New toy

[spiezzy]

hi all
just picked up my new GSO (Bintel) 10" Truss Newtonian Astrograph and wow what a beauty .
this scope is the only 10" I know of in OZ they have 2 12" versions that they got in to have a look at the OTA I picked up yesterday is very impressive and well built cant wait to pop it on the G11 and give it a run it has a 10" quartz mirror with aluminium coatings and is F4 and a Hugh secondary .
I would like to say a big thanks to Don , Michael and David from Bintel very pleasant do deal with and Michael sat down with me and went threw the scope with me and gave me a big run down on the history and development of it .
at $2399 a well worth investment for such a big scope and well suited to large format CCD and DSLRs and very easy to collimate to boot .
I will follow up with a first light report as soon as this Gale force winds go away
cheers Pete :rofl::eyepop:

[MortonH]

Surely the wind blows right through the truss and doesn't affect it? :P

[spiezzy]

yep but I think 70klm gusts will thou but hopefully it will die down tonight and I can give it ago .
going down to the POD and going to sit it on the G11 now and get it ready
im like a little kid at Xmas at the moment :lol:

[LightningNZ]

Choice! Any chance of photos?
-Cam

[MortonH]

Without pictures it doesn't exist!

[spiezzy]

As requested here is my new baby :thanx:

[MortonH]

Very nice!!!

[spiezzy]

thanks MortonH cant wait to see the images it will produce .
cheers Pete

[Atmos]

Looks like you may want to get some Bobs Knobs :)
What is the stock focuser like?

[Barnacle]

It's a masterpiece!

Pete, must be the long overdue Xmas in July pressie for you!:lol:

Every Congrats! Hope you get to deploy it and see first light soon soon.

Kind regards,

Bill

[StuTodd]

These scopes are very impressive to look at, good price too!
As Colin said, a set of "Bobs knobs" would go a treat on there. :)

[spiezzy]

hi Guys
I do agree with Colin a set of Bobs Knobs would be great and will get some further down the track .
I managed to sneak out for an hour tonight and did some quick imaging tests and was quite impressed I have a Baader MPCC installed for coma correction but still noticed some coma in the corners should the MPCC correct it right to the edge ?
anyway a bit of cropping did the trick I guess at f4 I can't expect miracles with coma .
the scope holds collimation well I had to install a extension tube to get focus but once I did this it snapped into focus and it has a very big FOV nice not to used a focal reducer .
with the Sbig STF8300C there is no viginetting at all .
I guess the only thing that bothered me was the coma even with the MPCC
as soon as I get more time and have a proper session I will post some proper images .
cheers Pete :thumbsup::thanx:

[spiezzy]

Well solved the coma problem it was the spacing between the MPCC and the chip just needed a 25mm and 14mm spacer to make up the 55mm spacing for the MPCC on the Sbig STF8300C thanks Michael from Bintel .
now I should have perfect stars across the field :thumbsup:
as soon as it is all going again I will post some images but got to say I love this scope even with the coma the image in the centre was very crisp and sharp .
and the G11 handles the weight very easily and a big bonus is I use a William Optics mini guider and the guiding on PHD2 is superb compared to the LX200 SCT at one instance on my test I got a 10min exposure guided and the stars are perfectly round .
one other thing I will get is a light shroud stray light can be a issue with such long exposures .
the wind was blowing at around 35klm to 40klm last night and even thou I am in a POD observatory it did no affect it imaging as it used to with the SCT
more to follow
cheers Pete :)

[AEAJR]

What is the difference between a telescope and an Astrograph?

[Ghen]

Astrographs are designed specifically for photography, so will have ample back focus, and are generally quite fast, i.e. a lower F ratio than a similar aperture visual scope

[Hisanori]

Hi Pete! Thanks for the trade another day! It was very nice meeting you! I decided to get NEQ6 from Bintel (I haven't told them yet ha ha). As recommended Bintel seems the place I should get my new mount ;) Your observatory was impressive! And such a nice dark location. Looking forward seeing you new photos from your Astrograph.
Cheers, Hisanori

[spiezzy]

Hi all I have been able to get out Last Night it was a bit windy but I got a chance to do a quick couple of images for a test this is with the new Baader MPCC 111 .
a couple of things I need a light shroud to stop scattered light hitting the mirror and I need Light Box for flats (these images do not have flats subtracted )
and a motor focuser which is coming as with the light shroud .
but all in all I was quite happy with the results a lot more data would have been better but time didn't allow .
still getting this working properly but this scope was well worth the money
Comet 53P Van Biesbroeck is a 14th Mag comet and 5 or 10 min subs would have been great Plus I think focus was a bit out .
cheers Pete

ps M16 was 10 x 3 min
comet was 10 x 2 min

[Rac]

Nice scope!

One thing I can notice from looking a your test shots is what the MPCC mk3 is doing. Some will think its a collimation thing but even with it collimated perfectly you will still find the same thing with the stars. You will notice a bloated look and they are not as small and round as they should be.

With my 10" f4 I struggled for months before finding the problem and it was with the MPCC, I had both the mk2 and mk3 and both had the same problem. When I changed to a Televue Paracorr type 2 everything became perfect and it is way less sensitive to tilt.

Here's an example from my scope between the MPCC and Paracorr. The Paracorr 1 works great too if you could find one used. Even things other than stars look heaps better.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/46302893@N02/14033952529/in/dateposted-public/

[spiezzy]

thank you for the advice Raymond much appreciated I will look into that
nice images you have well done
cheers Pete :thanx:

[spiezzy]

hi Hisanori hope all is good with your new mount and SCT it was great meeting you as well stay in touch
cheers Pete

[DaveNZ]

Do you know if the optics and the mirror cell is the same as the steel tube OTAs.

I would mind seeing an image of the mirror end oft the OTA - many thanks

[spiezzy]

hi Dave no they are not the steel tube version is pyrex the new truss version is quartz I am trying to get down and do some serious imaging with this scope but work is over riding it at the moment but hopefully tomorrow night it will be clear and I can get down to it
cheers Pete :thumbsup:

[DaveNZ]

Very interesting. Good luck with your testing.

I bought the metal 10" f4 version and upgrade the tube to carbon, focuser to the 2.5" Moonlite and added Bobs knobs etc. It doesn't hold collimation very well when you move the scope a reasonable distance. Also focus still changes quite a bit with a 2C temp change. I am always refocusing.

I will be interested in seeing how you get on with your testing.

Cheers Dave