Riccardi-Honders first light - Page 2

Peter Ward · #21 17-02-2012, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

Sorry Paul, I missed this. The short answer is no.

I intend to use the RHA for narrow band, so the point is moot, as you can shoot NB under a full moon with virtually no ill-effects.

Similarly with the RC14, on a non-full Moon night, the sky flux per arc sec when using around 3.0 metres FL even from my not-too-good location simply means I have to use, decidedly longer exposures than a dark site, .....but it is possible to get there

DavidU (Dave) · #22 17-02-2012, 08:55 PM

Impressive sharp wide field there Peter.

Nicola (Nicola) · #23 17-02-2012, 08:56 PM

Excellent first light, can't wait to see what you can get with your puppy.

RobF (Rob) · #24 17-02-2012, 09:04 PM

There's certainly some game-changing hardware coming to life in Aus lately. Thanks for sharing first light with us Peter.

Peter Ward · #25 17-02-2012, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

Thanks for sharing first light with us Peter.

No problemo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicola

Excellent first light, can't wait to see what you can get with your puppy.

I'll probably have to say "Sit" & "Stay!" a few times

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidU

Impressive sharp wide field there Peter.

It's an interesting beastie for sure. I think the RCOS-14 does better in resolution & faint fuzzies, but for extended objects I can see a case for aperture and a fast F-ratio.

By the way, as a visual scope...nup..tried it out of curiosity with a 20mm Nagler..

..the 50% central obstruction is a bit like a Gorilla in the room..a little hard to miss!

Mighty_oz (Marcus) · #26 17-02-2012, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

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.

At that price u could buy Mike's scope with a bit of change.
Wonder how this will compare to Mike's new scope ? Do i smell a shoot-out coming? Hey that would be great

Peter Ward · #27 17-02-2012, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty_oz

At that price u could buy Mike's scope with a bit of change.
Wonder how this will compare to Mike's new scope ? Do i smell a shoot-out coming? Hey that would be great

Hey, if you want to make an omelette, you gotta break some (golden ) eggs.

Mike's new scope is producing some good results.

While they are both indeed 12" F3.8 telescopes, they are also very different beasties...eg, no spider vane diffraction patterns, smaller physical size, flatter field, but more complex optics in the RHA... but this doesn't come for free!

That said, both scopes are pushing seeing limits, so a "shoot out" would most likely reflect seeing on the night...rather than any limitation of either instrument.

I'm simply looking forward to getting my system up and running with a filter wheel in place, and imaging our southern-sky gems.

gregbradley · #28 17-02-2012, 11:41 PM

No offense to Mike but a shoot out is likely to be a one sided affair.

AP RHA is bound to be a collectors item once Roland retires and that can't be too many years from now.

RHA has the advantage of no diffraction spikes (and we know how Roland feels about those - what does he call them - deer eyes or truck headlights through a screen door! - I don't mind them but I prefer none).

It also has the advantage of rigid type construction so flex is not so likely.

RHA is not the same as a 12 inch APO but not far away from it and definitely infinitely more practical and compact.

A desirable scope for sure and the modern epitome of scope development.

You're a lucky man.

Greg.

Paul Haese · #29 18-02-2012, 12:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Sorry Paul, I missed this. The short answer is no.

I intend to use the RHA for narrow band, so the point is moot, as you can shoot NB under a full moon with virtually no ill-effects.

Similarly with the RC14, on a non-full Moon night, the sky flux per arc sec when using around 3.0 metres FL even from my not-too-good location simply means I have to use, decidedly longer exposures than a dark site, .....but it is possible to get there

Yes good point.

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #30 18-02-2012, 01:28 AM

Hmmm ... looks like you might have a keeper there Peter! Those stars look pretty round and tight! Almost, dare I say, Tak sharp? But ... can you show us a 400% crop of each of the corners please!

Cheers, Marcus

strongmanmike (Michael) · #31 18-02-2012, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty_oz

At that price u could buy Mike's scope with a bit of change.
Wonder how this will compare to Mike's new scope ? Do i smell a shoot-out coming? Hey that would be great

It is a no brainer that the AP RH is a beautiful scope.

But in the end, any "shoot out"

would be lagely semantics

We all know Astro Physics and their level of perfection but to be fair, apart from the comparative delivery times that are likely, for the price of one AP RH you could get yourself one AG12 and one beautiful AP1200 mount.

Horses for courses as they say

Mike

Stevec35 (Steve) · #32 18-02-2012, 01:57 PM

To add to all the positive comments, that's an excellent first light! there are obviously going to be great things coming from this scope if the La Nina ever goes away.

Cheers

Steve

clive milne · #33 18-02-2012, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

But in the end, any "shoot out"

would be lagely semantics

My sense of sentimentality would insist I cheered for the underdog if there were a challenge of pixels at dawn.

Quote:

for the price of one AP RH you could get yourself one AG12 and one beautiful AP1200 mount.

You could almost get an AP3600 mount (with a GSO newtonian ota) for that amount of cash as well.

Air freight might be a little pricey though.

Hagar (Doug) · #34 18-02-2012, 08:48 PM

Very impressive Peter.

Ross G · #35 19-02-2012, 01:54 AM

An amazing telescope Peter.

I didn't know it existed.

I am looking forward to amazing photos from it.

Ross.

Peter Ward · #36 19-02-2012, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Hmmm ... ... can you show us a 400% crop of each of the corners please!

Cheers, Marcus

Little hard to do right now. North of the equator again

Peter Ward · #37 19-02-2012, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

It is a no brainer that the AP RH is a beautiful scope.

Mike

Can't argue with that....and sure there more affordable solutions.

Neither scope will be doing much until this dammed weather improves!

Martin Pugh · #38 21-02-2012, 08:45 PM

Congrats on the new scope Peter...very jealous. That is an awesome piece of kit. I was admiring it at AIC 2009.

cheers
Martin

Peter Ward · #39 21-02-2012, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Pugh

Congrats on the new scope Peter...very jealous. That is an awesome piece of kit. I was admiring it at AIC 2009.

cheers
Martin

Thanks Martin. I suspect Roland might need to be canonised in the optical world !

You haven't missed much south of the equator....unless you are into SCUBA diving..you can do that pretty much anywhere on the east coast these days