Just to add, there also appears to be a ring set available too. The images on the Australian site show the scope mounted with rings and losmandy dove tail bars. So that does not seem to be a real problem. Maybe something to ask about Bert with the Aussie site.
With an Atlas focuser Proline should be fine. I'd go for it. It'd be an awesome imaging machine.
One shot colour Bert? Have you seen the new Kodak True Sense colour sensors that are said by them to have twice the low light sensitivity of the usual Bayer matrixed chips?
They are all KAI series sensors at Kodak Sensor Solutions under products.
8050, 10050 on up to 50100. FLI can put any chip you like in their cameras, so can Apogee. SBIG don't seem to be offering these yet but perhaps if asked would put one in an STX body.
All small pixels so a good match for the scope.
Mono will be more work, more money as you need the filter wheel and filters but ultimately the better images.
Paul I'd be surprised if there was any noticeable flex in a 3.5 inch FT focuser and an STL. That is light as bro. 3.5 inch FT is what is on my TEC180 and it is quite beefy. Yuri did do some tests and it did flex more upright than it does upside down but very small amounts of flex under heavy load. You'll be right there.
That is an impressive system Bert, can't wait to see first light!
There doesn't appear to many (any?) alternatives for f3 system that can cover a 16803 chip. The closest I can find is the ASA f3 "H" Series, but I'm not sure if they are even in production yet. See this:
Bert if you haven't placed your order did you inquire about going direct and the cost savings, I pointed out this RC back when Mike was tossing up about his new ASA
That is an impressive system Bert, can't wait to see first light!
There doesn't appear to many (any?) alternatives for f3 system that can cover a 16803 chip. The closest I can find is the ASA f3 "H" Series, but I'm not sure if they are even in production yet. See this:
Oh and I guess Bert won't want spikes on his stars, especially if he is lining up frames in mosaics.
Terry
When Mike Sidonio put me on to this astrograph it was the lack of diffraction spikes that really got my attention. Yes for mosaics diffraction spikes at different angles are very disturbing.
I blame all of this on Mike as he was the catalyst. All I originally wanted to do was put an FLI OSC on the Canon 300mm. This was impractical as the lens needs a Canon camera tethered to the electronics in the lens and there was not enough back focus distance.
The whole project has grown to something that is now potentially so good I cannot find reverse gear. I am now totally committed.
I thank all of you for your interest and advice or comments. This would be a very daunting leap to take without the feedback we have now on line. We all used to be quiet observers in our own backyards.
Bert if you haven't placed your order did you inquire about going direct and the cost savings, I pointed out this RC back when Mike was tossing up about his new ASA
I prefer to buy from local authorised dealers even if it costs more initially. In the long run you are on your own if something goes wrong. Your local dealer has far more influence than you will ever have. Both Bintel and Astronomy Alive are working very hard to make sure I get what I want and they deserve to be recompensed for this.
Reminds me of the bloke selling TV's from pub to pub in Ireland. They turned out to be stolen microwave ovens!
wow bert.. that is one dream setup on the way! hopefully one day you can invite a few of us locals around to have a look.
i guess once you get this setup at home you won't want to move it, but i'd love to see you drag it away to a dark sky sometime too!? there's still an open invitation for you at heathcote anytime you want to try it.
you've done remarkably well with your widefield mosaics from light polluted suburbs so you know what you're in for, but i would guess that as you push this system light pollution gradients even with filters may eventually become an issue?
the mount and camera are pretty easy choices and not much to regret about those.
exciting times!
cheers
phil
All locals on IIS are welcome anytime! Just knock on the door with your foot as you will have at least two slabs of Vic in your hands. Just sort of joking.
After this is all sorted out and working I will have some open days or nights for all of us tragic astrophotographers.
My evil plan is to run the whole system remotely from inside. I am getting to old to face single digit temperatures to adjust things for twenty odd minutes. I have done this in jocks and a t-shirt not realizing how cold it was until I started shivering.
I'd come to the same conclusion some time ago: very few systems are designed to fully cover the field of a KAF16803.
Bottom right of the image above is not great....though I must say closer on axis the result is very impressive.
The only scope I have used that goes the distance, then some is the AP155 + 4" field flattner...no surprises there as it was originally designed to handle 6x7 cm film.
I can't believe ASA allowed that image to be posted. I commented on it at the time when someone said it was lacking collimation that in fact it was tilt having seen it myself before. That bodes very poorly for the scope that flexure is there even in the prototype.
The 16803 is challenging. AP, TEC, Tak BRC, FSQ106ED, Planewave have measured up so far. I agree TEC and AP measure up the best though.
Lots of excellent images from Bob Fera and his Officina Stellare 14 inch RC and Apogee U16M (16803 chip) show they also can do the job.
I'd come to the same conclusion some time ago: very few systems are designed to fully cover the field of a KAF16803.
Bottom right of the image above is not great....though I must say closer on axis the result is very impressive.
The only scope I have used that goes the distance, then some is the AP155 + 4" field flattner...no surprises there as it was originally designed to handle 6x7 cm film.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
I can't believe ASA allowed that image to be posted. I commented on it at the time when someone said it was lacking collimation that in fact it was tilt having seen it myself before. That bodes very poorly for the scope that flexure is there even in the prototype.
