Small Newt Owners

[plain jacinth]

and graxpert

thats it

[signal yoke]

Oh that's a lot alright. How much exposure time do you have?

Also try to implement starnet ++ to stretch the background more

This one is good enough for most of the steps. Except for denoising imo

[plain jacinth]

like 45 seconds of exposure time

[mild zodiac]

woahhhh

[plain jacinth]

i gotted Andromeda

gonna look like shit tho :3

[lime agate]

Can any newt owner tell me if this is the cause my weird diffraction spike, I put anti reflective material everywhere, but I still get weird diffraction spikes

[deep fog]

what do the diffraction spikes look like?

[lime agate]

its much worse on brighter star I will see if I can find anything

I couldn't find an L image but I will try

Ha is already like this imagine how much worse L is

[deep fog]

Are you talking about the random flares around the star?

[lime agate]

yes

I will see if I can find one where I took it in L

its bad

[deep fog]

i've found that most of the time, these kinds of flares are caused by the edges of the primary mirror, as I had this issue before as well. Are you using something like a primary mirror mask to mask of the edges of the primary?

[lime agate]

yes

I have a ring holder for my primary

and I made sure the ring is anti reflective

[deep fog]

oh ok, then yea maybe it is that scratch on the secondary. The masking thing usually fixes this issue but if its still there then that scratch might be doing it

[lime agate]

any suggestion?

I am thinking of using black marker and draw on the crack

[deep fog]

I mean, the obvious suggestion would be to just replace the secondary but I'll assume thats kinda out of the picture right now. I don't personally like the idea of the marker thing mainly cuz i don't like messing with optics like that. Then again, I don't really know how to deal with scratches like this to make them not interfere with the image.

IMHO, I'd maybe just leave it as is and deal with it but if you don't mind trying out options like the marker thing then hell go for it.

[proud hamlet]

I have flares like these too.

[lime agate]

yeah man gotta fix them

[plain jacinth]

or you could pretend they dont exist

and not take pictures of bright stars

Betelgeuse made me find out my telescope is just barely out of collimation

need to fix at some point

[eager quiver]

Can I get a glass of @plain jacinth

[proud hamlet]

@plain jacinth are you Mantee?

[plain jacinth]

who is that

[proud hamlet]

okay u arnt mantee got it

[agile swift]

I believe that is caused by the edge of the telescope mirror a mirror ring should fix it

[agile swift]

You definitely just need a mirror ring

The weird flares are caused by the contact points of the mirror clips every newtonian has that issue its a very simple fix all you have to do is cover it up and you dont need to spend 100 bucks just use a piece of cardboard or use a 3d printer to print it

[lime agate]

nah its not that, I do have a mirror ring

[agile swift]

Well its something obstructing the aperture or maybe scratches on the mirror dust on the mirror they all can cause that

[lime agate]

yeah Idk, so far I will just try to fix the crack, if I still see problem after I will just think of something else

[timid halo]

I’m looking for my first telescope for astrophotography would a small newt be a good starting point for deep space

I’m also on a budget

[proud hamlet]

For deep space, kit lens and a tracker does fantastic.

If u wanna do visual as well, get a dob (preferably a secpn hand one)

[agile swift]

Ok i have the little spikes as well its probably just a diffraction pattern

I mean it definitely looked like it

For me

[lime agate]

nah it doesnt look too bad cause its in Ha

but when its in L

the pattern is actuall yhuge

[plain jacinth]

oof

[steel ivy]

Exos 2 + small Newt is the perfect combo. The guiding is perfect, and it doesn't shake in the wind.

I bought the manual version and made a DIY OnStep. I'm using 400-step 0.9° motors with 128 microsteps on the TMC2209. The tracking resolution is high

[naive barn]

Ahh that's a variant of my mount

The lxd75

Very nice guiding there

I need to tear mine apart and clean it thoroughly + regrease on both axis.

Will use it for a widefield setup aside the eq6r pro

[steel ivy]

The exos is very good with Onstep. The only thing I had to do when arrived was adjust the backlash. But it was pretty easy to adjust.
I think the heat here in Brazil causes some difference in the backlash

[onyx temple]

guys what is a good lens size for a dobsonian

[grim mica]

?

do you mean like an eyepiece size or something?

