Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

You know, it is very difficult to accept things by faith and belief alone. But in the scientific community, this does happen, right? I mean, Dark Matter, which can not be seen or measured or detected on its own, can still be accepted, right? Why, because other things seem to point to it existing. Though of course other things might also explain the situation too, it is just that Dark Matter and Dark Energy are the accepted explanation at this time. But, give a new and better explanation and they will be dropped like a hot potato.

So, God is very much like Dark Matter and Energy. If God exists, he cannot be seen, detected, measured or captured for us to examine. This indeed makes it a faith issue just like the scientific issue, both arguments have no real hold it in your hand proof at this time.

So, until one or the other is proven to be true, I guess we will all just have to have our separate beliefs about them. But, I think that no one has any proof one way of the other, so it is a moot point.

The MN66 came in today and I spent all afternoon finishing the Saddle Plate for it and making the guide scope plate fit the plate on the rings.
Everything appears to be going great. The weight and balance is good, balanced about the middle of the OTA and total weight with guide scope, rings and plates and dew shield is 29 lbs. With cameras that should put it at maybe 31-32 lbs. Well within the limits of the G-11.
The JMI Motofocus that I use on the WO 80mm and the Meade 127ED also fits the MN66 focuser, so I have a working electric focuser!
Tomorrow I will set up the G-11 and put everything together and see how the balance is mounted and how much counter weight I will need to use.
The G-11 has the new Ovision RA Worm and Block installed and adjusted. This should help with the additional weight of the new scope.
Hopefully I will get my first image the week before New Moon, when conditions are better.

After a couple of days of work, I finished setting up the new MN66 imaging system.
The Saddle Plate is all finished with a safety stop bolt because of the weight. The guide scope is all mounted with plates and balance. The cables are all routed to fit the setup. Weight and Balance all done with an almost equal distance, so it is more or less centered.

The JMI Motofocus is adapted to the Antares two speed focuser. I had to modify the focuser, with a Teflon guide, to get it stiff enough. I would not recommend one of these for photography unless you want to do some engineering and machine work. It would be fine for visual, but as it comes it cannot take the weight of even a smaller camera and filter wheel.


Collimation is complete, which only required leveling the focuser, I did not have to touch the mirrors. I did clean the corrector plate and vacuumed a little dust from the inside not much.

Then I made a 2" filter that fits into the focuser and an exhaust fan goes on the bottom plate where the removable cooling plate is located. This pulls filtered air from the focuser through the tube and around the mirror. 34 cu ft per minute should make cool down much quicker.

The entire setup ready to image is about 32.5 lbs + - 1 lb. This should be no problem for the G-11 and tests showed it had no problem moving it in all attitudes. Counter weight was 24 lbs which was not too bad, I had anticipated maybe 30 lb.

Now I just need a good night to try it out and find out if I can achieve focus with the focuser and I will be ready for first light.

Tonight I will have first light with the MN66. I have high hopes that it will capture a good image and have no real problems.
I did get a new focuser, a JMI DX3, which was the original focuser. So focus should not be an issue.
I will post when I return and get a chance to process the data.

Well, good news and bad news!
Bad news, no way you can use the MN66 and a camera with a filter wheel or anything that causes you to need more in focus. So, no matter what I do, I can not get focus with it. I believe a one shot color camera or a mono with just a nose piece would work fine, but not a mono and filter wheel or focal reduce.
So that was a bust! Too bad, because the MN66 is a nice instrument and would have produced nice photos I believe, but not for me. I guess it is time to sell it.
Good news! The ST2000xm works great, excellent detail and nice background. No burning out of the galaxy center with a 10 minute exposure, which I seemed to have problems with the DSI III. I would always have to make some adjustments. A single 10 minute frame with dark subtract, gave really good detail. I will post it later, but I have it on the laptop and not on the desktop which I am using.
I am please with the camera and the FOV it produces. Nice quality to the build and much nicer than the DSIs I have been using, but of course the cost was 3x too, so you would expect that.
I used my 80mm APO with the camera when the MN66 failed to work. It worked well with it. I have a TV012 that I am picking up Saturday and I will try it out too and see how it works with it. The TV102 is not as good a choice as the NP101, but it should be pretty nicely and it was available for a trade which I had been trying to find. I believe the TV102 will do a nice job with this sized chip. I have seen a few photos taken with them and they looked good. But, I bought it for visual as much as a possible imaging scope, so nothing ventured nothing gained.

Picked up the TV102 today. It was just like new, really! Not a single mark or even any dust on the objective. The Gibraltar mount was also pristine.
Now I am setting up a electric focus motor for it, so I can manually focus from the laptop. It is almost finished and works well.
I think this should make a good imaging scope. I will give it a try soon.

Today I picked up my TV102, it was so pristine that it really looked unused and new in box. Really nice, great focuser and the finish is excellent.
Also got the Gibraltar mount with it. It too looks great, maybe used once or twice it appears.
Hoping it will work for astrophotography as well as visual.

I called last Monday to talk to Meade and on the 3rd ring a person answered and stated, "Meade Customer Service, can I help you?"
Needless to say I was shocked, but just said "YES"! 8O

Hi all,
another good deal found here on Astromart, the CFW-9 with extra carousel so that I can automate the exposures with the new camera. Should make things a little easier.

These are specs of dust on the CCD or window or filter. They are close to the CCD because they are small in size. The further from the CCD chip the larger the spot.