Tom Davis
06-05-2011, 06:12 AM
After an eternity of clouds and snow I finally got two clearish nights. What is amazing about this is that they were two nights in a row and around a new moon.
I spent the first night calibrating FocusMax (in between runs into the hospital for emergencies -- crazy week this week, the ICU's are packed full). Last night I did G2V calibration and then imaged M13.
The RHA rides flawlessly on the AP1200. It guides perfectly with the ST-402 e-finder setup. Focusing was wonderful using a Microtouch motor (I use Robofocus on all my other scopes, but Roland suggested the Microtouch for this scope, and I must say I think he was right. The Microtouch attached to the 1:10 reducing knob of the Feathertouch focuser gives perfect V-curves every time. Also, it is
so quite I had to look at it a few times to make sure it was actually moving the drawtube!)
I imaged using only RGB filters with each sub of 150 seconds. The stars came out perfectly round across the entire KAI-11000M chip. I also started another image in Cepheus with my usual 600 seconds subs; still the stars were perfectly round.
Here it is:
http://www.tvdavisastropics.com/astroimages-1_0000d4.htm
It may not be the best M13 out there, but for first light test image I am pretty pleased. I will be putting the scope through its paces as the sky permits. After I get used to the scope then I will trade out the STL for my PL-16803 and give it a go.
-Tom
I spent the first night calibrating FocusMax (in between runs into the hospital for emergencies -- crazy week this week, the ICU's are packed full). Last night I did G2V calibration and then imaged M13.
The RHA rides flawlessly on the AP1200. It guides perfectly with the ST-402 e-finder setup. Focusing was wonderful using a Microtouch motor (I use Robofocus on all my other scopes, but Roland suggested the Microtouch for this scope, and I must say I think he was right. The Microtouch attached to the 1:10 reducing knob of the Feathertouch focuser gives perfect V-curves every time. Also, it is
so quite I had to look at it a few times to make sure it was actually moving the drawtube!)
I imaged using only RGB filters with each sub of 150 seconds. The stars came out perfectly round across the entire KAI-11000M chip. I also started another image in Cepheus with my usual 600 seconds subs; still the stars were perfectly round.
Here it is:
http://www.tvdavisastropics.com/astroimages-1_0000d4.htm
It may not be the best M13 out there, but for first light test image I am pretty pleased. I will be putting the scope through its paces as the sky permits. After I get used to the scope then I will trade out the STL for my PL-16803 and give it a go.
-Tom