Thank you so much for the shoutout Dylan! The RASA system is incredible - it truly gives a wow moment when you first stretch a stacked image and see how much data-rich signal is captured, and when you find faint, intricate details normally hidden. Cheers mate!
I am elderly and feeble and had a light go to mount which could not handle heavy optical tubes. So, I bought Celestron 6" Schmidt Cassegrain optical tube and a Hyperstar 6 v4. Works nicely.
Excellent discussion, Dylan! I have a C14 OTA which I bought about 35 years ago, but never used much for imaging. That changed when Hyperstar first became available. I love using it now, both because of the 700mm focal length and the f/2 speed. It's mounted permanently in a 4m dome that my wife and I built 40 years ago. When I retired, we started wintering in Arizona, away from our home north of Toronto, taking the 14 was not an option, and I went with a variety of different smaller scopes. Until the RASA 8 became available. That is what we've been using, and love it. Some of our best images have been taken with it. It's a breeze to use and light enough for my octogenarian self to handle easily. My conclusion is that I enjoy both, and I agree with the points you have made. Clear skies, Rick
Perfect example! Yes someone else was disagreeing with me about the rasa’s being a good beginner option .. I think they’re an extremely forgiving and easy to use!
A very cheap 3D printed cable router is available for the C11 Hyperstar setup that pretty much eliminates the diffraction spikes Dylan. Works great on my setup.
Little tip for helping to get the lid back on a Celestron telescope: I put little colour-coded sticky dots on the lid and on the rim of the scope to show where the two match up. Makes putting the lid on much much easier!
Excellent video, as always! I can add a bit color: I do have a C14 plus the V4 Hyperstar for it and for some time I was wondering if I would be better off with having purchased a Rasa. But I could not find a single reason! Price wise - as far as I can tell - you get pretty close in both scenarios. But the flexibility you have !! It’s just wow! I did get a dedicated color camera for the Hyperstar (standard I shoot mono and use an EAF) but I now even went back to switch my mono camera to Hyperstar and got myself some fast Baader filters! Once you have your cabling figured out it is literally just: unscrew camera from back, but some cover on back, move camera to front and screw on Hyperstar and you are done! I got my cables completely prepared such that I literally just plug in and ready to roll..so: Hyperstar plus SCT all the way!
For anybody who didn't understand the point about filters, when you have your camera mounted to the front of the telescope, the diameter is a big issue. If your camera and whatever is bolted to it is much wider than the central obstruction, then you're losing light. There's not enough space to install a full filter wheel in front of the camera without blocking most of the telescope's front glass, but you can get away with a single-filter drawer because it's usually smaller than the big astrophotography cameras. This means you can't automatically change filters, which really limits your options if you want things fully hands-off and automated.
We recently moved to an area near Lake Tahoe with 0% light pollution and just found a clearance on a mountaintop just 10 minutes away (it's my wife's hobby, I'm the sherpa with a pickup truck). I've been debating this for a while myself, as she has a C11HD setup and wants to get into photography. I was just looking at the RASA and thought "let's see if Dylan has covered this". Thanks man! For less than the RASA, I can get her the camera, Hyperstar and autofocuser. Now I have to obsess over the 1st camera.
Clear and informative, as always, Dylan. Thanks! True confessions (with a little embarrassment), careful as I was, … I dropped the secondary while putting on the Hyperstar. It was disheartening. Celestron was wonderful, but the repair took a long time. I now have a C11 and RASA 11, both on JMI wheelies. Foot-powered automation - I roll them out of my garage to marked spots on my driveway to image. The focal lengths are slightly different. The FoV is just a little wider with the Hyperstar v4- 540mm vs 620mm - not enough for me to put the Hyperstar back on, yet. That day may come. Thanks for all you do for the community.
OUCH! I feel that pain deep in my soul (assuming I have one). The convenience of the RASA sure is good .. interesting insights on the FOV there too! Thanks for your kind words and even for just watching at all Marsha :)
I’ve been so on the fence between the HyperStar and the RASA. I think the big thing I don’t like about the HyperStar is having to reconfigure the scope. I also love the flashback to your long hair in the intro! Lol.
Interesting video mate! - I've got the RASA11 v2, and an EdgeHD 11 now and kinda wonder if I'd be happy with Hyperstar v4 and leaving the Edge on the mount as an alternative to fully OTA swapping each time I want to swap to 'wide and fast' mode! Really happy to hear QHY have a Q-focuser to SCT adapter now by the way!!! where can I purchase one if you don't mind me asking? I tried to google but couldn't find them Cheers!