[onyx temple]

https://youtu.be/S9AjNOCv-4I?si=b8QEdGMIpYhvEZdf

is the celestron 70az good?

[eager quiver]

Finally i join

I don't have a mount yet

[proud hamlet]

yay

congratz @eager quiver i have been observing u for abt 1 and a half year and u finaaly went for this scope

[eager quiver]

Yes

[eager quiver]

I have a dslr too now waiting to get a mount and onstep it

Thanks

[proud hamlet]

nice

[eager quiver]

So happy

[steel ivy]

Hubble's Variable Nebula

114/900mm + Exos 2 with OnstepX
Sv905c camera
b4 with full moon

[patent spoke]

Awesome work

[plain jacinth]

cute :3

[eager quiver]

Nice

[grim mica]

how do u do that dude

so similar to hubble

you should try eagle

[steel ivy]

I just pointed the telescope at it and let the camera take the frames. A lot of them turned out misaligned since I was without guiding. Still, only the zoom looked similar. My photo is a blur compared to Hubble

[grim mica]

what brand is your exos 2 from?

[steel ivy]

Maxivision

It was going out of frame due to polar alignment and the small sensor of the 905c. In terms of tracking, it was very good. I could do 55s of exposure with the phone in the eyepiece even without guiding

[grim mica]

hm very expensive i think I'll buy a manual eq5 then onstep it

[steel ivy]

I did that, but with the Exos 2 from Maxivision. I got the manual version

[grim mica]

I cant find the manual version

unless it's just insanely priced

[steel ivy]

Converting to dollars, mine was $600 USD. It was actually cheap considering the price of equatorial mounts around here, so we're used to that kind of price.

[mild zodiac]

bros mount is steady hands and a dream😭

[nimble narwhal]

@steel ivy how in the world do you have such good snr for such a small integration?

[steel ivy]

I reduce noise quite a lot. I usually use DeepSNR and NoiseXterminator. Both do a very good job.
I would like to do more integration, but I live in B9 and spend only a few days in the countryside

[nimble narwhal]

Cool! Amazing pictures for the rig.

[eager quiver]

Kinda

Until I get the mount i am like holding it and looking through i was able to see many stars

[signal yoke]

Been capturing the horsey with a 130 pds and a ares c pro camera. Having problems with alnitak but the image is getting better with each try!

[grim mica]

6 ain't small

[plain jacinth]

someone said it was :<

[grim mica]

well in my opinion

its like a 50/50 split on whether 6" should be allowed in small newt channel

[zinc lake]

5" and below is small newt imo

maybe even 4.5" and below

[supple current]

imo 6 inch is pretty mid-range, not particularly small, not particularly big

[grim mica]

yes

[proud hamlet]

Ya

[grim mica]

I didn't see a majority agreement

has there been a poll

that could settle things

[crude axle]

as a 6 inch newt user, i say no

they are in the medium sized. they are the smallest "large" newt

[sweet nacelle]

Booty Orion Newtonian 130 I exos 100 mount

[sweet nacelle]

And 5 inch is the biggest smol newt

[silent fox]

can i try the data?

[grim mica]

how long of subs can you get with the exos 100 i was considering getting it for a scope that weighs much less

[sweet nacelle]

with the right guiding I've gotten like 2 minute subs with 3 arc second guiding

I'm sure you can achieve better results than I did

[grim mica]

damnn

[sweet nacelle]

trust me you could probably get sub arc second

[sweet nacelle]

hell I'm on my way to that good guiding rn

[grim mica]

bro i wanna get it why is it so cheap

it looks so frickin frail

it looks like the mounts you get with like a celestron refractor from like 40 years ago

it does this well without belt mods??

or like onstep upgrade

[sweet nacelle]

i forget what this is

[sweet nacelle]

also im overloading it by a good 5 pounds or 2 kg and it works fine

I went inside of it to tune the backlash and I've never done it before

it good

[sweet nacelle]

although if you wanna just get to the point grab an eqm-35

[grim mica]

you put like a nema 17 with belts

makes it super good

[grim mica]

my total setup is 2.5kg

[sweet nacelle]

oh well dude it already has motors on it

[sweet nacelle]

yeah bud your good

[grim mica]

yeah but nema 17 is really good

[sweet nacelle]

comepletely within the payload

[sweet nacelle]

it already has motors

[grim mica]

