipse the results I was getting from my earlier STL + AO-L

[ericwbenson]

Hi Peter,
Out of curiosity what is the image scale on the gallery image? It's cropped for sure, but also resized?
EB

[Peter Ward]

I normally just link to an external page due IIS file size limitations, so yes it is re-sized and the colour space is probably all over the shop :)

.... the external link has the correct colour profile and a bit more res.

[dvj]

Hi Peter,

Can you share with me the adapters and dims used? I want to do the same set up with my AP Honders. Private message is fine.

[alpal]

Great shot - nice to see the adaptive optics working.