I originally started with a NexStar 8SE and got an EdgeHD 8 as an upgrade. Instead of selling the NexStar 8 I got a HyperStar 8 v4 for it. It's been amazing and works great. My understanding is the main difference between those two scopes is the secondary mirror quality and since the HyperStar replaces that by all appearances it works well and has just as much quality as the EdgeHD. HyperStar is a great option if you have a non-EdgeHD SCT or an older scope you want to upgrade and bring new life too. I love being able to do both wide and narrow field imaging now and that f/1.9 sucks in light so fast. Doing 5 minute subs with it blows my mind compared to my EdgeHD. I should say too the people at Starazonia are absolutely amazing and always there to answer any questions I have had in a timely manner with great insight.
Don't know if it came up in the comments already, but if I'm not mistaken the Hyperstar's corrected FOV is smaller than the RASA's. So that might be a factor for some users. I'll be looking out for that "Back to the RASA part 2" thumbnail @DylanODonnell !
I'm in love with refractors so this video was perhaps not very relevant to me, but I still found it very interesting. It was obvious to me that this was something you wanted to make - and it showed. That F/2 is alluring though...
I bought a HyperStar for my EdgeHD 8 but after a few months I ended up selling the HyperStar and buying a RASA 8. The main reason is that I was wanting to swap back-and-forth very often, but doing so was not as straight forward as they imply. Every time I swapped I'd need to recollimate, and that sucked. So now I have the EdgeHD 8 and the RASA 8 mounted side-by-side on the same mount in my observatory so swapping between them is as a easy as picking the appropriate profile in NINA.
I have the EdgeHD 11 with Hyperstar giving 540mm focal length at f/1.8. I went this way so that I can also have 1960mm (using reducer) and 2800mm (no reducer) from the same scope without the Hyperstar. Always been happy with my decision.
I've always been a Hyperstar guy. I first started with a CPC-800 and the Hyperstar was a good investment for my fork-mounted scope. Soon as I hit retirement, my dream was a C-11 or 14...I got a very nice (hardly used) C-11 with a CGEM-DX mount and a lot of extras for 3K (post COVID)....I purchased another Hyperstar for that unit and love it! They do sell a few different types of doo-dads for the diffraction spikes, not a big deal to me. But you make a great point and I'll chime in with one word to sum the Hyperstar up; "versatility." The Hyperstar is very versatile; one night it can be deep space, the next night planetary and the next visual (although I do very little visual). I'm lucky enough to live 100 miles or so from Starizona, the folks there are great and have helped me tremendously through the years. Great topic Dylan!
I've got a v4 Hyperstar for my EdgeHd 8. It's been a challenging setup. Shooting that fast makes everything more important like backfocus and collimation. I've heard the larger ones like the c11 are much better as well since the image circle is larger. I'm not even using a large sensor (ASI183) and always felt like the image was never exactly right. I also felt like it wasn't wide enough to capture a lot of targets well, or framing had to be dead on. I haven't decided if i'll resell it or not, but i ended up getting a faster smaller scope (William Optics Pleiades 68) to feed my need for speed and wide field work and found it just way more trouble free. Not to mention Mono is so much easier without having to manually swap filters etc. I was lured in by the flexibility of having a wide-ish FOV at fast speeds and a longer focal length for galaxies and planets. Maybe if i had gone with a C11 I'd have a different opinion to the 8 setup, but i was limited by mount capacity.
Great video Dylan, I almost just want to mention I'm really enjoying the vibe of the last few videos, nice and chill. I was recently gifted a C8, so hyperstar is a *very* attractive option as the total cost would be amazing for me with having to only buy the Hyperstar. I currently use an 8" newtonian so the wider option would be immense while also still being good for planetary.
I need to check out the filter changing platform for hyperstar. I’m considering setting up a rig at a remote site, of course need to get that all running here locally. 🎉❤
Another very interesting video Dylan, I don't own either of these scopes and I am not likely to in the near future but if I do get round to buying one I would probably go for the RASA simply because I would only use it on wide field targets anyway so wouldn't need the extra focal length.
Bought V4 hyperstar for my C925. Best accessory I ever bought. NB Be aware of bandpass shift when imaging dual narrowband and purchase filters specifically intended to work at f2
Agree with the rest on the quality of your last videos, bro. Keep them coming! Mybe unrelated, but have you tried an ordinary SCT with the Starizona Reducer? Do you know how much of a difference will it make, in terms of field correction, compared to an EdgeHD of the same focal length / aperture? Cheers.
Thx! I did have a hyperstar 1 on a 9.25 edge hd before I got a rasa 11 .. so the FOVs were quite different. They were both very reasonable in the corners tho!