2.5kg is like absolute max

[grim mica]

these nema 17 are like 10 bucks and everyone uses them

theyre basically always an upgrade

[sweet nacelle]

on the mounts motors its like 5 kg

im running it like 7 kg and she pulls through

[sweet nacelle]

heres the mount with terrible guiding a kit lens and dslr unmodded 2 hours

[minor berry]

12 inch scope

hope its small enough

[grim mica]

tiniest thing ive ever seen

[minor berry]

personally for me thats pretty small

[steel ivy]

Looks like my 4 inch in details, soo yes

[minor berry]

How much int

Also it's a 15 year old uncleaned scope with a mount made by some random metal worker on and island

Single axis unguided fork mount

[steel ivy]

2000x0.5s

with a planetary camera sensor

[minor berry]

Makes sense then

Ones lucky imaging and the other isn't

This is my lucky imaging without a filter

[steel ivy]

Lucky imaging is 0.2s or less

[minor berry]

Don't really think there is a threshold for it

Lucky imaging is just imaging quickly so atmospheric distortion doesn't effect the image as much as a longer exposure (10s or multiple minutes) so a .3 second difference isn't that much

[minor berry]

What's your setup

[steel ivy]

114/900mm, Eq3 with onstep + Sv905c (imx 224)

I currently use an Exos 2, but I haven't taken any good photos with it yet.

[minor berry]

The fact that none of those are English words means it costs more than my setup times 3

[grim mica]

his sensor is nowhere near as good as yours

[grim mica]

no bro

eq3 is not that expensive dude

[minor berry]

I'm joking 😭

[grim mica]

sv905c is basically a guide camera

his toya scope is pretty old too i believe

[steel ivy]

ok....

[grim mica]

not sure about his specific one

[minor berry]

But I'm comparing an image I took months and months ago without a filter

[grim mica]

that's like half the price of just his camera

[minor berry]

For the whole setup?

[minor berry]

Bro the image I sent was processed with siril 😭

This was rhe data

[grim mica]

tf does that have to do with anything

[steel ivy]

I paid $60 for the camera. I bought it used here in Brazil from a friend.

[minor berry]

Means when I processed it I was garbage at processing

[grim mica]

how did you get an eq3 for so cheap

[grim mica]

I can still evaluate your details

[minor berry]

Bro what

[steel ivy]

It’s cheaper when i convert the currency... But I did pay a much lower price than usual. And it's not the EQ3-2, it's a Chinese EQ3.

[grim mica]

your "lack" of processing software does not make it harder to spot your amount of detail

[minor berry]

Huh

I don't use siril anymore

[grim mica]

were comparing detail and you're saying my photo was processed in siril so yeah

[minor berry]

I'm saying the reason it looks bad is because it was processed, when I used siril

[grim mica]

I'm saying I can still see your detail

which is the purpose of the comparison

[minor berry]

Yeah?

What?

[grim mica]

youre using siril as an excuse

siril did not make your detail any worse

[minor berry]

I'm using the time I used siril as an excuse

[grim mica]

were looking for detail here

[minor berry]

Not the software siril

[grim mica]

those are 2 different methods of imaging

[minor berry]

What

[grim mica]

and your filter or something is causing an issue in the first one

with all that chromatic aberration or maybe there's a specific term for this color fringing

[minor berry]

Yes

[grim mica]

youre trying to compare a b9 with no filter to a b9 with a very narrow bandpass

[minor berry]

Yeah

[grim mica]

narrowband imaging is completely different to normal imaging

[minor berry]

That's the comparison

[minor berry]

And I'm assuming the other guy was also narrowband imaging 😭

[grim mica]

the comparison was your "using siril" or whatever tf u were saying before

[minor berry]

That's the point I'm trying tk make

[grim mica]

doesn't look like it based on colors

[steel ivy]

