Another aussie joop

[davidpretorius]

http://southcelestialpole.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=3127.0

For you joop guys that may not visit the SCP forum, Paul Haese got a rippa this morning.....gees Zac, Mike, Bird, John K and now Paul are pulling out the big ones!!! This was with the c9.25, not the newly arrived 18" "General"

My little surface pitted 10" primary mirror is not performing well at all.......hmmmmmm will it be a new 12" or 16"???

Zak, John and Mike have produced the goods with the 12"????

[ving]

silky smooth dave... that mans got talent :)

[davidpretorius]

yup those fearsome 5 are producing world class images at the moment!

[ving]

we gunna see more from you too dave? we know you are quite the talent too :)

[davidpretorius]

hmmmm not sure, the pitted primary has me worried, I know seeing is king, but my images from last year were much better. Even if i look at Antares, i can see the blue blob of its bro, but i am not getting sharp resolution. Collimation is always checked, and mirror temp is as good as it gets........hopefully it is just seeing

[rogerg]

It's like amateurs have suddenly got access to space probe images or something.. the quality of these planetary images, the amazing fine detail that's visible... it really is hard to believe this stuff comes from amateur scopes.

[John K]

Dave go for gold and make us and your country proud with a 16" monster if you can afford it.....large aperture, active peltier cooling, your LUM075 camera, filter wheel etc etc......I am just drooling thinking about what a system like that could produce!

p.s. with active cooling I think size will rule those amateur planetary skies

And yes, Paul's image this morning was excellent. I can't wait to see what he'll do with his 18" scope

[bird]

Cooling a large mirror is not for the faint of heart - I have enough trouble keeping my 13.1" under control, and the 18" will have 2x the glass...

cheers, Bird

[John K]

Totally agree Anthony, you are 100%, and I know I am side tracking a bit but this could help:

http://www.rfroyce.com/conical/

16" conical mirror from Royce.

(Sorry, have propably side tracked this thread)

[davidpretorius]

:( $3333 for a 14.5 conical mirror like birds 13.1

but geez, these look sexy! ( http://astronomy-mall.com/regular/products/cpt/ )

[Zac Pujic]

Hi David

For what its worth, my 12 inch reflector aluminium coating is in an absolutely APALLING condition and I've been hesitant about sending it off to get recoated. I've seen great shots of Jupiter from you so I think maybe you've just had below optimal seeing.

BTW, get the 16 inch. :)

Zac