first light new scope

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Hi again Justin. 42 is about the critical focal zone of the scope - good call. there are many questions with that answer

If any use:

1. First step was to laser align the focal plane to be parallel to the camera face (critical and still not perfect).

2. wait until the mirror has cooled to within 2 degrees or so of ambient.

3. Carefully laser align the two mirrors through the coma corrector while the scope is pointing in roughly the direction of the target. Check the alignment by ensuring that the slightly out of focus stars are concentric. If not, go back and do it again.

4. Then focus carefully to ensure that the stars are as small as possible and that they are as round as possible. I use Nebulosity3, which has a very useful focusing process based on the half flux radius measure.

regards ray

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Wow Ray! That's an awesome start with the new gear, very nice detail, especially in M104.

Well done

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by Shiraz

Hi again Justin. 42 is about the critical focal zone of the scope - good call. there are many questions with that answer

If any use:

1. First step was to laser align the focal plane to be parallel to the camera face (critical and still not perfect).

2. wait until the mirror has cooled to within 2 degrees or so of ambient.

3. Carefully laser align the two mirrors through the coma corrector while the scope is pointing in roughly the direction of the target. Check the alignment by ensuring that the slightly out of focus stars are concentric. If not, go back and do it again.

4. Then focus carefully to ensure that the stars are as small as possible and that they are as round as possible. I use Nebulosity3, which has a very useful focusing process based on the half flux radius measure.

regards ray

Thanks Ray!

Some very useful tips, I'll try them out.
I use a Bahtinov mask for focusing, never tried other methods.
Yep 42, is there anything it can't do , it's even our street number here in Penwortham .

Cheers,

Justin.

[Ross G]

Great looking detailed photos Ray.

Good luck with the new setup.

Ross.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by Rod771

Wow Ray! That's an awesome start with the new gear, very nice detail, especially in M104.

Well done

Originally Posted by Ross G

Great looking detailed photos Ray.

Good luck with the new setup.

Ross.

Thanks for the encouragement guys - its great to have forum feedback when getting a new system running. Regards Ray

[David Fitz-Henr]

Awesome first light images Ray There's no beating a good Newtonian setup

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by David Fitz-Henr

Awesome first light images Ray There's no beating a good Newtonian setup

thanks very much David - agree, Newtonians have stood the test of time and can still hold their own. It is nice to have effective coma correctors so that we can use fast scopes. regards Ray