I'm not sure if this brand was ever shipped outside of South America, but I think it's just a white label telescope like many 114/900 models. I would say it's very similar to the 114mm Powerseeker, but without that terrible single leg spider

[minor berry]

Highlights on reds and blues, I could be wrong tho

[grim mica]

was that orion image you sent narrowband

[minor berry]

Even if it wasn't it's comparing lucky imaging with a good setup and good conditions, with a professional, and a lucky image with my huge 12 inch scope that's basically a sail pointed parallel to the ground on a fork mount

[grim mica]

cheaper

[steel ivy]

No... I did it only with the Ir-uvcut

Bortle 9

[grim mica]

that's how orion is

[grim mica]

hes b7

[minor berry]

Well obv not in my image 😭

[minor berry]

💀

I am literally not

I live like 6 minutes away from the a major city area

[grim mica]

6 minutes away from a few apartment buildings

[minor berry]

Bro

It's

I'm gonna doxx us if I say it

[grim mica]

right here not sure what ur trying to justify

[minor berry]

It's just not i don't know what to say

I've seen the skies of a b9

And the ones at my house aint any dif

[grim mica]

its clearly alot more stars both me and @agile swift can confirm

you can barely see orion in the place 6 minutes away

the constellation

[minor berry]

Bro I literally could see orion better right next to your apartment 🙏

[grim mica]

🙏

🙏

[grim mica]

no

the sky is literally gray here

on a clear night

[minor berry]

How tf can unid image then 😭

[agile swift]

You tripping buddy

[grim mica]

does he though

[agile swift]

Cause intergration duhh

[agile swift]

Barely

[grim mica]

and what other option would he have

[agile swift]

Not much considering there is like 2ft of snow at the b4 location

[steel ivy]

I rarely take photos here in São Paulo. After I saw that a 55s frame from the countryside has more signal than 10 hours of exposure here, I got discouraged. Especially with the work of carrying the mount and the telescope to a free area outside the apartment

[steel ivy]

My sky here

[grim mica]

são paulo is much bigger than our city

with probably less light pollution regulations

[minor berry]

Idk going to port cause he always complains 😭

Also the data of the bortle level dan Sent was from 2015

[steel ivy]

If there were a Bortle 10, this would probably be here 💀

[minor berry]

Lowk wish they updated it

[grim mica]

they have newer models

[minor berry]

Where

[grim mica]

but there's probably a good reason why the old one is the default

[grim mica]

you can select newer versions on their site

[steel ivy]

If I'm not mistaken, the new model only shows the SQM. But it's more accurate than the Bortle scale.

I did some test subs today. I had to make some adjustments to my OnStep, so I set it up here in B9 just to test the Exos 2 guiding. I used the CLS filter

[silent fox]

Love the 224, very good choice for lucky imaging imo

[grim mica]

hey now it looks like my detail

[patent spoke]

It's a nice mount mechanically

[grim mica]

well it's like the same price as an eq5 I can just mod that

would a CG4 with an onstep upgrade work well for my 2kg newt setup?

[agile swift]

No city has light pollution regulations except for those in New Zealand

[grim mica]

i saw alot of the first one in rio

[agile swift]

Those are just incandescent lights

Kinda wish they still used mercury vapor or tungsten lights

Cause those are much easier to block with a light pollution filter since thier emission spectra is pretty narrow

[grim mica]

yes

[agile swift]

Unlike led which emit a wide range of light

[grim mica]

? theyre light pollution

[grim mica]

i dont think he used narrowband here

[agile swift]

Yeah but they are generally less bright

[agile swift]

Thats day time

[grim mica]

when you have thousands of them blasting into the sky vs led ones pointed directly at the ground theres a difference

[agile swift]

There is two light sources

[grim mica]

i thought because he was responding to the b9 thing it was a long exposure night photo made to look like day

[agile swift]

One is the moon

And the other is the sun

[agile swift]

Yeah it did kinda look like it

[eager quiver]

Whats up with the spikes@signal yoke

[signal yoke]

I think processing haha, not that much experience with pix

[signal yoke]

Could also be the sv240 filter

[eager quiver]

Be active

Guys

[past kite]

Clouds so i cant be activr

[loud rose]

4.5" F8 newt. surprisingly sharp. 1$ well spent lol

1$ (+20$ shipping), 23$ camera, and 2000$ mount lol

[keen osprey]

My small newton

It's a gso 4,5"
456mm focal lenght

And this is what i was able to capture with it.