The 16803 is challenging. AP, TEC, Tak BRC, FSQ106ED, Planewave have measured up so far. I agree TEC and AP measure up the best though.
Lots of excellent images from Bob Fera and his Officina Stellare 14 inch RC and Apogee U16M (16803 chip) show they also can do the job.
Greg.
I think it is a failure of stacking in that corner during processing in both the individual colours and colour combination. It could be due to a hot pixel/s. Look carefully and the brighter stars have two radial diffraction spikes and the stars show tangential CA in a reflector! Impossible! If anything CA would be radial due to the corrector not being orthogonal to optic axis.
See the upsized crops of the bottom right hand corner below.
It could be part of the problem. Perhaps the tilt is not the same in different subexposures as well.
I commented on this image at the time to Wolfgang and he agreed he had tilt in the system. It is quite likely the tilt is more serious than the
"it was a quick test" image. As Peter says not many scopes can handle the 16803 large chip and it will show up tilt far more easily than smaller chips and will test the claimed corrected circle of a scope heavily. It will also test the focuser for sag and flexure hard as well.
The Veloce RHA 200 with a 60mm corrected circle should handle it. A fixed length screwed solid adapter then a FLI Atlas focuser would be the best option after reading many posts about various focusers like Robofocus etc.
You gotta like the compact size of that Veloce and whilst it sounds shallow that red colour is fantastic!
I just joined this forum today and this post caught my eye.
I've been contact with maker's of the RH200 and hope to get a model to test soon. It is apparent by the product shipment delays that they are working hard to iron out all the bugs in this fast system. Several items about the OTA have been redesigned from the original implementation I saw last at last year's AIC conference here in California.
Based on what they have shown so far, the NGC7000 image is far from perfect and does not come close to the resolution and roundness of stars I've seen in my FSQ images of the same object. What is attrative about this scope is the light gathering and wide field in an extremely compact package. How it will cover a 16803 array remains to be seen. The RH200 image circle is not that large.
I really wanted to put one of the RH200's into the Coonabarabran remote observatory, but for now, the FSQ is still on the top of the heap when it comes to portability and high quality imaging. I would also say that following the FSQ, the AP 155 EDIF with the flat field reducer just could be the ultimate astrograph.
I just joined this forum today and this post caught my eye.
I've been contact with maker's of the RH200 and hope to get a model to test soon. It is apparent by the product shipment delays that they are working hard to iron out all the bugs in this fast system. Several items about the OTA have been redesigned from the original implementation I saw last at last year's AIC conference here in California.
Based on what they have shown so far, the NGC7000 image is far from perfect and does not come close to the resolution and roundness of stars I've seen in my FSQ images of the same object. What is attrative about this scope is the light gathering and wide field in an extremely compact package. How it will cover a 16803 array remains to be seen. The RH200 image circle is not that large.
I really wanted to put one of the RH200's into the Coonabarabran remote observatory, but for now, the FSQ is still on the top of the heap when it comes to portability and high quality imaging. I would also say that following the FSQ, the AP 155 EDIF with the flat field reducer just could be the ultimate astrograph.
cheers,
jg
John,
A warm welcome to this forum. Your hydrogen alpha imagery is wonderful in every respect.
You present an interesting point of view re: FSQ/AP155. I saw the prototype RH200 at AIC a couple of years ago, hence was under the impression that sufficient testing time would have been done by now. Do you have any specific information you can share in relation to the bugs that you're aware of?
Thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by CometGuy
Oh and I guess Bert won't want spikes on his stars, especially if he is lining up frames in mosaics.
Diffraction spikes and mosaics only become an issue when you are rotating the entire OTA. Given an OTA is securely fastened to the mount, rotation it is near impossible. Having performed several mosaics with an RC, where I needed to rotate the camera to find a guide star per mosaic panel to pick off with an OAG, I can confirm that diffraction spikes do not present a challenge. You can rotate the camera to any position angle and achieve perfectly uniform diffraction spikes across the panels.
Definitely the AP155 with the 155TCC reducer/flattener has produced the best medium widefield images I have seen. My AP140 with the same reducer is also a powerful widefield astrograph, very similar being a scaled AP155 lens (same tube).
FSQ the best of the wider field images to date.
I am hoping my TEC110FL will also be an awesome widefield imaging machine but yet to be proven.
A warm welcome to this forum. Your hydrogen alpha imagery is wonderful in every respect.
You present an interesting point of view re: FSQ/AP155. I saw the prototype RH200 at AIC a couple of years ago, hence was under the impression that sufficient testing time would have been done by now. Do you have any specific information you can share in relation to the bugs that you're aware of?
Thanks
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OS has added a New Focuser, New OTA support system, Carbon dew shield. If you all go to the Officina Stellari web page, you'll find their latest M45 shot done with the RH200 and STL11000 camera. Check the stars in the corners carefully. It is not clear to me if the optics are finished or in beta.
I'm staying with the FSQ for now. I'll be doing some huge hydrogen alpha mosaics from Coonabarbran in the next few months.