Hi
So I recently did a re-haul of my imaging setup, and the start me off in the world of GEM's, I picked up a really nice Celestron 130SLT OTA that has been hardcore modded for imaging! It is a beast of a little scope!
Anyway, the only problem that I have with it is the fact that I believe the spider vane is a little bent out of shape, giving some really ugly diffraction spikes as seen in the image attached. It is not stacking artifacts or rotation because the exact pattern is present in the RAW data. It is just a bit of an eye sore when imaging some targets with bright stars, like M45, M42 and the horsehead.
Is there any easy way to remedy this without being too destructive? Taking it out and putting it in a vice for a few hours? I just dont want to be sorry that I fiddled with this if I destroy it!
The bending is just noticeable in this image when zoomed in
http://i.imgur.com/pWqgUfK.jpg
Thanks heaps
Dan