Sort of first light ASA 16" f3.6

[alocky]

Well, a bit of a saga seems to be coming to an end!
I received my ASA 16" f3.6 newt back in April and stuck it on the DDM85 I had in my dome. I'd bought the mount here on ice in space and there had always been some questions about it, but once the 16" was mounted there was no doubt it had serious issues. So back to Austria for the mount, where a few bearings, connectors and suchlike were replaced and it has returned and is working perfectly. Except for a few issues around Win10's propensity to update drivers that pretty much requires a weekly ritual of going through and deleting and rolling back things even though you told Win 10 to never do this! Not the sort of thing you expect to do for a $20,000 mount, but to be fair, it's the astonishingly crap OEM software that causes the issue!
Anyway, once it was all back in the dome and cheerfully whizzing about under full control without hitting things, dropping USB ports, and other irritating symptoms the weather rolled in for five bloody weeks.
But last night everything worked. And I got a few hours on the Trifid. Minimal processing because I've forgotten how to do it.
Anyway, if anyone would like more detail on what these ASA thingys are like to live with, let me know and I shall post an honest review.
cheers
Andrew.

Astrobin version here!
http://www.astrobin.com/full/305846/0/?nc=user

[Atmos]

Well when things work they work Andrew! The four stars in its core are nicely four stars, colour is good and the nebulosity detailed :)

As for the DDM85 and Win10, I personally haven't had any issues with Win10 and my DDM60 on two different laptops.

[Octane]

You gotta be happy with that. Beautiful first light!

Are you going to get a corrector for the edges?

H

[alocky]

Hi H - there's a 3" Wynne corrector in there already, and as far as I can tell it's doing a pretty spectacular job! I've also got a Barlow corrector that will swap in and give me about 3m focal length.
Cheers
Andrew.

[atalas]

A great result Andrew :thumbsup: 16"@ f/3.6.....awesome!

[markas]

Hi Andrew,

Great first light!

Which version of Autoslew are you using? I don't use W10 - W7 is safer - but I understand that the driver problem has been fixed .... others, though not everyone, had similar problems with W10.

Regarding the Barlow corrector, if you are using a 16200 size sensor or larger, you will need to crop the edges - it only has ~28mm image circle. I have managed to push mine out to ~35mm by fiddling the backfocus, but focusing becomes a bit of a nightmare!

Mark

[strongmanmike]

An excellent and natural looking Trifid image Andrew :thumbsup:...certainly better than my first light with my ASA N12 all those years ago ;) :lol:. Good to hear that you sound like you have the new system sorted, it is certainly a very capable outfit, I look forward to the images to come :)

Mike

[RickS]

Nice first light, Andrew! The jet and small pillar aren't terribly visible. Is that down to poor seeing?

Cheers,
Rick.

[alocky]

Hi Rick,
They're pretty clear in the subs - so they've probably been hit by overzealous stretching. I managed another few hours last night with the AF working, so hopefully I can bring them back.
Cheers
Andrew.

[alocky]

Thanks Mike - my only criticism so far is the commonly repeated one around software and support, but the OTA arrived in perfect shape, and holds focus and collimation very well. The mount has some unusual 'features' but can deliver exquisite accuracy when everything works.
Cheers
Andrew.

[RickS]

That's good, Andrew. I'd expect great resolution from that 16" once everything is dialed in.

[alocky]

Thanks Mark, it's a QSI683 with the 3" Wynne at the moment. I only went for the Barlow because I'm going to try some time-lapse planetary imaging through it.
I've got the most recent copy of autoslew, but only recently has Win 10 taken to updating the FTSI USB drivers. I had a year while I was using this mount with my 10" Meade without a single drama. Typical!

[alocky]

Thanks Louie - it sure fills my little dome!

[Peter Ward]

A great result! Looking forward to seeing more, from what is clearly a top-shelf piece of kit. :thumbsup:

[Octane]

That'll teach me to look at my computer screen without my glasses. :)

H

[gregbradley]

Congrats Andrew and well done on overcoming the gremlins.
A fabulous first image and I am also looking forward to more to come.

