114 mon Amour
 edited by Silvio Palmeri

foto 114

 Work in progress
this site was created on the 3rd June 2006
last upgrade 5th October 2007
italian
versione italiana
This site is dedicated to those who are fond of 114 and who for various reasons haven't changed it for a definitive telescope yet (which is newton 250/1200 in my case).
All of us have realized about its potential thanks to the webcam advent: there is an abyss between the first photos on film  I have made and the recent frames stacked with a vesta675k. The very thought that we are able to discover new extrasolar planets with it makes me thrill. I'm also convinced, after the results I've achieved, that the seeing is the real author of the amazing photos which can be taken with any instrument. With a good seeing we achieve, or maybe exceed, the theoretical resolution power of the optics. For example the w.o.s. in the jupiter's photo below measured only a second arc degree. 

But no more chat and let's come to the facts:

1 - my instruments are:

a) a newton 114/900 telescope model Vega by Konus, with r.a. motor drive;
b) a Philips Vesta pro 675K webcam (640x480 ccd sensor);
c) a Logitech Quickcam Web (352x288 cmos sensor);
d) a refractor 60/415 telescope model Perseo by Konus in parallel with 114;
e) various series eyepieces: h=6 h=8 and h=20 mm, the last used to stack avi file;
f) a 2x barlow lens, used with the refractor;
g) an extender tube to change magnification handmade (by myself);
h) a reflex camera model FX super 2000 by Yashica;
i)  a 12 x 60 binoculars by Breaker;
l)  a  pc 900 Mhz and software Iris and nothing else.

2 -  The optical configuration for the planetary captures is obtained by the projection of a 20 mm eyepiece, with 10 cm polyethylene extender tube and a vesta webcam without its objective. In this way we get a focal lenght of about 6000 mm. This can be considered the maximum limit beyond which is not possible to obtain more details. As a matter of fact, I haven't found any differences between the images obtained with 5000 or 7000 mm focal lenght. On the other hand, going under 5000 mm means that we are not making the most of the potential of the 114. I believe that this is the common mistake made by many unexperienced astronomers, even if they have instrument of 200 mm class, or better, and they don't extend the focal lengh enough.

3 - For Jupiter a 30 sec. avi file with a good seeing is enough to get this  photo

4 - The process with Iris software is really simple and after the "avi convertion" and the alignment of the frames with the "align and stack 2" command, the only filter I use are "wavelet" and "unsharp masking". I recommend: don't force.

5 - Enjoy the result, some 200 mm can't still achieve these shots.

6 - Small photografic gallery
marte 2003 marte 18 agosto 2003
 marte 2005
mars 28 August 2003   mars 18 August 2003 mars 8 November 2005
(very bad seeing and desert storm in Solis Lacus)
Giove 18 maggio 2006 ore 21.00

 giove in rotazione venere 18 ottobre 2005
Jupiter 18 May 2005 Jupiter in rotation   Venus 28 October 2005


Hyakutake 24 March 1996 Hale Bopp April 1997 Hale Bopp 14 April 1997



Note: the comets were taken with the Yashica camera, without guiding, with 50 mm series focal lens,
acquired by  scanner and processed with Iris.  
                             
     

7 -  Come spremere il massimo dal nostro 114
                                 or
     How to  make the most of our 114
       

Let's start from the simplest modification:

7.1 - Increase the focus sensitivity by applying anything which may increase the knob diameter: I've got a piece of an old torch which seems to be created just for my 114 (see photo)

7.2 -  If you live in a town and maybe a yellow lamp street light is in front of your balcony, as it is in my case, then some black paperboard, shaped like a lampshade of about 25-30 cm length, can help us with the problem of reducing some parasitical lights.
P.S. : the street lamp has been taken away recently and replaced with an old style one about 5 meter shorter ( not because of this site but because urban design works are being made). Well, you never know .........

7.3 -  Again, the very simple but unsurpassable Hartmann'a mask (possibly with 3 holes) is just what we need in order to facilitate the focusing (see photo) The Astronomical literature tells us that its effect is the vision of as many images of the star as the number of holes, both in extra and in  intra focal position. That is true for our eye on the eyepiece, but on the Pc monitor, the webcam shows three images, each one having the star in the middle and six faint reflections of it around it like a crown. Therefore, a single star out of focus looks like a 21 well-arranged starlets (see photo). I can assure you that the focusing is very easy and the result is superb.

7.4 - And as to the spider, what can we say ? The three series small bars have always seemed to me too "narrow", or better too "wide"! Yes, I know, to reduce its thickness is like "to scrape the bottom of the barrel",  but in accordance with the calculation I've made we can recover easily about 3,16% of light (which equals 2,93 sq. cm of mirror surface). Is it too little ? Perhaps. Yet,  why should we  loose it? 
And then ? Let's build three galvanized steel foils, not less 0,2 mm thick, and let's paint them in black by spray-painting or with an indelible marking pen with a thick tip  (see my spider). You need to solve some little problems in order to parallel  the foils to the optic axis, but some imperfections can be well tolerated. When you are focusing a star or a planet in extra focal position you'll realize that you can hardly see the three foils.

7.5 - Let's reduce the vibrations almost to zero.
First of all leave off the three rubber tips under the legs of the tripod (if there are!) and to avoid  scratching the floor replace them with some adhesive tape. Then leave off the flexible cable controls of R.A. and Declination movement, which, for their nature, somewhat flex and wave, and, possibly, replace them with two knobs. I have used two binding posts for the electrical connection of wires  (see picture)       



           If you have any comments or want to know anything else about the writing above you can e-mail
           me at: silviopalmeri@tiscali.it , I'll be glad to answer you.



                                                 You are the visitor n°Visitor Counter by Digitssince 5th November 2006.