Bodon
01-01-2025, 07:47 PM
GDay all.
Helix Nebula taken in the backyard between 5-27 Oct 24.
I purchased a SW250PDS and AZEQ6 three years ago to do visual only. Easy to use in AltAz mode. For astro I use an Askar FRA500 and been happy with that in EQ Mode. My son nagged me a few times to use the newt for astro. I always thought it was too heavy and guiding would be a nightmare so never bothered until recently. I wish I didn't..
The original focuser was absolute crap so after two emails from Telescope Service I replaced that. Then I thought how does my Paracorr attach to my filter wheel ffs. Fella on Astrobin helped out there and an adapter was needed and again from Telescope Service. Watched a youtube vid...flock your scope. FLO here is my cash...well wife aint helping any more with anything telescope...
Armed up; I loaded up the mount in EQ Mode (after dragging all my poop down the stairs to sit it on some concrete) then took some subs at 60sec because I knew my guiding would not look pretty but I was pleasantly surprised. I also thought that my mount would buckle and have a burn out. The 177 guide scope showed a dirty black hole via the OAG. This was after pulling the remainingg hair I had out because I could not get focus. Then a light came on and I moved the Paracorr down mathematically in the focuser and to my surprise I found some small stars....so much for this 55mm backfocus jargon. Now Im really confused. As I pull down every night; my focusor has more painters tape on it that if some one was painting a house. Need to get that camera in the same position... What a pain in the backside.
I took screenys from my tab over a few nights as the guiding to this bogan looked good; had to ensure sure my eyes were not playing tricks. Guiding was better than my smaller scope.
The Xmas looking stars had an uneven white blob look to them in the centre. After some googling and a week later I had a mask on my mirror which took care of that.
Stars in the corners look like rugby balls though. ASTAP says 2-6% no tilt?? I dont use an EAF as this scope is for visual only, just a Bahtinov mask. My collimation..well I have a cheapo laser. Back to Telescope Service and now have a 2" concentre for the secondary mirror alignment..Still trying to figure out this collimation. Then again my ASIAIR Plus guiding could be a liar. Still have ugly stars. 30% StarX and a mask sorted the stars a little.
So I ordered CatsEye collimation gear which Im still waiting on...might help if I can figure that out as its a tad daunting.
How do I take flats on this fat tube as I have OAG-L vignetting, white plastic garbage bag over the top (crinkles included) and cheapo led panel from Amazon.
20 flats/dark for each filter and times and 20 bias
Anyway I could get the Helix through the trees; started at 60s 185 Ha 124 Oiii, then 300s 29 Ha and 600s 31 Ha 24 Oiii.
Processed in Pixinsght
Astrobin: https://astrob.in/iau3ge/0/
SW250PDS
2"Televue Paracorr
ZWO 2600MM
ZWO 174 Mini
ZWO Asiair Plus
ZWO OAG-L
SW AZEQ6
Optolong 3nm filters
TS-Optics RAP2DEL focuser
Backyard Universe Mirror Mask
Regret long winded blurb.
Helix Nebula taken in the backyard between 5-27 Oct 24.
I purchased a SW250PDS and AZEQ6 three years ago to do visual only. Easy to use in AltAz mode. For astro I use an Askar FRA500 and been happy with that in EQ Mode. My son nagged me a few times to use the newt for astro. I always thought it was too heavy and guiding would be a nightmare so never bothered until recently. I wish I didn't..
The original focuser was absolute crap so after two emails from Telescope Service I replaced that. Then I thought how does my Paracorr attach to my filter wheel ffs. Fella on Astrobin helped out there and an adapter was needed and again from Telescope Service. Watched a youtube vid...flock your scope. FLO here is my cash...well wife aint helping any more with anything telescope...
Armed up; I loaded up the mount in EQ Mode (after dragging all my poop down the stairs to sit it on some concrete) then took some subs at 60sec because I knew my guiding would not look pretty but I was pleasantly surprised. I also thought that my mount would buckle and have a burn out. The 177 guide scope showed a dirty black hole via the OAG. This was after pulling the remainingg hair I had out because I could not get focus. Then a light came on and I moved the Paracorr down mathematically in the focuser and to my surprise I found some small stars....so much for this 55mm backfocus jargon. Now Im really confused. As I pull down every night; my focusor has more painters tape on it that if some one was painting a house. Need to get that camera in the same position... What a pain in the backside.
I took screenys from my tab over a few nights as the guiding to this bogan looked good; had to ensure sure my eyes were not playing tricks. Guiding was better than my smaller scope.
The Xmas looking stars had an uneven white blob look to them in the centre. After some googling and a week later I had a mask on my mirror which took care of that.
Stars in the corners look like rugby balls though. ASTAP says 2-6% no tilt?? I dont use an EAF as this scope is for visual only, just a Bahtinov mask. My collimation..well I have a cheapo laser. Back to Telescope Service and now have a 2" concentre for the secondary mirror alignment..Still trying to figure out this collimation. Then again my ASIAIR Plus guiding could be a liar. Still have ugly stars. 30% StarX and a mask sorted the stars a little.
So I ordered CatsEye collimation gear which Im still waiting on...might help if I can figure that out as its a tad daunting.
How do I take flats on this fat tube as I have OAG-L vignetting, white plastic garbage bag over the top (crinkles included) and cheapo led panel from Amazon.
20 flats/dark for each filter and times and 20 bias
Anyway I could get the Helix through the trees; started at 60s 185 Ha 124 Oiii, then 300s 29 Ha and 600s 31 Ha 24 Oiii.
Processed in Pixinsght
Astrobin: https://astrob.in/iau3ge/0/
SW250PDS
2"Televue Paracorr
ZWO 2600MM
ZWO 174 Mini
ZWO Asiair Plus
ZWO OAG-L
SW AZEQ6
Optolong 3nm filters
TS-Optics RAP2DEL focuser
Backyard Universe Mirror Mask
Regret long winded blurb.