Posts Made By: David Moody

Steven,
That is an extremely nice shot, especially with the central details. I noticed a galaxy at around 11 o'clock near star HD 213056, which you appeared to capture quite well. I looked through several galaxy catalogues (including RC3 and Leda) and could not find it. It appears to have shown up a lot better than several other images I examined. There are probably several others that are very faint around the left side of the image as well (or so it appears).
Good Job!
David Moody

Here is the same image as before (same LRGB times) but with the red channel enhanced showing the extended neutral hydrogen regions much better.

David Moody

John,

The short pulse back that you get slewing back to the west is a "takeup" motion that is programmed into the drive at all speeds except the slowest guiding speed, where it doesn't do that. That is a hard setting that can't be changed, from what I understand.

Scopetronix is still showing their LX50 Dec fix kit, which is what you need (at www.scopetronix.com). It really helps out quite a bit.

David Moody

John, I use Ron Keating's DewBuster and usually set it to around +4 or +5 degrees F. above ambient (it is temperature controlled, measuring the ambient temperature). I have an insulated dewshield over it on my 10" SCT and it keeps it above the dewpoint and dry as bone all night (here in southern Louisiana near the Gulf, where we use umbrellas to cover from the dewfall). And I don't have to apply any more heat than is necessary to keep it dry. It sounds like you have Kendrick type of controller and I have heard that sometimes people crank theirs up early in the session and then taper it down later. This seems to have some success. It really depends upon the temperature swings you have, which is one real plus for the DewBuster, since it automatically adjusts to such swings. One real key however, is to not wait till the dew forms before turning on your dew heaters. Turn it on from the beginning of the session and keep your optics dry all night long. That way you shouldn't have to crank it up in the beginning, which should make for more efficient use of your battery power (if you are running on batteries). Best wishes, David Moody

Ken, DewBuster home page is: http://www.gbronline.com/ronkeating/default.htm Just as the others said, use a dew shield, dew heaters, a DewBuster, and prevent dew before it starts. I live in Louisiana and the dew is horrendous down here. Dew will start in the first few minutes after you remove the cap if you don't have some things in place to control it. David Moody

Pretty picture Wes. I grew up in Shawnee (nearby town for other readers). I moved back there and then moved away again 4 years ago. The picture reminds me of the crisp mornings there (especially with the pink in the sky.. thinking of ice crystals).

Thanks for the memory.

David

Dennis,

Great image!

I have an MX716 as well and I have been extremely impressed as to how deep you can go on luminance exposures in a rather short period of time. I shot Abell 426 a year and a half ago and was getting some incredibly deep, albeit hazy, galaxies on very short exposures. Now I am doing much longer exposures (10 -20 minutes) and getting very satisfying results in the deeper fields. This is a great camera.
David Moody

Dennis, Excellent image. I have not tried any dark nebulae yet (even B33), though I am wanting to shoot the Inkspot (B96, I believe) soon. David

The MX716 is an excellent camera. I have enjoyed mind thoroughly. That is a terrific image of M63. You captured the faint details well and also, what appear to be some nebulous clusters in the galaxy itself. David Moody

Very good shot! That is a difficult galaxy to capture with the details you have. I was comparing your shot to the CDS (SINBAD and Aladdin) visual databases and it looks like you caught a few of the faint galaxies just underneath the galaxy in your image.

David