Posts Made By: Mike Vollmer

Hi. I have recently tried to connect my ST-4 to my laptop, and have experienced poor connections. My system is as follows: 10' serial cable, Pentium 2 300mhz, 128mb ram, CCDSoft software. The best connection I can get is about 19.2K. I thought about connecting to my USB port if possible. Would that increase my connection speed? The light/dark frame transfer time currently is sort of slow at 19.2. Does anyone know where to get such a connector to go from the serial connection on the ST-4 to the USB on the laptop. I dearly love my ST-4 and would genuinely love to get it going on the CCDSoft if possible. Any suggestions out there?

Mike V.

Can anyone recommend a good minus violet filter that will screw into an 1-1/4" eyepiece? I have been somewhat satisfied with the images taken with my Orion short tube 90, with the exception of the violet rings around the brighter stars. Lumicon does not have one to fit. Thanks for looking.

Mike

Can anyone recommend a good minus violet filter that will screw into an 1-1/4" eyepiece? I am relatively satisfied with the images I get with my Orion short tube 90, with the exception of the violet rings around the brighter stars. Thanks for looking.

Mike V.

Thanks for the leads on the filters. I will search them out. For an inexpensive refractor is really doesn't do too bad, except for this one area.

Mike

I just was out this weekend and shot some images of M31 with my 10" f6.3 Meade SCT. I guided with my ST-4 and used E200. I gave it 70 minutes under an ideal sky. I took the film to be processed yesterday and won't get it back for about 4 days or so. Was I excessive in giving it so long? What will I see as far as recriprocity at that time? I have stayed away from 200 speed film for this reason, but have gotten such poor results with most other films, I thought I''d give it a try. I also shot the Pleiades (75 minutes), and 2 exposures of M42 (12 minutes and 46 minutes respectively). Any thought on an ideal exposure time time for M31 with this setup? My book says 35 minutes to 2 hours.

Mike

OK, here's the deal. last week, Meade 10" SCT at prime focus f6.3, E200 slide film, very good sky, guided with a 90 mm short tube orion refractor (too short focal length) 46 minute exposure time on this image, ST-4, Nikon FM2 in perfect working order, gradual warm up to ambient temperature of the E200 (condensate?) Kendrick dew heater on the corrector plate functioning well (no dew visible through the scope), 4 exposures, this is typical of the 4. I can't explain these halos!
Things I've checked: no stray light invading the optical tube, everything (focuser, camera adapter, T-ring etc. all black) camera is OK, nothing in the light path, no car headlights or other sources of light polution, corrector plate has very minor dust, no obvious problems with the primary or secondary. Has anybody ever seen this phenomenon before? I have shot satisfactory images with this optical tube many times with no issues like this. This is my first experience with E200. A barlow on the 90 would help the streaked stars substantially, but there is a lot of flexure in the focuser/extension tube/barlow/ST-4 combination that makes locking on to a good guide star hit and miss. I hope these pictures upload, I've had problems with my browser before.

Mike

Mike

I'm certain this subject has been brought up before, but I'd like to know what the preferred method of cleaning the corrector plate of my 10" SCT is. It only has a little dust build up from 2 years of use, no smudges or other problems. Thanks for looking.

Mike

I had an opportunity to get out last week, and get this shot of M42.

Mike V.

While I was out that evening last week, I also got this one of M42 with my 90mm Orion refractor. Like the other shot, it also was guided with the ST-4 and was shot on E200 (30 min.). This refractor is by no means a high quality scope, I'm just evaluating different exposure times with the E200 at this point. None the less, I'm posting it for the fun of it. I have some Kodak Supra 400 on order. Anybody have much experience with it?

Mike

Hi all. I am in the early stages of shopping for a new scope. I am considering the C14 Celestron on a G-11 mount with a 90mm refractor for wide field shots. I intend to use it heavily for astrophotography, and was wondering if the G-11 is robust enough to support the weight of this tube, the dovetail plate, refractor and camera set up. Any thoughts?

Mike V.