Back on the Horse

[Andy01]

Long time no image! :)

Been busy travelling interstate. Presented at Astrofest in QLD, Judged AIPP Pro Photo awards in Sydney & visited "The Dish" - Parkes as part of the Apollo 11, 50th anniversary/David Malin Awards.

During this imaging hiatus, I decided to refurbish my gear, so it all looks as nice as it performs. I sent the Tube rings & mirror cells, Tak NJP mount & new ioptron tri-pier legs off to the powdercoaters for a custom recoat in new silver, gold & black colours inspired by Apollo 11.

Of course, the mount & 'scope had to be completely disassembled, masked, coated & reassembled so I'm grateful to my ASV colleagues Diego & Clive for their kind assistance with this project.

Here is a quick test shot of NGC 2070 & friends in LHaRGB with the Stellarvue Sv70t & recently refurbished Tak NJP mount. 2 hrs Ha & 2 hrs RGB from my light polluted suburban Melbourne backyard.

Processed in Astropixel processor & PS CC 2019 using all the HA & RGB subs as synthetic LUM, blended with Ha using the Marco Method. (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=138473)
Overall I'm very happy (and relieved) with the mount's performance! Hopefully the clouds clear soon to try it out with the 10" Newt.

There's a large one HERE (https://www.astrobin.com/jcno3z/0/) and some photos of the shiney new refurbished gear and a before shot for those who enjoy Astroporn :D

[gregbradley]

Wow, your gear is stunning. What a great job of restoring it.

A nice image as well.

Greg.

[Atmos]

Looks awesome Andy!!
If you wanted to with that colour design it would be easy to go the whole Steampunk look ;)

[Andy01]

Thanks Greg, wasn't sure if the TAK purists would approve of the colour scheme, but it seems to have been universally accepted with approval :)



Lol, cheers Col - might leave the steampunk look for Mental4Astro (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=166650&highlight=steampunk) :lol:

[LewisM]

Surely that SV would balance without any CW on that chunky shaft? :P

I still reckon you should have gone purple with the gold - that whole 70's pimp look :) :lol:

(just kidding - it does look good, but I am leaving my EM200 baby chunder green)

[Geoff45]

Hard to go past that one for composition and interesting detail.
Great image!
Geoff

[strongmanmike]

You clearly struggled under the light pollution and looks like you had to push the somewhat limited data but not a bad result none the less Andy :thumbsup: have a star :D... BUT for desecrating the holy Tak green, please say three Hail Mary's and four Our Fathers and go straight to bed! :scared: :mad2:

:lol:..kidding, looks good :thumbsup:

Mike

[Andy01]

Maybe I should go full Austin Powers next time :lol:



Thanks Geoff, this one probably needs a lot more time, but thanks for the nice comments :thumbsup:



Robin: “Holy Tak green Batman! He’s done the unthinkable!”
Batman: (slaps Robin) “Quiet or everyone will want one just like it!”

Cheers Mike :D

[The_bluester]

Great to see it all back together.

Now to help you sort cable management out so you can automate it (Including focus) and let it do meridian flips while you are in bed.