47 Tucanae 8" Newtonian

This is the very first photo from the 8" Newtonian and the brand new Starpoint Australis SP3 focuser. This focuser is the first of the production batch and is being used as a tester built and designed by the Guru behind our group of astro Photographers.. This is the blue part next to the body of the telescope.



Night one I could see no stars just the meager hint of some, the silver connecting part was made too tall so it was never going to focus. The corrector was not sitting in the right place to get focus. Brendan said we have to make an upside down Adaptor.

My last day of work Brendan said I will have one ready for you come pick it up. A discussion how to use it and a message to my wife so I remembered what I was told. Night two I was tired but keen to get a result but all night long I kept getting pitch black images even when I shone the torch in the newt, still black. time to go to bed.
Next day I rechecked every thing camera back focus , Collimation all where correct so I changed camera. I went out armed into the night smelling like a chemist shop, Bush mans mozzie spray, if you dont you loose weight a lot. 15 min into the second try I had pinpoint stars . It was a case mark up bring inside and clamp up the corrector try again using Auto.



Some 25 min on my knees in front of the screen the perfect curve. It was then pack up out side and go inside at try it all out.



The stars are crisp and the major ones the highlights are even and clean. As a start I am using just the colour camera so its a little bit more simpler that using the full set of filters in the shot above on the desk

ZWOASI 071MC -10c 120 shots 5 min over two nights ..
MeLE Mini PC
Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box
Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser
Optolong LeNhance filter,
Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA
Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned
SVbony 50MM Guide scope
QHY5L-II-M Guide camera
Guided PHD2, Nina
Pixinsight, Ps