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Encap

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Thanks Jerry, yes, these scopes are my pride and joy and a real pleasure to use.
The wooden mahogany tripod on the Takahashi TOA130/EM400 combo is classically beautiful, elegant and practical as it helps dampen any vibrations quickly.
Truly a work of art.

You should get your scope out and try it out.
:beer:



Thanks Curtis, glad you like it.
Good on you for making your own 80mm using PVC.
The best ones are the ones you make yourself.
LOL, I remember making my own green little laser out of PVC.
Love it !

:)



Found another old astro photo I took of the Lagoon Nebula, way back when..... (early attempt, while I was still learning), well you never stop learning do you? :whistle:

lagoon.jpg



RB
:beer:

Really amazing and good photo---thanks for posting it :thanks:

Yeah, that EM 400 mount with mahogany tripod is just awesome and a beautiful thing to see---nothing about it done on the cheap --all of it, real deal high quality---the scope too for that matter. Fantastic and serious toy.
 





Joined
Sep 20, 2013
Messages
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A very nice photo for just starting out, Andrew. It is overly filled with the light from so many stars and galaxies. How long was the exposure for that one? Do you remember?
 
Joined
Apr 6, 2014
Messages
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Thank you Encap & Paul.
Paul I looked up the details for you.
I took this in 2006, using my origal smaller Takahashi EM200 mount.

Telescope: TOA 130 at f/5.5
Mount: EM200
Camera: Canon 20Da
ISO: 1600
Exp: 17 minutes.

Unfortunately, depending on which part of the sky you're imagining, sometimes
it's unavoidable having so many other stars in the Field.
This is in the heart of the Milky Way so there's heaps of stars in the surroundings.
I try and minimise the exposure so as not to blow out the image with stars.
Of course having top quality optics helps a lot with pin point sources of light, like stars, as you know.
Thanks for your kind words, I'm so glad you all enjoy.

:beer:
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2012
Messages
577
Points
43
I cant be bothered with images of my scopes. It seems I keep adding to the list.

Meade LX90 8 inch SCT
Celestron C11 SCT
GSO RC 8
GSO RC6
Sky Watcher Esprit 150 Refractor. This is my most expenisve. Around 7k AUD
Williams Optics 70mm APO Refractor. Ferrari limited edition

3 mounts.
A few CMOS imaging cameras
A few CCD imaging cameras
2 Canon DSLR's

Been doing imaging for around 5 years but not so much recently.

I do have a web page with my images but prefer to remain anonymous on this forum. My web page uses my real name.

One sample of the Horsehead and Flame Nebula taken from Australia.
 

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That is a very nice photo, Mosc007. I see you have been doing this for awhile also. Seems like the thing to do in Australia. :D
 
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That is a very nice photo, Mosc007. I see you have been doing this for awhile also. Seems like the thing to do in Australia. :D

We are lucky down here. We have the best view of the milky way. And if you go far enough inland it's completly dark. No lights for hundreds of miles.

In Sydney though it is pretty much pointless because of the light. I travel about 1 hour to the Clubs Viewing site up in the Blue Mountains. It's not as dark as we would like but 100 times better than in Sydney.
 
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
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Hello, the absolutely great pictures here have motivated me to rummage my old baby out of the garage.
By far I can not keep up here, it is only a 4.5 inch telescope with f = 900 mm.
The part is still from old days, when I was in the 70s still in the star time.
At that time, I already equipped this part with stepper motors and controlled it via the parallel port.
Not all parts of the control are no longer available and I must probably but sometimes completely restore the part, it is also completely filthy.
 

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Joined
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Messages
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Hello, the absolutely great pictures here have motivated me to rummage my old baby out of the garage.
By far I can not keep up here, it is only a 4.5 inch telescope with f = 900 mm.
The part is still from old days, when I was in the 70s still in the star time.
At that time, I already equipped this part with stepper motors and controlled it via the parallel port.
Not all parts of the control are no longer available and I must probably but sometimes completely restore the part, it is also completely filthy.

A classic 4.5" Newtonian scope, chloderic.
That brings back memories.
I tried to image Halley's Comet in 1986 using a similar setup to your's.
:wave:

Found another image of mine.
This is the Rho Ophiuchi Multiple Star System in the constellation Ophiuchus.
Lovely blue hues with a Triple 'star system' in the middle.

TOA 130s, f/5.5, Canon 20Da, ISO400, 40 min exposure.

roph-prime.jpg


RB

:)
 
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
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If any hobby is mind expanding, astronomy is it, so absolutely awesome to be able to physically peer into such great distances where photons traveling for billions of years can be viewed as they enter our eye to give us information of what was out there. Although, I suppose incoming from billions of years ago may be too weak to see, and only detectors used for them. I wonder, how many light years out can be detected with the eye using a 12 inch diameter reflector telescope.
 
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A 40 minute exposure sounds like a very long exposure time, Andrew. Those stars must be very faint if you have to track them that long to get a good photo of them.
 
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@ Chris, yep, Astronomy is very satisfying, especially when I use my 7W 445nm to 'point' (melt) things out to people. :crackup:
The 12" certainly has more light gathering ability but also a much narrower native field of view at f/10, hence the need for even longer exposure time.

@ Paul, yes this region is very faint, all I could see through the scope was the small triple star system, nothing else.
This 40 min exposure was a test shot to see if I had the area I wanted, centred onto the sensor.
It allowed me to bring out all that faint nebulosity and some colour.
To do it justice I wanted to try for a total of 3 hours+ exposure time but the weather beat me and I never went back to it.

:yh:
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2012
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Our clubs scope up the mountains is a 30 inch.

Wow, You can't beat apperature. At that size you start to see color. I have never imaged thru it. Not many have. It's to busy with viewing. It's a on a nice goto dob mount. And it needs quite a high ladder to view with when it's pointed up.

It's a pity how rare we get good skies though. It's only 2 sat nights a month when there is no moon. If we are lucky one night is ok.
 
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From the way you describe that scope, it sounds like you leave it up there. Are you able to lock it up when you aren't around? Sounds like moving it would take an expedition.
 
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
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Hello, as I had already mentioned in various occasions, I love old nostalgic things.
Therefore, here is a slightly smaller old treasure from my collection.
Certainly not necessarily suitable for astronomical purposes ... but fine to look at.
 

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How old is that scope, chloderic? It doesn't look ancient, but certainly over 100 years old.
 




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