k2_71828@yahoo.es (Kacper Wierzchos) [19 Dec 02]
Few days later I send some photographs of M42 and Saturn to your web. The Photo that Im attaching now is the same that the other but in this is marked the M43. The settings are the same of the other,Not modifiet toucam... Thank you. Sorry for my English. Kacper.
denisjoye@hotmail.com (Denis JOYE) [8 Dec 02]
I tried my ETX90 easy piggy back mount in South Africa. Here is a result on both magellannic clouds. This is a two minutes exposure with a Minolta X300 camera equiped with a 50mm lens and Fuji Superia 800 Film. Exposure was manually guided through a 8mm reticled eyepiece.
yoshi@galaxies.jp (Yoshi-K) [30 Nov 02]
Please include this attached picture of M42 into your great gallery!
ed.fides.carlos@comcast.net (Carlos Family) [22 Sep 02]
Attached are new pix from Sept 12. It was a pretty clear night. These were taken with SAC7 air cooled and ETX-70AT and post process via Photoshop 6.0. I also built a home made wedge. I got it to work but the ETX-70 seems to be having some problems when trying to slew when it's upside down. It's almost like there's not enough ooomph to slew the scope. I'm using an AC power adaptor so it's not the power. All the locks (dec and horz) are locked in. Any ideas? I hope it's not the gears. Also, I would have thought that aligning the scope in polar would reduce the star trails or vibration. It did not seem to have worked. I'm not sure if it was caused by the problem above. Any advise from you our readers would be helpful. Hope to hear from you. Thanks Ed Mike here: I suspect the problem was due to the weight of the SAC, especially if you were trying to go "uphill" against gravity. Adding a counterweight can help. As to tracking accuracy in polar mode, there can still be some errors as the ETX gearing is not that precise. It is fine for visual work but not precise enough for error-free astrophotography. And: I forgot to mention, the SAC was not even attached to the scope when it tried to slew. Would the OTA itself need a counter balance? Mike here again: Normally, no, unless you were using a heavy eyepiece. But it could also be that the axis lock was not quite tight enough; just don't overtighten.
fhlboss@buckeye-express.com (Terry Pierson) [11 Sep 02]
Had a chance over the labor day weekend to visit northern Michigan where I had the chance to view the Milky way.....While I was there, i snapped this shot of M-31. I fooled with the image just a touch with photoshop. Just wish I could make the jpeg match the print. That one came out nice! Here are the vitals: Etx 90, Polar aligned Camera body was OM-1 @ prime focus Kodak 800 Film 5 minute exposure time Focus method was "eyeball" (Got lucky there) No guiding Thanks for your great site Terry PS I just accepted delivery of Meades LTX 55 SN 10" reflector last week......So far, it looks like a winner and should compliment my EXT 90 quite nicely
dand@attbi.com (Dan Durie) [31 Aug 02]
During the Perseid meteor shower, I piggybacked my OM-1 on my ETX 125 to perhaps capture a meteor or two. Early on Tuesday morning, (8/13), I caught this image of the Andromeda Galaxy and a meteor-like streak. After checking further, I've come to the conclusion that it was the Space Station, or an Iridium satellite. It's too long and evenly lit to be a perseid. Details: Olympus OM-1 with 50mm F/1.8 camera, at F/2, 5 minute exposure, Kodak Max 800 print film, developed and transferred directly to a CDrom.
chris.sorensen@wanadoo.fr (Chris Sorensen) [18 Aug 02]
August 18th 2002 at 05h20 - ETX70-AT - 26mm eyepiece - Canon A30 - 15' pause. In fact, I wanted to see 2002 NY40 around VEGA, but it was too low on the horizon in France. So, I went in my backyard and focused on M45 ...
nviegas@mail.telepac.pt (Nelson Viegas) [7 Aug 02]
Find attached a composed picture of two deep sky objects I managed to capture last night. The top one is M8, The Lagoon Nebula, a 60sec. integration, and the bottom one is M11, The Wild Duck Cluster, which is a 50 sec. integration. All done with the mighty ETX70, a modified webcam, and a *lot* of patience!
