First light TEC180mm Fluorite 15:20 hours

[richardo (Rich)]

Great 1st light with this huge hunk of scope.
And just the perfect object to see how the CA correction performs. (pretty much spotless I would say)
Also you get emission, reflection and dark nebs all in the one area.

Some wicked detail to the Horses dark column and to the base area, with detail normally reserved for Hubble.

I was really looking forward to see what this scope could do.... mmm, I'm impressed to say the least.

Mikes point about how it handled Alnitaks rays was a good one. When I've imaged this with my Newt, leaving 'nitak outside of the fov, I always had the ray traces entering into the image.
In this image of yours, not a trace. (no pun)

Great stuff Greg. I bet your really pleased... Well if you aint... jeeeez man
Look forward to all the great stuff you're going to do with this brilliant piece of kit!

All the best
Rich

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by richardo

Great 1st light with this huge hunk of scope.
And just the perfect object to see how the CA correction performs. (pretty much spotless I would say)
Also you get emission, reflection and dark nebs all in the one area.

Some wicked detail to the Horses dark column and to the base area, with detail normally reserved for Hubble.

I was really looking forward to see what this scope could do.... mmm, I'm impressed to say the least.

Mikes point about how it handled Alnitaks rays was a good one. When I've imaged this with my Newt, leaving 'nitak outside of the fov, I always had the ray traces entering into the image.
In this image of yours, not a trace. (no pun)

Great stuff Greg. I bet your really pleased... Well if you aint... jeeeez man
Look forward to all the great stuff you're going to do with this brilliant piece of kit!

All the best
Rich

Thanks Rich.

I am very pleased with it. I've always found APOs very alluring pieces of equipment.

I hope to do some more imaging with it this weekend if the weather permits.

Greg.

[AlexN]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Thanks Steve,

The camera/scope are working out very nice.

Apogee makes a version of this 8300 camera as well for US$3995. I hear it cools quickly and also gets -50C below ambient. So that camera would be similar. Still a lot of money but in the CCD camera world that is "cheapish".
Hopefully the Aussie dollar will recover ground again one day in the future.

Greg.

QHY Also make a KAF8300 based camera.. The QHY9... Cools relatively quickly, and can go to -50c from ambient... They are priced at ~$4400Au or there abouts with a 2" filter wheel...

Thats probably the cheapest way to get into the KAF8300..

[AlexN]

Oh, Greg, I was meaning to ask, whats the cool down time like on a 7.5" APO? It would have to be pretty slow I would have thought, and the optics would shift some during this time causing focus problems would it not?

[2020BC (Bill Christie)]

Simply amazing. Excellent, beautiful stuff.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Excellent image Greg, exceptional detail, especially on the Alnitak. ummm, just a tad noisy for 15 hrs though. Im being picky, but your in the league now where thats allowed . I suspect processing now will now give you that last extra mile, the hardware is certainly about as good as it gets .

[Ric]

Wow, amazing stuff Greg.

Talk about value for money.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Excellent image Greg, exceptional detail, especially on the Alnitak. ummm, just a tad noisy for 15 hrs though. ......

Greg,

Been away for a bit, hence I missed this one. A fine image to be sure, but I agree with Fred, low surface brightness objects need fast optics + serious aperture.

Some of the stars are a little weird in shape as well (minimum filter? selective processing? ) ..but we are in *really nit-picky* territory here...

That said, this is a really superb piece of kit, and clearly capable of producing images most punters would kill for.

Well done!

Peter

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by AlexN

Oh, Greg, I was meaning to ask, whats the cool down time like on a 7.5" APO? It would have to be pretty slow I would have thought, and the optics would shift some during this time causing focus problems would it not?

Cooldown time I am not familiar enough with the scope to say for sure but I allow at least an hour beforem using. It may be less.

Focus shift with temp changes so far don't seem to be as sensitive as the FSQ but I would refocus if temp was more than 2 or 3C.

Greg

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Bassnut

Excellent image Greg, exceptional detail, especially on the Alnitak. ummm, just a tad noisy for 15 hrs though. Im being picky, but your in the league now where thats allowed . I suspect processing now will now give you that last extra mile, the hardware is certainly about as good as it gets .

Thanks Fred. Ha wasn't that flash for 7.5 hours. Not sure yet about Ha performance of the camera. I remember imaging with the RCOS 12.5 inch and an STL and it was also extemely dim but Marcus seemed to get better Ha response than I did although his was wider field.

Another couple of hours would certainly get rid of any remaining noise.
Especially with the clear filter which seems to be a winner.
Greg.

Originally Posted by Ric

Wow, amazing stuff Greg.

Talk about value for money.

Thanks Ric.

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Greg,

Been away for a bit, hence I missed this one. A fine image to be sure, but I agree with Fred, low surface brightness objects need fast optics + serious aperture.

Some of the stars are a little weird in shape as well (minimum filter? selective processing? ) ..but we are in *really nit-picky* territory here...

That said, with this is a really superb piece of kit, and clearly capable of producing images most punters would kill for.

Well done!

Peter

I did use a version of luminance I did not intend using due to not labelling the file clearly enough. This had a bit too much deconvolution. I redid another version with the luminance I did intend and the stars are better. In the crop though the stars are fine.

The scope is a work of art by Yuri and his Ukrainian (I think or Russian) opticians.

Greg.