Greg.

[alocky]

Thanks Peter, It wasn't an easy decision and I've only gone the ultra-fast route because I have a suspicion it will help with the light pollution. Fortunately you've already show what can be achieved even under the city lights.

Thanks Greg, I'm hoping to be able to get some quantity and quality data now!

[alocky]

Had me worried for second :lol: The corrector has almost as much glass in it as my Takahashi FSQ, and it's supposed to deliver stars smaller than my pixels out to 50mm!

[cometcatcher]

Wow that's fantastic. Wish I could take DSO's with my 16".

[Slawomir]

Looks great Andrew - it certainly is a very capable instrument. Star shapes are very good :thumbsup:

Have you considered getting Win 10 Pro version? - you can delay Windows making updates for months.

[alocky]

Thanks Suavi! I'm hoping after nearly three years of delays, problems, damaged optics and repairs I've finally got a keeper.
I use Win 10 pro since I remote up into the dome from my desk (right near my whisky storage!) and have disabled driver updates, told it to never install OS updates unless I OK it: But it seems to reset these values after I do install an update, and treats the settings as 'informal guidelines'!
The drivers issue is only recent, and it's like a virus - once you get the newer package even downloaded there are about 10 different bits of software trying to install them as soon as you turn your back...
I used to be a sys-admin back in the days of the Sun Ultra and Solaris. I wish I had that level of control over my computer these days!!

[alpal]

Hi Andrew,
that's a spectacular picture for your first light.
I would look forward to a review of the scope & mount.
I'd like to see how they mount the mirror.
Did you use the lodestar guider or rely upon the DDM85 accuracy?

cheers
Allan

[DaveNZ]

Andrew, you would be happy with that effort. Good to see you have most of the issues sorted out with the mount.

If you could do a review at some stage that would be great. I have always been interested in ASA tech. There seems to be a bit of negative stuff on the forums so it's difficult to get a handle on how their mounts/OTAs perform.

[multiweb]

Looks like a keeper Andrew. :thumbsup: 16" F/3. What a beast! :eyepop: The field and correction look great.

[alocky]

Cheers! The only negative of the focal ratio is the vignetting caused in the QSI's filterwheel, but it's manageable. But you can almost hear the photons being sucked into it..



Thanks Dave, I've written one in the equipment section, and happy to answer any questions I can. The tech and hardware are first rate, as you'd expect from people who build observatory class instruments all over the world. The support at the amateur end of the product line, and particularly software would have to be the weakest point.


At some point I'll have to remove the mirror and give it a clean - so I'll post pictures then. It's not a simple operation and I believe the cell is a full flotation system.

[SimmoW]

Congrats Andrew, look like it's a keeper and well worth the long wait. You're very patient!

[DJT]

Great first light there. Per Colin, nice to see the stars in the centre fully resolved.

Congrats on the kit and coming through the teething dramas. Looks like it's going to be a great setup
:thumbsup:

[alocky]

I am - I also have a long memory and a very long reach :-)


Thanks! - I was pleased to get two stars with the old 10", but 4 was a nice surprise! Still got a way to go before I've got it humming along, but the biggest problem is the weather now!

[marc4darkskies]

A very respectable first light indeed! :thumbsup: Nice work Andrew! I'm suspecting you've been a little over zealous with smoothing/noise reduction(??). That would explain the lack of clarity on the jet & the pillar. In any case, the overall the resolution & correction look fine to me.

Looking forward to new iterations with more data.

[alocky]

Hi Marcus, thanks for that! I had another go at it and was able to get the jet and the pillar back, but at the expense of bloating the stars a little. The main culprit was the masked stretch process in PI, as I don't recall using any noise reduction tools in the main workflow at all. But the clouds have moved back in for at least another month now, so once I've ironed out some of my problems with flats, I'll do it again from scratch. F3.6 is extremely finicky about flats through the small filters in a QSI683!