Algol Loc: Georgia

Here is my new "toy" and I have been anxiously awaiting clear skies to use it. It is a 14 inch Meade LX200 telescope on an Orion HDX 110 EQ-G mount. The small white tube telescope on top is a 6 inch Astro-Tech f/9 Ritchey-Cretien that I use for guiding. The guide camera, an ASI 174 MC-S planetary camera is attached to it. I normally use a Canon 60Da for astrophotography but I substituted a Canon T2i for this photo that is attached to the 14 inch.
I finally got to try it out but it was very windy and seeing conditions were deplorable. Never-the-less, the image of the moon came out half way decent. It is a stack of 500 usable images out of 1500 and stacked in Registak. Exposure was 0.1 seconds at f/10, ISO 200.
The last image was a test on a familiar deep sky object and easy to find, lol. It is of the Ring Nebula in Lyra and is a single 300 second exposure (5 minutes) with the Canon 60Da camera attached to the 14 inch. Operating at f/6.5 and ISO 800. As you can readily see the stars are not pinpoint nor are they round. This was due to the seeing conditions and the windy weather we had. It was buffeting the telescope tube a bit but due to it's massive size movement was (thankfully) kept to a minimum.
All in all, I am pleased with the results and cannot wait for those clear steady fall skies in October and November, stay tuned, more to come. One other note, I do not play the lottery, but on a whim and some spare change after getting some gas, I purchased one ticket and it hit. Not the big one mind you but enough to pay off some bills and purchase this monster. Think I'll stop right there on playing the lottery as I am ahead of the game, lol

14 inch Telescope

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Clavius & Longomontanus

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M-57

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Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

Considering you are using the AT6RC, which is my main imaging scope, as a guide scope provides size reference that is simply stunning. Great buy and look forward to seeing all the great images your new light bucket gains you.

Matthew

Algol Loc: Georgia

Thank you. I also plan in the future to reverse the roles. By that I mean I will use the 14 for guiding and the 6 for taking some pics. This will be of course wider fields of view as the 14 FOV is less than 0.5 degree on the Canon 60Da. I can use a reducer on the 6 to get a much wider FOV.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Looks really good. Got to thinking about the size of the 14" scope as I drove in to work this morning and thinking about the size of that mirror compared to my steering wheel I was holding onto. That thing should gather up buckets of photons.

Have fun.

pfrancke Loc: cold Maine

please post another image with someone standing on the stump! LOL

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

Is your mount semi-permanent or do you tear down after every imaging session because that seems like a lot of work. I have been drooling over a large scope but can't seem to decide on a HD mount to carry everything, and don't want to incrementally upgrade, rather just go all out now and slowly build up my imaging train to fit.

Have fun with the beast,
Matthew

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Very very nice Jerry.
Congratulations!!!
Craig

Algol Loc: Georgia

Here is the photo of me and the 14. I'm 5'7" so that gives you an idea as to the size of this thing.

Me & 14 inch Meade Telescope

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Algol Loc: Georgia

The mount is semi-permanent and is awaiting a permanent site. I use a cover made by Telegizmos purchased from Oceanside Photo and Telescope. A friend of mine has a Meade 12 inch LX200 and has kept his scope outside here in Georgia for over two years without any harmful effects. I first encountered one of these covers on another Meade 12 inch scope in Namibia where it is very, very hot, typically 110 to 125 degrees daily during the summer and again no ill effects.
I simply replace the cover each night and make sure all the electronic cables and such are covered as well. It works quite nicely. I do take the cameras indoors and do not leave them on the scopes. Old plastic 35mm film canisters make ideal stoppers for the 1-1/4 inch eyepiece holes.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Good Grief that is huge, Jerry!
Congratulations! Glad you hit the lottery and scored!
Good Lord, a 6" guide scope?

I look forward to your posts from this black hole star gobbler.
Looks to be off to a fantastic start as it is.

That thing is scary big! :shock:

Algol Loc: Georgia

Thanks Sonny, I appreciate the comments. I just wish I had your California skies.

pfrancke Loc: cold Maine

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Thank you, now when I want a scope for Christmas and my wife says "show me a picture of which one" I can pull this up!

We can definitely see why it is permanent/semi-permanent.

Very cool.

chazz4623 Loc: Prairieville, La

SIMPLY AWESOME!!!!!!

skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

Wow! That was an incredible win! How much of that forest did you have to clear?

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Well Sir, you need to be careful what you wish for my friend.
When we were at Joshua Tree NP there was a parade of morons on 8/13 in cars going to GS5, the 5th campsite in the Group camping area. They had an illegally big star party going on over there.
It made for a huge amount of light pollution in the imaging.

Pardon my French, but this place (California) has become the land of Asphalt and Assholes.
I long for a darker, more secluded site, without the parades.
I'd be more inclined to venture to your Georgia Pines.

I'll trade you California for Georgia. We could swap scopes at the same time.
Such a deal! :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :roll: