Perhaps you and Greg should consider locating your gear at his property in Biga at some stage in the future and operate them remotely like Paul is doing
Says he who still sits at his lappie for extended periods and rotates his dome manually
With a 48% obstruction at the end of the baffle a perfect system will only deliver a peak intensity of around 50% ( Encircled Energy Ratio ) so visually at medium to high power the views will be underwhelming in terms of star tightness and contrast with 50% of the light spilling into surrounding rings. However its an imaging scope so matched to the right pixel size the low EER due to obstruction , will not have any consequence , aside from the 25% loss of light from the obstruction .
Interesting - thanks for the info Greg! Surprised dew hasn't bothered you that much. Dew used to cause all sorts of problems for my Tak before I put a dew heater on. On many occasions the whole observatory was dripping wet and the objective fogged over before 1:00am.
That is the sort of dew issues I face almost nightly at Clayton. Good seeing, dark skies but bad bad dew issues. I have a heater on the secondary of the RC even in a tubed setup. It dews up. The TSA needs to have a dew heater on every night despite having a heater dew shield. Dewy sites need good dew amelioration.
"That's a pretty cool laser tool you have there. Who makes that?"
Yes, that's my 532nm laser collimator with a concentric circle reticle projection attachment.
"Does it only work on RC designs?"
No, it will work on any Cassegrain down to f/5.6
That scope is beautifully collimated. Enjoy it!
Thanks for the confirmation Howie!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Satchmo
With a 48% obstruction at the end of the baffle a perfect system will only deliver a peak intensity of around 50% ( Encircled Energy Ratio ) so visually at medium to high power the views will be underwhelming in terms of star tightness and contrast with 50% of the light spilling into surrounding rings. However its an imaging scope so matched to the right pixel size the low EER due to obstruction , will not have any consequence , aside from the 25% loss of light from the obstruction .
Yes, aware of the theory, thanks Mark. My usage of the term "tight" was relative.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
... That is a pain about not working on RC's. Oh well keep the Tak scope going.
Paul, I think you misread Howie's info mate. Of course it works on an RC (a type of Cassegrain). The RC360 is an RC.
Paul, I think you misread Howie's info mate. Of course it works on an RC (a type of Cassegrain). The RC360 is an RC.
Yes reading it one way is reads can it be used on RCs? Then the next line is No, reading it another way I can see can also mean it will not only work on RC but also any cassegrains. Thanks for pointing that out.
Thanks for the advice Greg. I think I got the distance calculation reasonably close so we'll see. The adaptor you see is for the STL only, no AO-L. I have the short adaptor as well for the AO-L + STL but that means guiding with the camera - an option I'll have (leaving the MMOAG in place). I won't know the true configuration until I get it out under the stars of course. If I have to mess around with adaptors so be it - no problem - I'm expecting to have to do that anyway.
There's a special AOL MOAG. If you wanted to use the AOL then you may need that AOL MOAG. You would know better than me how much the AO tightens things up from use with your TOA. Is it worth setting up the extra stuff and cost?
There's a special AOL MOAG. If you wanted to use the AOL then you may need that AOL MOAG. You would know better than me how much the AO tightens things up from use with your TOA. Is it worth setting up the extra stuff and cost?
Greg.
The MOAG + AO-L would not fit in the 236mm back focus. Although I could give myself more, it would not be optimal. Besides, I see an AO-X in my future!
Collimating an RC with the Howie Glatter and concentric ring attachment seems to be quite straighforward. Even though I haven't actually HAD to collimate this beast (it's already looking very good), the steps to take are worth noting.
1) Align the secondary's central spot with the central laser dot by shifting the secondary assembly up/down & left/right. This will align the center of the secondary with the mechanical axis of the imaging train. Hopefully the spot drawn on the secondary really is at the center of the secondary! (See image #1 below)
2) Look at the projected rings on the primary mirror from different angles (careful - that laser is bright!). Now adjust the secondary's tip/tilt so that the rings are perfectly concentric with the primary mirror (see image 2 and 3 below)
3) Adjust the primary mirror's tip/tilt to make the rings projected on a wall perfectly concentric with the secondary shadow (see image #4 below). You can use a ruler to measure if you want to be precise.
It's that simple!!
It will be interesting to see what the star test shows!!!
Honesty it just looks fantastic. I can only imagine how much fun and impressed you must be with your new scope. Keep posting images as I love following your adventure and of course cannot wait to see your images.
Honesty it just looks fantastic. I can only imagine how much fun and impressed you must be with your new scope. Keep posting images as I love following your adventure and of course cannot wait to see your images.
Mark
Cheers Mark! Yep, the scope sure has wow factor in terms of looks - in some respects the pictures don't do it justice! OS' attention to detail is without question - that's for sure! There's still plenty of stuff to do before I plonk it on the mount but I'm confident I'll be able to catch some starlight before Christmas (I can only work on it on weekends ).
Massive scope. Ready with interest. Can't wait for first light.
PS: In the pattern from the howie glatter on the wall I understand the central rings are reflections from the secondary back onto the primary: what's the outside much larger ring? Direct illumination from the laser's last ring on the wall?
It's Italian....that means it's classy and sexy all at the same time Like an Italian supermodel
Yep, I bought a telescope that matches my own attributes ... classy & sexy!
Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
Massive scope. Ready with interest. Can't wait for first light.
PS: In the pattern from the howie glatter on the wall I understand the central rings are reflections from the secondary back onto the primary: what's the outside much larger ring? Direct illumination from the laser's last ring on the wall?
PS: Atlas has checked out OK. The Rotator and Atlas integrated to TheSkyX no problem. Just need to re-do the through the mount wiring and I'll be ready to install on the mount. Waiting for a RigRunner to do that.
I need more power at the OTA plus there are now 2 serial devices and 2 USB devices up there. So I'm redoing practically all the cabling. The TOA is now safely in a box and the PME is naked with wires poking out.
See attached (before schematic on the left, after on the right).
).
