Riccardi-Honders first light

[Peter Ward]

Not expecting any clear weather, I was surprised by the lack of clouds this evening, hence bolted a CCD to my new scope.

As murphy's law would have it, there was insufficient back-focus using standard adapters to accept the STX & filterwheel.

Removing the filter wheel provided a temporary fix.(a suitable adapter will not arrive for a couple of weeks)

There was no doubting the focus...just a gentle tweak of the 10:1 saw peak values jump 20% with another tweak showing a similar drop.

I have to say the edge stars did not look too shabby at all....can't wait to do some deep NB with this puppy!

Anyway, below is the "first light" image (OK...chose a standard candle: Eta Carina ) No filter. exposure was just 5 minutes.

The image is uncropped but was re-sized at 50% to be web friendly

The link is here

[Mighty_oz (Marcus)]

Great pic there, almost as good as mine
They'll be a wonder to behold when u get that adapter and get some color into it. Pretty deep for 5 mins too

[Tandum (Robin)]

Wow, what a huge chunk of sky. You'll have fun with that one.

[gregbradley]

Woohoo - lookie dat!

Beautiful.

That bodes well.

Greg.

[multiweb (Marc)]

That was expected from an AP. Flawless.

[alpal]

Hi Peter,
That is a perfect photo.
I love the ultra wide flat field & I can't wait to see
a full colour processed version when you get
a filter wheel connected.

[TrevorW]

5 min total now that is going to be impressive with more and the stars appear as tight as a fishes ....

Noice

[JohnG (John)]

Nice Peter, you gotta be happy with that .

Cheers

[Paul Haese]

Nice Peter, but when are you going to set up all this gear at a dark site and do remote imaging? Seems a waste really to have three fine telescopes in Sydney that could be doing deep work.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by JohnG

Nice Peter, you gotta be happy with that .

Cheers

Thanks mate. Yep looks like it will be another AP classic

Originally Posted by TrevorW

5 min total now that is going to be impressive with more and the stars appear as tight as a fishes ....

Noice

Watertight

Originally Posted by alpal

Hi Peter,
That is a perfect photo.
I love the ultra wide flat field & I can't wait to see
a full colour processed version when you get
a filter wheel connected.

Thanks, maybe not perfect , but wide and flat for sure.

Originally Posted by multiweb

That was expected from an AP. Flawless.

Thanks Marc. AP seem to do it consistently well. 5 micron stars across the field

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Woohoo - lookie dat!

Beautiful.

That bodes well.

Greg.

Ta Greg. The field is vignetted a tad (I used a 2.7" fitting). Precise parts are making a 3" adapter that will allow use of the filter-wheel and open things up a bit.

Originally Posted by Tandum

Wow, what a huge chunk of sky. You'll have fun with that one.

Boys and their toys!

Originally Posted by Mighty_oz

Great pic there, almost as good as mine
They'll be a wonder to behold when u get that adapter and get some color into it. Pretty deep for 5 mins too

Thanks. That's the plan. ....I wonder what the weather will do..

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Thanks Marc. AP seem to do it consistently well. 5 micron stars across the field

Is focus tricky on this thing? How big is the CFZ?

[Peter Ward]

Attached are a couple of CCDinspector plots of the RHA's performance over a 50mm diagonal (KAF16803) field.

Interesting result, looks like there is a teeny bit of tilt that may need shimming out. FWHM's look to be seeing limited to around 2 pixels or 3 arc sec.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Wow. Can't wait to see what this baby can do in full colour!

Marc, at f/3.8, the CFZ on this puppy is just 31.8 microns. The FSQ-106N is 55 microns. So, very, very finicky!

H

[atalas]

Great things to come....congrats on the new scope!

[Garyh]

What a wonderful new toy Peter. I drooled over your other post when you got your hands on it
Stars look great to the edge!
You have to drag that to a dark sky site!

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Is focus tricky on this thing? How big is the CFZ?

Thanks to H for doing the math...

Yep about 30 microns. That said I found focus with the 10:1 feathertouch was easy.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Garyh

What a wonderful new toy Peter. I drooled over your other post when you got your hands on it
Stars look great to the edge!
You have to drag that to a dark sky site!

Thanks. Indeed, the stars are remarkably tight across to the edge of the sensor...

As I mentioned you can see slight evidence of (camera tilt) at full-res, but that's easily fixed so I'm very happy with the results so far... but don't see myself hauling it to a dark site just yet

Originally Posted by atalas

Great things to come....congrats on the new scope!

Thanks... Hopefully I'll be able to do it justice over the next few months.

Originally Posted by Octane

Wow. Can't wait to see what this baby can do in full colour!

Marc, at f/3.8, the CFZ on this puppy is just 31.8 microns. The FSQ-106N is 55 microns. So, very, very finicky!

H

Ta H ..saved me looking up the formula. I'm thinking narrow band results should be splendid

[richardo (Rich)]

Wow Pete, pretty darn smick all the way out to the very edges that's for sure.
I cranked your 'Web' friendly version(not really friendly in any other terms)... way up on my 24" mon checking for any star discrepancies around the edge......
Ahh, not a sign.
Beautifully consistent the whole field over.
The slight elongation could be as mentioned slight camera tilt, and at these extremes you are dealing with, more likely the prob.
But that is on the verge of nit picking I'd say.

I won't ask the price tag (that's rude ...)... well how much
But looks like you have yourself one hell of an express photon grabber

Can't wait to see the first serious image from this hunk of imaging magic

All the best
Rich

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Mmm, so what happens to the RCOS then, in a box?

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by richardo

Wow Pete, pretty darn smick all the way out to the very edges that's for sure.............

I won't ask the price tag (that's rude ...)... well how much
But looks like you have yourself one hell of an express photon grabber

Can't wait to see the first serious image from this hunk of imaging magic

All the best
Rich

Ta Rich !

Smick is a good description .

Roland Christien is a without doubt an optical wizard so I don't expect any surprises when the imaging sessions begin in earnest.

The price is on AP's website....call it $A, add about 20% for shipping and GST to get one to the land of Oz.

Ditto on wanting to get it cranked up with filters etc.

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Mmm, so what happens to the RCOS then, in a box?

Sold it in a garage sale for $20.

(actually it's inside... mirrors to be pulled and re-coated real soon now..a pity the mount can't hold both )