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Stefan Taube
Posts composed by Stefan Taube
Blog Archives
April 9 2020, Stefan Taube
The Gran Turismo 81 refractor is a triplet apochromat with a lens unit with FPL-53 glass from Ohara, Japan. This combination ensures maximum colour purity and high contrast! The GT81 is therefore a versatile refracting telescope which satisfies every requirement!
Apochromat refractor AP 81/478 Gran Turismo GT 81 from William Optics.
Equipped with an optional diagonal mirror, with this apochromat you can observe the Moon and the planets in high contrast. This fast telescope also enables sustained observing of more difficult deep sky objects: star clusters, galaxies and nebulae. Thanks to needle-sharp star images, resolving and observing globular clusters becomes a particular pleasure.
For astrophotography, we recommend the field flattener and focal length reducer (flattener/reducer) Flat6AIII. With this, the telescope delivers a flat field with the same focal position, even for full-frame cameras. The Bahtinov mask integrated into the telescope body helps with precise focusing.
Using the dovetail plate integrated into the frame, you can equip your Gran Turismo with a finder scope or guiding scope.
The very robust and stable GT81-Apo is ideally suited for mobile astronomy and astro-photography. The tube weight of four kilograms is easily accommodated by medium-sized mounts. Take this apo with you to a dark sky and discover the best objects from the Messier and NGC catalogues. The GT81 from William Optics will be, after the Firstlight, your new favourite telescope!
Tags: William Optics, telescope
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April 8 2020, Stefan Taube
We are offering you high-quality semi-gloss astronomical photographs printed onto canvas. The canvas is stretched onto a pine wood frame, which is equipped with sawtooth brackets, ready for hanging. Every picture is hand-finished and individually checked!
The Andromeda galaxy on canvas
The pictures are all images created by the astrophotographer Boris Štromar. The following images are currently available:
Each image is available in three sizes.
Secure shipping: The pictures are individually shrink-wrapped and supplied with corner protectors.
The astronomical themes and high-quality prints ensure a pleasant ambience.
You can find more information and ordering options here at Astroshop.
Tags: Oklop, media
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March 19 2020, Stefan Taube
An autoguider is a very important accessory when taking astronomy photos involving long exposure times. The autoguider is a tracking control device that ensures that the mount always keeps the telescope pointing as precisely as possible at the astronomical object desired. The autoguider images a bright star on a separate camera in order to achieve this. The autoguider then uses the apparent movement of this star to calculate the appropriate control movements for the mount.
Lacerta MGEN Version 3 stand-alone autoguider
It is possible to use a simple planetary camera, a laptop and free software from the Internet for this type of tracking control. The MGEN autoguider from Lacerta has also proven itself to be excellent. But the great advantage of using the MGEN autoguider is that you don’t even need a laptop or PC; hence the term ‘stand-alone’ autoguider. In particular, this type of stand-alone solution makes astrophotography with SLR cameras much easier, as you do not need a laptop when using this type of camera.
The MGEN autoguider also comes supplied with a matching camera and already has all the necessary software – simpler autoguiding is just not possible! Another great advantage is that the MGEN autoguider does not just use a single star for the tracking control, but several. This has the effect of increasing accuracy considerably! The following graphic comes from a test by the manufacturer and illustrates the higher precision you achieve with multi-star guiding:
Multi-star guiding also means that tracking control is less dependent on the seeing.
The new version MGEN-3 autoguider offers many other improvements:
- improved hardware allows the new, self-learning, AI multi-star guiding.
- the large colour display makes operation easier.
- the new quick-start function allows guiding to commence at the push of a button!
- polar alignment using the digital Scheiner method.
- power supply via USB (5V), only 1.2 watts.
This is, however, just a small selection. You can find the entire list of advantages on the Lacerta MGEN Version 3 stand-alone autoguider webpage.
Tags: Astro Photography, Lacerta
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February 5 2020, Stefan Taube
Skywatcher’s EQ8 series astronomical mounts are the most capable models from this manufacturer. They can carry telescopes and accessories weighing up to 50 kilograms! This makes EQ8 mounts particularly interesting for observatories – no matter whether garden, school or club observatories.
Skywatcher EQ8-R mount with tripod
Skywatcher has updated its EQ8 mount and now offers it in two versions: the EQ8-R and EQ8-RH mounts. The EQ8-RH version has a high-resolution Renishaw encoder on the right ascension axis. This eliminates the need for tracking control during astrophotography.
Both versions of the EQ8-R mount come supplied with the Skywatcher’s proven SynScan control.
