first light - quick N253 with GSO10"RC

[allan gould]

Originally Posted by DavidTrap

Great detail Allan - do you give lessons on achieving such detail at these focal lengths?

I notice that you've acquired this scope soon after you bought a VC200L - have you had issues with the Vixen scope, or are you suffering a really bad case of "aperture fever"?

ta
DT

David
Astute of you. I loved the VC200L that I used at Astrofest. Perfectly flat frames across the QHY8 chip at native (2000mm FL) or at f6.4 at reduced FL with the dedicated flattener. Gave me exactly what the Vixen claimed for it. Really nice scope but in the end I realized that I was after something else and so I sold it on. I may wind up like Hagar and regret selling it but I got intrigued by the GSO RC's and thought that I would give them at try.
Actually I've found imaging at 2500fl quite easy and haven't had a problem as long as you pay attention to making the guide scope absolutely rigid. I do it piggy back on a Losmandy rail with the gscope and have been able to do 30 min subs at 2500fl regularly either with my Losmandy or EQ6 mounts.
I have yet to show that the GSO RC is actually better than my 10" SCT.
Aperture fever may eventually strike as I'm really thinking of either a 12" or 14" scope for imaging. Bloody Hough with that Meade scope really had me thinking.
Regards, Allan

[DavidTrap (David)]

Thanks for the reply Allan.

Were you after a smaller field of view, or did you have issues with image quality?

Are you OAG with your QSI? I'm trying my Meade 8 inch SCT with the QSI583. I'm just a bit concerned that at F11 (it plate solves to 2222mm focal length) or F8.5 with a reducer is still a bit slow. The VC200L with a reducer is around that 1250mm sweet-spot focal length.

DT

[allan gould]

Originally Posted by DavidTrap

Thanks for the reply Allan.

Were you after a smaller field of view, or did you have issues with image quality?

Are you OAG with your QSI? I'm trying my Meade 8 inch SCT with the QSI583. I'm just a bit concerned that at F11 (it plate solves to 2222mm focal length) or F8.5 with a reducer is still a bit slow. The VC200L with a reducer is around that 1250mm sweet-spot focal length.

DT

David
I thought I wanted something between my 5" apo refractor and the 10" SCT and that was exactly what the VC200L did. It was perfect in that range with excellent image quality. I'm not oag'ing with the QSI as I find that I can't get good stars with any scope I've tried it on. The stars are really out of focus and egg shaped although Nebulosity guides ok on them, but to be honest I prefer a separate guidescope as I always have a guidestar with the DSI Pro and the 72mm WO guidescope. Stars are pinpoint and I'm sure that's why I can guide at 2500mm FL easily
I'm lucky that I'm testing the GSO RC to see if that's what I want or maybe a 12/14" scope.
I had too much "stuff" that I wasn't using and so sold it all off and that has given me enough capital to experiment to see exactly what I want to acquire.
Time will tell, it's all a journey and you read a lot about different equipment but it's only by trying will you know if it's really what you want.
Allan