[naive barn]

Wait wtf, no flex with it that unbalanced?

[keen osprey]

yes, there is some flex but is managable.

With some upgrades there will be even less flex.

[signal yoke]

Most recent, about 3.2 hours. 130pds/imx533/sv240 on a am3

[patent spoke]

Nice, evidence of a newtonian being used on an AM3. Looks great!

[patent spoke]

Mostly rigged up, just waiting for my SVBony power distribution hub

[silent fox]

tiny : D

[steel ivy]

How many seconds of exposure can you get with this tracker? I was thinking of 3D printing one to test

[sage ferry]

Which mini pc is that?

[fierce python]

Ah, you did an antenna mod?
How well is it working, I did one on mind but have not had the time to test it

[signal yoke]

No complaints at all, guiding also improved a lot compared to my eq 5 pro mount

[signal yoke]

Did you shorten the tube? What setup do you have?

[keen osprey]

with this setup 30. I don't use intervalometer.

[patent spoke]

I shortened the tube instead of pushing the mirror forwards like the original setup. I have a sharpstar 0.95x CC and an ASI533MC-P but my Minicam 8 is arriving tomorrow. All will be riding on an AM3

[patent spoke]

I don't know if it has helped all that much to be honest, might be a limitation of the wifi card which can't be upgraded. I am still experimenting with it though

[fierce python]

Hmmm, ok
Well, that is the big drawback of those PC's imo

[patent spoke]

Trying out mounting configs while I wait for the rest of my stuff to arrive. I mounted the guidescope to the side of the extrusion and I think it looks pretty cool

Just need to figure out a good spot for the power box and It's done

[patent spoke]

Minicam is here!

[gritty sky]

Nice...can't wait until mine grows up to be like that

[patent spoke]

I hope this all works. Since I chopped the tube, I haven't imaged with it. That was last summer basically

[gritty sky]

Which focuser is that?

[patent spoke]

The wrong one

It's a 2" GSO crayford, but it doesn't have EAF mounting holes

[gritty sky]

Looked familiar. Well that helps me to remember to get the one with the EAF holes.

Good looking rig overall.

[patent spoke]

Thanks! I'll need to come up with something for an EAF since one is on the way..

[steel ivy]

A friend printed one adapter in this style that grips the focuser from the outside. It worked

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5574633

[patent spoke]

I saw this, but my custom focuser bracket has the body fit in deeper than a metal one so that adapter won't work

[deep fog]

What cam is that? I've never see something like that before.

[deep fog]

Ah nevermind, I see. Minicam8. Been out of the loop for a bit. Interesting to see they make a mini divice like this for the mono 585. Perfect for us though lol.

[patent spoke]

There are two versions, color and mono. I own the mono version

So it basically is perfect for this

Also long time no see!

[deep fog]

Ah i see, thats pretty sick, nice little all in one package. And yea long time no see to you! Been very busy with uni but it all ends today. Literally. Today's my last day and i walk on friday

[patent spoke]

Congrats!

[humble stirrup]

should I repost my questions here?

[patent spoke]

naw I got it one sec

Message from @humble stirrup
I have a few questions regarding your Starblast astrograph conversion. I know you had the imaging version of the starblast but did you upgrade the secondary or spider? Did you have to cut the tube to get it to focus? What camera do you usually use with the scope? Thanks.

1. The secondary came pre-upgraded from factory (47mm dia) and I did not upgrade the spider. I would really like to but I'm not sure which path I should take. (3D printed, custom metal bits, idk)
2. I did have to cut the tube, but only to push focus outwards so that my long coma corrector wasn't protruding into the light path a bunch. I forgot how much I cut it down but I'll try to get that number if you want it
3. I used a 533MC Pro with a Sharpstar 0.95x CC. It got full coverage of the sensor, but there was some obvious fall off/vignetting all around the edges of the sensor. Can be fixed with flats. I now own a 585 minicam 8 but I haven't tested it yet. Should work perfectly fine with the diagonal size.