ed.fides.carlos@comcast.net (Carlos Family) [19 Jul 02]
July 10 2002 M57 -SAC7 Air Cooled CCD Imager - Brightness, Contrast and Color Enhanced
July 11 2002 M27 - SAC7 Air Cooled CCD Imager - Brightness, Contrast and Color Enhanced - A bit more challenging to capture. I needed to perform a lot of post processing on this. Both were processed with Adobe Photoshop 6.0
filmmusic@writeme.com (James Jacobson) [19 Jul 02]
My latest image of M17 captured with my ToUcam Pro modified to do long exposures on my Mac laptop. Maybe you can add it to your deepsky gallery! You can also see the full-size version at my website: http://jjacobso0.tripod.com/themeadeds90ec/id9.html
Here is M27 captured with my Toucam Pro (modified to do long-exposures on my Mac laptop). I hope you can include it on your deepsky gallery!
One more from the same night. Again captured with my homemade webcam imager and Mac laptop. This image shows M57 and IC1296 (a mag 14.7 galaxy) in the same fov. I hope you can include it on your deepsky gallery.
vergot@adelphia.net (Adrian Vergot) [15 Jul 02]
ETX70: This is a 1 minute photo of M8 and M20 taken at prime on Fuji Superia 800, alt-az aligned, unguided. Both of these nebulas are visible through the eyepiece of the ETX70 eyepiece. It's nice to see the other ETX70 contributions to the "deep sky" area here on this great website!
tnjwilbur@yahoo.com (Ted Wilbur) [8 Jul 02]
Could be a New England cultural bias, but this thing looks a lot more like a lobster than a swan to me... I bought a used LX200 which arrived exactly 1 week ago today! On top of that it's been clear 5 of the last 7 nights! I've been running it side by side with the 70 this week, haven't tried imaging with it yet. The magnification is so high, and the field of view is so small I'll have to choose my subjects carefully when I'm ready.
nviegas@mail.telepac.pt (Nelson Viegas) [26 Jun 02]
I would like to contribute to your gallery with this photo of M13, taken on the same day of my shot of M57, posted on your site too. This is a single ~50secs. integration, taken with a ToUCam Pro SC at prime focus on the ETX70. Processed with Paint Shop Pro, in order to reduce the light pollution and it was converted to grey scale. There's still some noise in the image, but I forgot to take a "dark" shot to subtract from! :-) The ETX70 is a great deep sky objects scope too!
nviegas@mail.telepac.pt (Nelson Viegas) [16 May 02]
Here's a photo of M57 taken with a modified webcam on an ETX70 at prime focus. This is a ~50secs. exposure and was processed mainly to reduce the heavy light pollution. The ETX70 is a great deep sky objects scope too!
igrodroch@enlace.net (Ignacio Rodriguez) [25 Apr 02]
A shot showing M8 and M20 Nebulas and M23 and M24 Clusters. It was taken April 21 when I was trying an Ikeya shot. The set up is: Olympus OM-1n piggyback in my ETX125 (polar aligned). Lens is Vivitar 135mm f/2.8. Film is Kodak Supra 400. Exposure was 3 minutes. The image is a scan of a section of a 8x10 print. The green shadow is a tree. I like Supra film because I have had good results with red color. What I like from this photo is that it was not guided. It takes some time to make a good polar alignment but then is easy to let the ETX finish the job! I made some other longer exposures but captured a lot of sky glow. I have found that the ETX drive is good for up to 15-20 min exposures ( piggyback) if its properly aligned and if using short focal length lens.When using 200mm and 500mm lens I guide with a meade reticle eyepiece and limit the exposure to 8-10 min. Another critical issue in piggyback with the ETX125 is the proper balance. If not balanced the guiding process is impossible! Also the weight of the camera and a heavy lens can damage the motors if the scope is not balanced. (Fortunately my OM-1n is 18 Oz and the Vivitar 500mm lens is only 12.7 Oz!) Thanks for your site. Its always getting better. Mike here: I adjusted the levels a little to increase the contrast.
