Hi all
I took this pic earlier tonight, of Thor's Helmet with Bert,s 300 mm F2.8 lens. UHCS filter installed.
Moon pretty much full
Image is 9 x 200 sec. ISO 200, with modded 350D, processed in Iris and Photoshop.
Very nice focussing Scott. The Bayer filters let IR through to all channels I think.
There seems to be some nebulosity around Thor's Helmet mainly to the right. When the Moon goes away we will find out.
You and Ezy make us all look lazy.
Thanks
Yes I cant wait for darker skies. I rang Andrews Communications re the uv/ir filter they still say they cant get any, they should remove them from their website if they are unavailable, 2 months is a bit rich. Forgo Aussie shops and import direct is the go.
Scott
There should be enough room to put two filters in the rear of the lens. One should just screw into the other then hold with the grubscrews.Otherwise get one of those expensive front mounting filters from Hutech. The ones that fit just behind the bayonet.
Hi Scott,
Fantastic, such a wide FOV and under a Full Moon (well almost), ive done some imaging with the moon this bright, but only with the LX200 and a very small FOV and bright objects, you are going to set a record of some kind here.
Thanks people.
Actually the "smile" is there on the uncompressed image too, Bert
I never dreampt of doing deep sky under full moons.
I just wish they could mass produce these beautiful lenses at a price all could afford. Because it is so fast (f2.8) and so sharp, stars in the viewfinder apopear pin sharp, making good focussing possible. Mind you, I can only wonder what this lens could do if it were attached to a SBIG camera like Brad Moore's. Ive seen an older Sbig camera once and its software allows perfect focussing. Imaging doing a mapped colour widefield filtered image with this lens.
Scott
Yes Scott thats why I bought it. The other lens I have will only work with a Canon EOS camera. This one will work with any camera as it is fully manual.
It was my intention to get an Sbig of some sort to do widefield. Buying the 5DH has slowed down that one.The other thing it would be good for is automated comet or supernova hunting. With the wide field you could really cover a lot of sky quickly. I haven't worked out the limiting magnitude but it would be fairly impressive for any sky condition. The fact you could image Thor's Helmet with a near full Moon tells me it would pick up comets easily.
The possibilities are many.
Y..................... The fact you could image Thor's Helmet with a near full Moon tells me it would pick up comets easily.
The possibilities are many.
Bert
Bert I am more than confident is saying that this will be fully pushed to its limits within the next month (or two weeks). The glass will have melted with all the photons captured by this! . I am more than impressed with what you and Scott have done with it since you have got it Bert. one can only imagine the results, but I might try to talk Scott into going to a dark site and try and image the comet Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 and all the bits. on the eq6 autoguided
Something tells me I won't see it until Scott has imaged the whole sky , twice!. I have enough trouble getting moonless and cloud free nights to use the equipment I still have. So I hope he makes good use of it. In its current configuration (the 300mmf2.8 fluorite) it is not straightforward to use. Can you guys see that comet from from up there. That would be good if you could get nice widefields showing more than one comet fragment. I think we miss out in Melbourne.
Something tells me I won't see it until Scott has imaged the whole sky , twice!. I have enough trouble getting moonless and cloud free nights to use the equipment I still have. So I hope he makes good use of it. In its current configuration (the 300mmf2.8 fluorite) it is not straightforward to use. Can you guys see that comet from from up there. That would be good if you could get nice widefields showing more than one comet fragment. I think we miss out in Melbourne.
The lens will be good for comet imaging, as it is fast enough to allow short exposures to stop the comet trailing against the stars if unable to guide on the comet itself.
With the lens, Im plesantly surprised how east its all worked. The supplied mounting rings have holes in the bottom that allow it to be easily and firmly bolted to the base plate of my mount, as shown in my pic http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/mod350d/300mmlens.jpg
In nearly all directions, when I attach my illuminated reticle eyepiece holder I can sit in a garden chair while I guide, nice and comfortable, and my 2 inch filters fit nicely into the camera adaptor part of the lens. Its a joy to use.
Scott