These latest EQ8 models offer the following improvements as compared to the initial version:
- Internal cable routing prevents cable clutter and cable damage
- More connection options for accessories: 4x USB, 3x 12 volt outputs
- Optimized positioning of the drive motors for improved balance
- Improved clutches on the axes for a more secure grip
- Improved clamping screws on the prism clamp for greater comfort and greater clamping force
- Belt drive on the declination axis for smoother running
Skywatcher offers a special tripod for its EQ8 mount. The tripod also allows portable use of the mount, but does require two people for setting it up.
If you want to set up the mount on a fixed pier, you can simply order the EQ8 mount without the tripod. The tripod may also be ordered at a later date. All versions of the EQ8 mount can be found here at Astroshop.
With its EQ8-R, Skywatcher offers a modern mount for large OTAs – which the latest stage of development has made almost perfect!
Tags: Skywatcher, Mount
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January 8 2020, Stefan Taube
The SkyGuider Pro is a very light mount on which you can set up a camera with interchangeable lenses or a small telescope. This approach allows longer exposure times and so you can create fascinating wide-angle shots of the night sky.
iOptron Mount SkyGuider Pro iPolar Set
The SkyGuider Pro is now also available as a set together with the iPolar electronic polar finder, which has been built into the mount. With this accessory, you can easily and very precisely polar-align your mount.
The electronic finder has a built-in camera. This shows the position of the northern celestial pole and the location that the polar axis of the mount is pointing at, on your laptop. Simply bring the two points together by turning the adjustment screws for the azimuth and altitude axes of the mount – and you’re done!
SkyGuider Pro with iPolar
The location of the celestial north pole differs somewhat from the location of the Pole Star. The electronics calculate the exact position using the date and time. Thanks to the sensitivity of the camera and the large field of view, this so-called polar alignment is successful even when the mount has been only roughly positioned. This also works in the southern hemisphere and even takes into account atmospheric refraction at low latitudes!
If want to do without iPolar, you can of course still purchase the SkyGuider Pro mount without the electronic polar finder here.
Tags: iOptron, Telescope Accessories, Mount, Astrophotography
Posted in New Products|New Products
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October 30 2019, Stefan Taube
Skywatcher’s new Starquest telescopes combine small optics with a lightweight equatorial mount in a new design. A lightweight aluminium tripod with a storage shelf is also included, the perfect telescope for easy transportation and a quick view of the sky.
Skywatcher Newton 130/650 Starquest EQ
The high-quality Starquest mount contains a worm gear with 122 teeth on each axis. This ensures high stability and sensitive manual tracking with the easy-to-use flexible shafts – even beginners can easily cope.
The correct telescope to choose from depends on your preferred application:
- The refractor AC 102/500 shows large sections of the sky. Large objects such as nebulae, open star clusters or comets can be observed with it.
- The Maksutov MC 102/1300 is particularly compact. Despite its small size, this telescope has a very long focal length. It allows high levels of magnification, and is a real specialist for the Moon and planets – but also planetary nebulae and double stars can easily be observed with the Maksutov. With this selection of potential objects and the rear-facing lens position, the Maksutov is ideal for the balcony observatory in light-polluted cities. Another advantage is the closed optical tube: the mirror cannot become contaminated.
- The Newton 130/650 telescope is the best compromise. It has the widest aperture and therefore collects most light. Even faint nebulae can still be identified. The Newton telescope is also particularly inexpensive due to its design. However the relatively long tube has the greatest lever effect on the mount.
More information and all the models can be found here in Astroshop.
Tags: Starquest, Skywatcher, telescope
Posted in New Products
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September 20 2019, Stefan Taube
The RASA range of telescopes were developed specifically and exclusively for astrophotography. They are very fast; with a focal length of f/2 they take pictures twenty times faster than a Schmidt-Cassegrain lens at f/10! Because of this a tracking control is not required, and generally fewer demands are placed on the mount!
The RASA 1100 model with a 279 millimetre aperture has already been on the market for some time, and Celestron is now also offering a smaller version, the RASA 800, with a 203 millimetre aperture.
Celestron Astrograph S 203/400 RASA 800
This optical system is also within reach of smaller budgets with the RASA 800, particularly since it can be used with a smaller mount. The illustration above shows the RASA 800 with the AVX mount. This astrograph is optimised for astrophotography cameras with a 22 millimetre field diagonal. The larger RASA 1100 is the better choice for those who prefer to use a DLSR for their photography.
