NGC6188 in Ha

[gregbradley]

I took the AP Honders for a spin last weekend. Whilst Sydney had a miserable forecast and was threatening to rain my dark site was clear all night yet again.

This is one of several images I took. I got 2 clear nights out of 4 and a small part of another 2 nights which got clouded out.

I got the Precise Parts and Astrodon adapters I needed and I was a little nervous about whether it would come to focus with the FLI Atlas as it only has 10mm of travel so you have to be close. I double checked the measurements several times before I ordered but you never know.

Well it came to focus as you can see and its a beautiful accessory. So precise, strong and repeatable plus I like the way it remembers its last position and can return to it. Focusing once familiar with it did not take long and the scope seems to hold focus extremely well.

I did various little tweaks to the mounting of the scope as its quite heavy and even though under the capacity of the PMX the first use of it showed it needed to be mounted more firmly. So I added a dovetail to the top of the rings and I repositioned the versaplate of the PMX so all 3 of the tightening knobs were in play instead of 2. It made quite a difference and now round stars are usual.

I also tweaked the Polar Alignment which even though TPoint said it was spot on I was getting some drift and slightly eggy stars. I used PemPro's Polar Alignment wizard which at first made it worse! Then I went back and made sure the earlier steps of using it were done well and then I got the PA very tight with no more drift and round stars.

After replacing an autoguiding cable (I damaged one packing everything up) it was all stable.

So Sat night was very productive with a total of 7 hours of exposures done.

This is a new 5nm Ha filter as well.

10 minute subexposures the 12 inch F3.8 shows its stuff with a very quick accumulation of signal.

I have LRGB for this as well to follow.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/160124221/large
regular size


http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/160124221/original
large size.

I am thrilled with the performance of the scope. Its quite easy to use really.

Greg.

[Stevec35]

Looking very good indeed Greg! My ageing eyes can't fault the star images. The colour should be spectacular. As a matter of interest how long did you have to wait to get your RHA?

Cheers

Steve

[gregbradley]

Thanks Steve. I put my name down very early in the list's creation which I think was about 4 years ago. It was released at a NEAF so that would put it at April around 4 or 5 years ago.

Generally speaking the stars are perfect from the scope. If there are errors its from tracking (wind) or from slight imperfections in the mounting of my camera and filter wheel due to some mods I did to my filter wheel a little while ago. I have a 7 position filter wheel ordered to replace it.

The scope creates images that look like they are from an APO refractor.
Speed of gaining an image is very appealing given travel, weather etc.

I think ideally it would be mounted on a PME but the PMX is doing fine if everything is just so.

Greg.

[RickS]

Looks great, Greg!

[DJT]

Looking very good Greg. Enjoy!

[strongmanmike]

Weeeell displayed at what? 40% full size? :rolleyes: almost anything looks good Greggles :shrug:..come' on man, do a Davies and post full res dude :lol: :thumbsup:

Still, clearly looks bloody good...and that framing looks decidedly familiar ;)

Mike

[MGTechDVP]

Love the detail.. very crisp.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rick. It looks a lot like your AP140 image, you can tell they are both AP scopes.



Thanks David. I am learning how to get the most out of this scope.



I ain't hiding nutin. I'll post the full size file. I hope my connection to PBase will handle it.



Thanks for that. Seeing was reasonable. I've seen better but I've also seen worse. Although I don't think seeing is too much of an issue when its this widefield.

Greg.

[Bassnut]

mmm, gee, its a bit bright and compressed, not a lot of 3d effect there. The background is very high, I did a simple level tweak in PS and it popped.

[gregbradley]

Ah yes I see what you mean. Yes it does get more contrast.

Greg.

[Slawomir]

To me it looks lovely. Beautiful round stars to the edges. Cannot see anything wrong with the image, given the limited number of subs.

Just wondering, if a camera with an AO unit could help to take further advantage of telescope's exquisite optics... :)

[gregbradley]

Thanks Slawomir. I have an AO unit to use with the Trius where it will be needed. I think widefield and 1159mm an AO unit may not do much.

Greg.

[dvj]

Hmmm, Greg, I may have to get my RHA out of storage. Glad you like the Atlas. It believe it should be a standard factory option instead of the Feather Touch drawtube. Mounted to the 1200, I use the massive AP / Planewave dovetail plate and holder instead of the regular "D" series supports for this scope. Rock solid, but you loose some of the portability.

The Ha image looks very good.

jg

[gregbradley]

Thanks John. I have one of those 17 inch dovetail and holders for my CDK17. Yes it is a very solid unit. I got the AP 16 inch dovetail plate which is also very solid and not much smaller. The versaplate on the PMX though is not as solid as the Planewave one. I'll keep that in mind. I shifted my versaplate so all 3 anchor knobs engaged the dovetail plate and that made a difference. This was suggested to me by someone on this site (thank you!).
Regarding halos and reflections I did see one for the first time on Antares. I am wondering if the Precise Parts adapter needs a baffle as the AP focuser has 3 baffles inside it and I didn't see any halos when using that last time. Then again I wasn't imaging near Antares either!

Greg.

[dvj]

In my humble opinion the PMX is a bit undermounted for the RH, but you got it to work and that's all that matters. There's much to learn about fast systems. Very little margin for error anywhere. I think the Atlas will work out just fine for you.

[gregbradley]

Yes I agree the PMX is a tad under weight for the Honders. But if everything is just right it is working. It has no room for error though.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Bah! You just need that NJP (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/141334067/original) back Greg and you could have THIS (http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/141334127/original) easily ;) :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Hehehe. Yes the NJP is a good mount although I think your one is particularly good. My old one would've struggled with the weight but yes it could be made to do it. They seem to improve with age as the gears wear in more and more and get smoother.

Greg.

[Ross G]

So sharp and so much detail.

A great looking monochrome photo Greg.

It's getting better and better!

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Ross. Yes I am climbing the learning curve with this scope and getting the right gear together to complement it.

Greg.