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I was there when Paul was taking these first light pictures and whilst I was setting up my scope for an imaging run, Paul took a quick pic of the moon and for the first image it was so sharp and as I was imaging the same object with an 8 inch meade SCT it was easy to compare the results in real time. No comparisson the GSO was way sharper.
Well the fun started when PAul said okies off to ETA for a test. I did remind him that he did not have any guiding with him but he replied "It is just a test" so off to ETA we go. Well the first pic downloaded and up it came on the screen - a simple 240 second exposure through a modded 40D - very impressive for no post processing. Even with no guiding the image was very good, sure when you started to pixel peep the slight oval or triangle shapes were evident in some parts of the image. So we thought to ourselves, is it possible that we can improve the image by tweaking the collimation. Sure why not we have nothing but time and so off to try tweaking. Using live view being displayed on the screen - that Canon software rocks - we were able to see the changes in real time.
After some time the collimation was as good as we could get given the circumstances. Did the images get better - yup sure did, were they going to be great - no way as we were not guiding. Am I impressed with the GSO as it stands - yup for the price you can use it straight out of the box and get good results.
Can it be improved - absolutely, focuser can be replaced and turn guiding on and this thing will be an excellent imaging platform for a good price. I am looking forward to the next new moon run with the new focuser and the guiding going...watch this space!!!!
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