Hello from Holland

[Erwin Kats]

I have been on iceinspace alot after google searches, so after reading alot i decided to also register.

so, I am Erwin Kats, 22 years old from Holland.
I work in electronics ( telecommunications, security systems etc ) for a steel company called Tata Steel.

I already work there for 5 years ( 2 years company school ).
It might be my boss, but its also my biggest light pollution problem in this area :(.

I have been interested in astronomy since my 10th birthday, we went with the family to a observatory, and not long after that I received a small 60mm telescope for xmas.

And from that moment i was doomed, from the 60mm i went to a meade ETX 70, from the ETX 70 to a meade model 4500 115mm newton (:D )

After the ETX 70 died because of electronic failures, i started saving money for a bigger , 2nd hand meade LX 90 8''.

Me with the meade LX90 8'' wedge mounted, on top WO ZS 80 ED.
http://www.astro-land.net/wp-content/gallery/equipment/188.jpg

But the visual use was ending, and i wanted to do astrophotography.
So a few years after the LX90 i bought myself a Losmandy g-11 with a stellarvue 102 ED, ( o no, bad experiences ! :sadeyes: )

The g-11 works fine now.... after a accident in the french alps, the force of nature blew my losmandy g-11 with vixen r200ss to the ground :mad2: .
in good times
http://www.astro-land.net/wp-content/gallery/equipment/225.jpg

And in the mean while a dream came through, 1 year ago i received a ASA DDM 85, it took me a long time to save the money, but at the moment it was all worth it.

http://www.astro-land.net/wp-content/gallery/equipment/setup-02-fr.jpg

i also upgraded from dslr imaging to CCD with a qsi 583 WS ( what a relief ! )

i hope this was enough for now :hi:

[Kevnool]

Hi Erwin.
Theres lotsa nice setups there.
I bet you swore a little when that rig fell over as i would of.
Anyway welcome to IIS.

Cheers Kev.

[DavidU]

Welcome Erwin. You have some nice equipment so make sure you post some images.:welcome:

[stephenb]

Welcome Erwin. I echo Dave and Kev's comments :welcome: You have consolidated a nice set up.

"The g-11 works fine now.... after a accident in the french alps, the force of nature blew my losmandy g-11 with vixen r200ss to the ground"... Ouch :( but a place I'd love to visit one day!

Regards,
Stephen

[Erwin Kats]

Thanks Kev !, you can ask friend astrophotographers that were there on the same day, that there were some words flying between the mountains...




Thanks David, my images till so far are not perfect, still saving for a new telescope, the vixen r200ss newton has some problems after it fell to the ground, ( got triangle stars etc )






You also thanks :).
The place we visit in the alps is @ www.rosa-remote.com
@ the Wetter button you can see all sky cam etc

[ballaratdragons]

Hello Erwin over there in Holland.

I had my gear blow over in a massive storm too. EQ6 mount and two Refractors! Not a nice feeling.

Hopefully you will show us some images from Netherlands skies :thumbsup:

[mill]

Hallo Erwin en welkom op did fijne forum.
Ik hoop dat je veel plezier zult hebben en hoop dat je snel het geld hebt om een niewe teleskoop te kopen.
Now that was hard to type after years of typing in english :P
Groeten
Martin.

[Erwin Kats]

Thanks Ken !
Its a ''special experience'' to have a setup that has been blown to the ground.
i can show some damage of my losmandy after the accident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqkL7Y-FKHY

@ Martin, hahahaha, bijna goed ;), dit in plaats van did :)
thanks !

@ all [img] tags don't work?

[BPO]

Hi Erwin. I followed your DDM85 threads elsewhere with great interest.

After your initial shake-down issues, are you now satisfied with that mount? And how do you feel about ASA's support these days?

[Erwin Kats]

Hello BPO,

In the mean while alot has been changed ( my mount is upgraded to a newer version ) ( alot better ! )
till so far everything is running perfectly but there are some weird things.

While i installed the software package on my Laptop everything was running perfect, but now i got a PC for remote operating my setup, and that one is not working perfect with all the software ( same windows xp version, everything the same )
so i think there are still some software bugs, but for me its running great.

A shot from a few weeks ago 7x20 minuts ( without autoguiding )
http://www.astro-land.net/wp-content/gallery/astrophotography/tussenic5070enngc7000-m.jpg

But thats only 800mm of focal length.

For me the ASA support is very good, but i also talk alot to other DDM owners through skype and e-mail.
When i had some problems with my DDM, ASA was doing a remote PC session to look at my setup, software etc, and with some phone calls we arranged it all.


so still waiting for a new telescope to get more out of the mount ;)