Tag: M54

Viewing report Travel to Tenerife Night 7 – Wednesday 10th July 2024

10pm – 6:30am

Focus position main scope 12,323

Catch up images from last night include

  • NGC 6188 Dragons of Ara – 24 x 300s
  • M30 – 10 x 300s
  • M11 – 12 x 300s

New objects for tonight below

  • Comet Olbers (Various images)
  • M54 Glob – 24 x 300s
  • M14 Glob – 12 x 300s

Well after a great day out visiting amongst other telescopes the MONS where we have observed before, I setup and waiting for the last night to become dark. The night was truly stunning at 0.7’ seeing, warm and calm. Low humidity was effecting us, else all the other elements were playing ball. I setup and captured the Moon

Moon

before heading over to Comet Olbers first.

Comet Olbers

After this I set a run on the Dragons again so to add to my data from the other night.

NGC 6188 Dragons

Once this was set and the rest of the plan was in place I headed off to bed at 1am and left the setup capturing some additional data on both M30

M30 Globular Cluster

and M11.

M11 Globular Cluster

I then went on to image M54 which is really small at 1.6 arc minutes.

M54 Globular Cluster

Lastly I grabbed some data on M14 which is a slightly larger globular cluster at 2.6 arc minutes.

M14 Globular Cluster

In the morning I reviewed the data and unfortunately due to the altitude of some of the objects I did have to reject quite a few frames, however I did capture enough to create a decent image.

Baader UFC, QHY OAG-M and QHY268C

My current setup for OSC on the Takahashi FSQ-85 uses the QHY-OAG-M and the various QHY metal spacers which you screw through the OAG onto the CAA that fronts the QHY286C.

However, I’ve never liked the screw adapter approach for this sensor as unnecessary back focus is wasted due to the weird CAA to QHY286C not being a screw thread. The lack of an IR cut window on the QHY268C sensor means I need to sit an additional filter in the QHY 020055 M48 (F) adapter, in order to change the filter I would have to take the imaging train apart to remove it !!!

Baader Universal Filter Changer

Enter the Baader Universal Filter Changer (UFC) , the chart below details the core base changer alongside the adapters required to match to most common setups.

Baader Universal Filter Changer – Adapter Ecosystem

You can purchase additional sliders than can hold 50mm, unmounted and threaded 2 inch (M48) filter. The slider is magnetic so it will not dislodge during slews or during scope assembly or disassembly.

The 4 assembled components of the Baader UFC

Proposed Set-up

The Takahashi Flattener (TKA37582) has a metal back focus distance of ~56.2 mm so I need to get close to that but being under that distance is better than being over as I can add additional spacers if needed. The effect of adding a 2mm thick 2-inch filter decreases the optical backfocus by 0.6mm (2mm/3) so I will need to add 0.6mm spacing to account for the filter effect which results in a total distance of ~56.7mm.

OrderComponentThickness (mm)
1QHYCCD QHY268C CMOS17.5
2QHYCCD CAA M54(f) (#020002)6
3Baader UFC M54(m) camera side adapter (#2459117)2
4Baader UFC base (#2459110)13
5Baader UFC SP54(m) telescope side adapter (#2459134)1
6QHYCCD OAG-M M54(f) (#020079) adapter3
7M54 Metal Spacer0.5
8QHYCCD OAG-M10
9QHYCCD Metal Spacer0.4
10QHYCCD OAG-M M54(f) adapter3
11M54 Metal Spacer0.3
12Baader M54 x 0,75 Inverter Ring 0
Total56.7mm
New Imaging Train

I should now be able to change filters much easily albeit at an additional cost but the flexibility should be worth it. Of course I will need to test the star shapes in the field to make sure that I have the correct back focus and add extra distance if needed.

Vendors

The majority of the Baader UFC components were purchased from FLO (First Light Optics) and the remaining adapter (#2459134) from Tring Astronomy. Delivery and communication by both vendors was great, shame about the Royal Mail industrial action messing deliveries about during the Christmas holiday.

Thanks

My gratitude to Stuart1971 from StargazersLounge who helped me with suggestions to try to sort out the QHY268C noise banding issues.