The abbreviation RASA stands for the developers’ names: Rowe-Ackermann-Schmidt-Astrograph. It is basically a normal, routinely-produced Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain instrument; that is with a spherical primary mirror in front of which is a corrector plate invented by Bernhard Schmidt. Instead of using a secondary mirror to direct the light path towards the Cassegrain focus at the end of the telescope, the camera sensor is incorporated in the prime focus. A corrector assembly comprising four lenses made of especially high-quality glass ensures optimal illumination.
The RASA telescope from Celestron
As the term astrograph implies, RASA telescopes are designed exclusively for photography. There is no option to use an eyepiece. But if you are an amateur astronomer who specialises in astrophotography, you will not see this as a disadvantage, instead you will quickly learn to appreciate the advantages of the RASA telescopes.
Tags: Celestron, telescope, RASA
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June 26 2019, Stefan Taube
You can rely on PlaneWave Instruments’ professional CPWI software if you want to control your Celestron telescope via a laptop or PC.
This software is not only intuitive to use, but also lets you maximise the GoTo accuracy of your Celestron mount.
CPWI Telescope Control software is now compatible with all modern Celestron mounts, including:
You can download the software for free here on celestron.com!
PlaneWave Instruments Telescope Control panel
Some special features of CPWI software include:
- The built-in SkyViewer star chart is intuitive to use and allows you to easily navigate through the night sky by clicking and zooming.
- Advanced PointXP lets you create a highly accurate model of the night sky which uses more than 100 reference points to enable highly accurate positioning and tracking.
- Ideal for observatories: You can carry out alignment directly from the PC, save the alignment model and simply upload it again the next night you observe. Alignment can also be done entirely automatically using the optional StarSense module.
- Extensive internal database. Access to the SIMBAD professional astronomy database possible via the Internet.
- Worm screw periodic error compensation: PEC can be done from the PC via CPWI.
System requirements: Windows 7, 8 or 10 operating system, with USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection, 15MB hard disk space and 64MB RAM. Screen resolution of 1024×768 or higher is recommended.
Tags: Telescope Accessories, Mounts, Celestron
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June 17 2019, Stefan Taube
Diamonds really are astronomers’ best friends – at least since the Baader Diamond Steeltrack focuser has been available. It uses real diamonds in its drive system!
In contrast to conventional Crayford or rack-and-pinion focusers, the Diamond Steeltrack’s micronized drive system guarantees entirely backlash-free operation, is completely non-slip and torsion-free – and has a vertical load capacity of 6 kilograms!
Diamond Steeltrack focuser on a Celestron EdgeHD telescope
There are Diamond Steeltrack focusers available for Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, Newtonian telescopes and refractors.
The Steeldrive II motorized focuser drive with hand-held controller is now available:
Baader Steeldrive II motorized focuser drive with control unit
The Steeldrive II motorized focuser drive permits automated focusing of a telescope via computer, as well as precise and vibration-free focusing using the buttons on the hand-held controller.
A good focuser considerably enhances observing pleasure and is essential for high-end astrophotography. The Steeltrack focuser is currently the best possible solution available!
Tags: Baader, Telescope Accessories, Focuser
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May 21 2019, Stefan Taube
We are pleased to offer the roll-off roof observatory GreenLine from DomeParts GmbH – now available at a great price. You can now realise your dream of having your own very own garden observatory. It’s also perfect for astronomy clubs.
The Greenline roll-off roof observatory is available in three sizes:
The larger size GreenLine Plus is perfect for astronomical organisations.
A GreenLine observatory in the exhibition area of the astronomy fair AME.
The advantages of a roll-off roof observatory compared to a classic dome observatory are clear:
- The observatory looks like a typical garden shed and so blends in perfectly in any domestic setting. The wooden GreenLine is not only well-designed, but looks great too.
- The roof can be fully retracted giving you an unobstructed view of the sky in every direction.
- The inside of the cabin adjusts quickly to the ambient temperature, eliminating turbulent air currents which can often arise with a dome opening.
GreenLine observatory with an Omegon RC on an iOptron CEM60 mount.
The open roof of the roll-off roof observatory offers plenty of room to manoeuvre even for a large-aperture telescope. Here in the picture the GreenLine observatory is equipped with an Omegon RC Truss telescope on an iOptron CEM60 mount.
The delivery time for a GreenLine roll-off roof observatory is around one month. You can put the observatory together yourself or let our construction team build it for you. Get in touch with us: We’re happy to give you advice and provide you with a quote.
Tags: observatory, DomeParts, roll-off roof
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