I chopped 50mm from the back

[humble stirrup]

Thanks for the info.

[patent spoke]

$20 please

@humble stirrup I had to cut a hole where the original focuser was to make room for the new one. I used a 2" hole saw and a custom template to drill holes for the draw tube and the 3D printed mounting bracket

[humble stirrup]

if I can find a used focuser I will attempt all this lol

[humble stirrup]

thanks though

[patent spoke]

I used a whatever GSO dual speed crayford

Not pictured there, that's some other focuser that I ended up breaking

[sage ferry]

I desperately need a small newt

[limber olive]

what's the name of this target, is it visible now in the northern hemisphere?

[humble stirrup]

That is Leo's Triplet, made up of M65, M66, and Hamburger Galaxy. It is visible currently in the northern hemisphere yes.

[limber olive]

cool cool, i may check it out next clear night

Huh well I don't have a small newt but my refractor setup is actually kinda perfect for this object

Probably gonna be too dim for me in the city but who knows, we shall see

[humble stirrup]

it's a cool visual target if you have a dob in a low bortle area some time

I was able to see all 3 galaxies with my 8" dob in b5

[limber olive]

that's pretty sweet

[humble stirrup]

faint little smudges but still cool

[limber olive]

one day i wanna look through one of those crazy 20 inch dobs and like see more than faint blobs

[sweet nacelle]

the cities in the canaries do i think

[patent spoke]

Gemini EAF installed with custom adapter

[signal yoke]

So cool! Installing a flat panel on there as well?

[patent spoke]

Eventually, yes! Just need to make my own dust cover to fit the 5” disc

[signal yoke]

Very nice!

Did you image with it already?

[patent spoke]

A long time ago yes but not recently, and not since a made a whole bunch of changes. I’m hoping to test tonight and tomorrow night

[signal yoke]

Ah great, very curious how it performs with the minicam. Keep updating please, it's a very cool project!

[humble stirrup]

@patent spoke have you ever tested an APSC sensor on your starblast? I really wanna mod my starblast but I want to know if upgrading the secondary is even enough to fully cover an APSC sensor.

I'm still on the lookout for a cheap GSO focuser too lol

The only thing is I don't know where to buy a bigger secondary or how big I need

[patent spoke]

I haven't tried anything larger than a 533 and with a 47mm secondary, I was seeing vignetting

[humble stirrup]

so apsc probably is a bad idea?

[patent spoke]

Probably

[humble stirrup]

alr thanks anyway

[snow elm]

yo those antennas in the back extend ur hotspot signal?

i was looking for one of that too signal from my mini pc is kinda poor

[limber socket]

Small

[gritty sky]

I have an Orion Starblast 4.5 EQ. Can someone tell me if this focuser will work with my OTA: https://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/item/411859-crayford-2”-focuser-with-microfocusing-knob-and-jmi-autofocus-control/

[mellow jackal]

Does 8” count as small?, seems pretty average.

[fierce python]

Definitely not x)

Even 6" is considered big for this thread I think

I believe "small" here is everything under 6"

[mellow jackal]

Damn, never knew I would be too big.

[fierce python]

We talking width here, not length unfortunately for you

[mellow jackal]

I thought it was diameter?

Either way I just never thought that all my scopes would be too large to participate.

[eager quiver]

Anybody

[past kite]

I have actually imaged with the exact scope and could bag some good results with orion and adromeda

I just saw that j went back in time to answer that message

[past kite]

Hows it going for u with the 130PDS?

Mine serves me well

Done some mods to it

This is 10 hours Ha data on north america with my perfect 130pds

[eager quiver]

Really good but I wasn't able to get a mount till now I used it hand held and on a tripod for visual 🥲 @past kite

[naive barn]

2yrs ago dayum

[leaden portal]

I just got a 150mm f/5 parabolic, I'll post images when it arrives

[leaden portal]

Does this count

[grim mica]

personally I don't think so

[leaden portal]

Damn 😫

[upper oar]

No that's a pretty normal sized newt

[solid moon]

Had someone on OA discord process this for me. Starblast FTW!

