Posted on

The return of the big Mak

I purchased a brand new SkyWatcher Maksutov back in 2010, as a first scope after many many years of inactivity. Eventually I sold it to replace it with the C11.

However, the sharp and crisp planetary and Moon images, the great visual experience of this scope, the stability of the collimation, kept on haunting my scope addiction.

So it was a great day yesterday when I could re-purchase the same scope after 9 years.

  • One of my best Jupiter images with the Maksutov 192JUpiter20111120-2115_RGB
  • Foto: SkyWatcher
Posted on

NGC4565 in Coma Berenices

And what a beautiful edge-on sprial galaxy this is! I made almost 3 hrs of 120-second frames with the ASI183mm Pro and the Esprit. Then I combined the resulting monochrome (Black/White) image with the older C11/Nikon D750 color frames I had from last year. This process included debayering of the color frames into a Red, Green and Blue version. And again recombining an LRGB with the monochrome and RGB frames. Finishing in APP (Background neutralisation, removing Lightpollution ) and in Photoshop.

A color LRGB image of NGC4565
This is the monochrome ASI image. It is wortwhile exploring it a full resolution in Astrobin, detecting the many little galaxies in the background.

Since the Field of View of the Esprit/ASI is much larger then the C11/Nikon, this image was cropped to fit the color frames.
Posted on

Power requirements

These are the measured currents that the equipment draws, mount without equipment mounted (bare mount). The 12V DC coverter used was a 3,7A AC/DC converter that originates from a Wii gaming console.

I measured the current required for the divers equipment I’m using:


Equipment or combination

CurrentRemarks
Only stand-by LED’s from dew control and power distribution box0.03A
Switch on the EQ80.47A
Siderial rate on0.50A
Slew at rate 9 in RA2.05A
Slew at rate 9 in Declination2.00 A
Combined RA and Decl slew at rate 93.15A
Slew at rate 7 in RA1.7A
Slew at rate 7 in Declination1.7A
Slew at rate 3 in RA0.55A
Slew at rate 3 in Declination0.55A
EQ8 at siderial rate and dewcollar full charge of the C111.9A
Only Dewcollar C111.42A
Dew collar APO120mm only1.10A
Small dew collar for guiding scope 50mm0.52A
EQ8 siderial rate + dew collar APO2.04A
idem + slew in declination rate 93.44A

above + slew in RA rate 9 (as well as decl)4.6AConverter overloaded,halted
ASI184MM Pro cooler at 94%1.9A
above + EQ8 Siderial2.24A
above + slew in RA Decl rate 93.9AConverter overloaded,halted