nviegas@mail.telepac.pt (Nelson Viegas) [14 Apr 02]
Please include this attached picture of M42 into your great gallery! This photo M42 was taken with an ETX70 telescope with an attached modified Webcam on the prime focus. Maybe this will encourage some folks that bought this small great telescope and are disapointed because they can't see planets and nebulas and space objects in color, to do the same. This does not require expensive hardware whatsoever, just a cheap webcam, the mighty ETX and an obsolete, cheap PC. The picture is a 40sec. integration, processed in Paint Shop Pro. Mike, please continue your great work with this site!
GERALD_WECHSELBERGER@at.ibm.com (Gerald Wechselberger) [11 Apr 02]
Find attached another try to extend my Messier image collection (with ETX125EC) with the Object M5 using the ETX-125. The ETX was polar aligned and needed no guiding during the different 16 second exposures. For the Eyepiece projection i used the new 40mm Scopetronix Digital Camera adapter eyepiece. Camera used is a standard Olympus digital camera model 2020Z. Thanks again for your work on running your ETX page to get the broadest selection on astro info valuable for beginners and experienced ETX users! If i am on the net it is a must for me to step by at your homepage.
Above is the M104 Sombrero Galaxie. Total Exposure time was 144 Seconds with my Olympus 2020Z and the ETX125EC.(40mm eyepiece) The galaxie is very low in my skies here, therefore a lot of backgroundlight from the streetlights in the picture.
Above is the M13 Cluster. Total Exposure time was 64 Seconds with my Olympus 2020Z and the ETX125EC.(40mm eyepiece)
Above is the M57 planetary nebula. Total Exposure time was 64 Seconds with my Olympus 2020Z and the ETX125EC.(40mm eyepiece)
vergot@adelphia.net (Adrian Vergot) [29 Mar 02]
Although there have been many pictures submitted of the Orion nebula in the deep sky forum, I wanted to pass this along to show what the ETX-70 gives as a field of view on 35mm film, prime focus. This 1 minute photo was taken at prime on Fuji Superia 800, prime focus, unguided. I am working on a project for autoguiding my ETX, and will post the setup as soon as I work out the kinks. Much appreciation to you, and to all those who contribute to this great site!
GERALD_WECHSELBERGER@at.ibm.com (Gerald Wechselberger) [19 Mar 02]
Last week we got really very clear skies here south of Vienna. So, i tried to capture again some deep sky objects with the ETX125EC. The temperature these nights was around 5 Degree Celsius so the Digital camera could work with low thermal noise. Find first attached for your Guest Deep Sky ETX library a picture of the M64 Black 'Eye Galaxy'. (M41 and M53 will follow) I hope presenting deep sky pictures to your audience will encourage interested ETX users also to use the ETX as deepsky imaging scope. The scope was polar aligned and needed no guiding during the 16 second exposures, as the ETX drive most of the time keeps running smoothly and precise. The picture attached i have stacked from 6 exposures - each single image was exposed 16 seconds seperately. (Total 96 Seconds) For the Eyepiece projection i used the 40mm eyepiece. Camera was a standard Olympus digital camera model 2020Z. Darkframe subtraction was done for each single image. For stacking i used Mixrografix Publisher. Thanks again for your work on running your ETX page valuable for beginners and experienced ETX users! If i am on the net it is a must for me to step by at your homepage to see about the latest ETX news!!
M53 Deep Sky image with the same technical date as before in the M64 image.
M41 Deep Sky image with the same technical date as before in the M64 image.
Find a wide angle deep sky image attached which was made using an Olympus 2020Z digital Camera with tele lens (157mm focal length) mounted piggyback on the ETX 125EC. The total exposure time was only 48 Seconds. This shows the high sensitivity of todays cheap digital camera chips compared to film emulsions.