[patent spoke]

wowow

[limber olive]

I love how the small newts channel is two kinds of people taking pictures. Either blurry smartphone snaps from visual observers or gorgeous masterpieces and there's very little in between.

[solid moon]

lol I can show you the in between. Deep Sky Derpy

[limber olive]

loll

what's the target in your image btw

[solid moon]

That’s trifid and lagoon nebula.

M20 and M8

[limber olive]

ahhh that's why I don't recognize them they're like mythical creatures to me lol they never come high enough where I am in the northern hemisphere to get good images

[solid moon]

My second deep sky shot from a Meade DS-100 mount.

[patent spoke]

I still want to return to tiny newts someday but my 4.5" plastic primary mirror cell makes collimation almost impossible. I still have my 5" and an f/4 mirror for it, but I need to take it to an exhaust shop or something to have the tube chopped down

[solid moon]

What’s wrong with the cell?

[patent spoke]

Just isn't a good solution for holding collimation. There are marks in the cell that cause it to move around too much while adjusting and then it doesn't hold or moves through the night

[solid moon]

Yeah that’s been a problem in mine. Did you use the stock cell or redesign? You’re welcome to use my STL model

[patent spoke]

I am using just the stock cell. I used a printed one for my 4" project but that had the same issue. Metal is just needed I think

Or a very stiff plastic, maybe with some steel or aluminum adhered to it, but the differing thermal expansion coefficients might cause other issues

Wait what?? https://www.highpointscientific.com/sharpstar-13028hnt-al-hyperbolic-reflector

That's crazy they made an aluminum one and now it's only $1000 wtf. Probably a nightmare

Saw one for $750 on CN... I barely do AP anymore but man that'd be cool and awful

[solid moon]

That’s different from the carbon star right?

I have a friend that can do aluminum milling if you want to try to crank something out

This thing is soooo cute

[patent spoke]

Yea that's a sharpstar hyperbolic newtonian at f/2.8

[patent spoke]

I love the way they look but that's about the only thing they're good for

[lethal umbra]

oh my GOD I want one

Is that a Schmidt-Newtonian?

[solid moon]

It says catadioptric so maybe?

[patent spoke]

It's only catadioptric because the mirrors are spherical and there's a jones-bird corrector lens inside the focuser. That glass plate doesn't contribute anything optically it's just a window

[lethal umbra]

Thanks I hate it

I no longer want one

[patent spoke]

They just look cool but even in the best form they're only kinda okay

[lethal umbra]

I just now spotted the f/7.9 on the objective

[patent spoke]

Yup there's your sign

[solid moon]

is it a true bird jones or the Celestron trash kind?

[patent spoke]

It's possible to make that optical design work well but in almost every case it's done cheaply and assembled poorly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYgjP2kKcSA very neat and very long video on the topic

[solid moon]

He gave a presentation on it at my club. I like his videos. He’s been trying to sell one of his bird jones for awhile. Too bad the name instantly sets off alarm bells.

[sweet nacelle]

newtoenian

[agile swift]

Peak

[hoary haven]

Leo Triplet through my Telescope (114/900)

[deep fog]

@patent spoke Hey, been a while, but I remember you making a small alt/az mount for a scope I don't remember. How did it perform and how did you go about making it? I've transitioned away from astrophotography for a bit cuz life (i don't have my mount anymore) but I still have my scopes, the starblast and its 60mm guide scope. I was thinking of using my 60mm scope for a portable visual astro setup and wanted a small mount for it.

[patent spoke]

I'm also not super into AP but I did make several mounts in that time. Was it made of SWSA dec brackets?

You may like this though too. This is probably the smallest dual axis strain wave mount made (maybe)

[deep fog]

I don't remember exactly. All i remember was that is was L shaped and used belts to control the axis I think.

[deep fog]

And this is cool af

[patent spoke]

Yea that used SWSA dec brackets. Never fully finished it or used it oops

I have habit of finishing things like 90%

[deep fog]

i mean same

[silent fox]

weight cap?

[patent spoke]

Sorta assuming it'll handle 5kg no problem but the printed planetary gearboxes are the weak point

Likely capable of more but I'm not sure yet