I've owned a few scopes over the years, WO triplets, Mak-newts & sct's. my final two scopes were edgehD11 & RASA11. I now only own a RASA11 (on an EQ8 mount) & a Seestar S50 for EAA. If you live in the UK, the weather means you really need an F:2 scope I don't get time for anything else with the weather and work getting in the way, RASA +OSC camera + IDAS NBZ filter and your set for a great UK imaging season. You really can get multiple targets in one night at F:2 Awesome setup.
Thanks for the review. It is good to hear from someone with years of experience working with the gear they are reviewing. I like the convenience of switching out the entire scope and train. I truly hate fiddling with finding the perfect 55mm back focus every time. Too much lost time, in my opinion. I have the C11, and when it comes time to take the plunge, I'll probably buy the RASA 11" and add a dedicated ZWO ASI2600 Monochrome Camera w/filters. What's another $7k or $8k? Keep up the good work!
Cool video, Dylan. This had been on my mind a lot lately. Just recently had my first taste of somewhat fast imaging with my Askar 103 and 0.6x reducer getting me down to f/4. I bought that scope over a RASA 8 because I wanted more reach and now I'm finding myself wanting more aperture at higher focal lengths and drooling over a RASA 11. I'm still shooting OSC (Bortle 3) and I'm kind of torn on what my next step is. The RASA would be much more expensive and I'd probably need new filters and accessories but curious if you think it would be more beneficial to keep going with OSC at f/2.2 or jump into a monochrome setup at f/7 & f/4.
I mean, that’s rhetorical danger I guess. The FOV for the rasa 11 is quite good but I always want to go closer ! F2 imaging compared to f4 is still a big jump! But mono always trumps OSC
Dylan I was actually going to mention in comments in your last vid', "Dylan you're on a roll at the moment bro! I've never seen you knock out so many vid's in such short period!?" Well thank you Dylan, I love your vid's! 👌👍
I have an Edge HD8 with a V3 HyperStar. F2.1. I’ve never had a RASA, but off the top of my head, the versatility of having a scope that can shoot F2.1, F7 or F10 with the same scope. I’d prefer that to a dedicated F2. But that’s me.
Dylan....Celestron innovates at the speed of cold very cold near absolute zero molasses....On the flip side at least for me having a RASA 11, RASA 8 as well as a EDGE 11 the customer service has been top notch !!! now if they would just make a Encoded mount !
Since I don't have the luxury of an observatory in which would be a waste since I live under Bortle 9 skies, I have a portable rig for which the RASA 8" worked well for going to dark sites. Thanks to its speed and aperture, I could grab enough data in one night to make a decent SNR image. But now years of being a computer engineer and being active had ruined my joints and now I wish I had never sold my C6 Hyperstar setup which was very versatile. I am hoping Celestron makes their new RASA 6" available as an OTA option and hopefully it is lighter as the RASA 8" is a bit heavy. Thanks for the video and Clear Skies!
I feel like I've spent a bunch on my setup while still trying to do it as economically as possible. Right - contradictory, I know. But when I first looked over all the specs of what I wanted to do, a C925 Edge HD which I got a Hyperstar for hit all the configurations I wanted. So, for those of you who want to get into a really expensive hobby without it being really, REALLY expensive -- SCT with Hyperstar and then too many cameras, filters, adapters, and everything else. Hey, I got one of those cameras and some of those filters from High Point Scientific. *waves to the sponsor*
I am a version 4 user from 2019 with my C8 HD and awesome product. Great for my crap skies in Stockholm with bortle 8 and color camera. Deep shorts even from this light dome. Its a blast a so versetile. Shoot at f 1.9 f7 f10 and f20 with my televue 2 inch powermate. Only that holding back is that no DSO for 3 months in sweden. 59 parallell and Bright skies untill mid august. I still have use my Daystar Quark and my 80mm refractor on the sun. Clear skies and Nice to see your many videos. Cheers. 😊 What we do in life will ecco for etenity and the we all going to die.
@@DylanODonnell i call it astro hording. Asto junkie and always craving for more data 🤣 Stared in 2018 with your planitary video and I was stuck in this rabbit hole the became my passion. That video was for me life changching in that I fond my hobby and friends. That sparked me and thaks to your channel. That always happy when I see your videos and problably only moron has seen them all. Keep inspire and keep looking up. 🪐
Hey Dylan dude. Do you have a filter drawer for the hyperstar? Else hyperatar and rasa suffer the same lack of automation pain.. i see some crazy pics of people using filter wheels in front of the scope.. any thoughts?
Yeh obstructing the ota with a filter wheel is insane. Therein lies the problem, I use the magnetic filter drawer which works great but is still manual.
I had the same issue as you with wanting to automate the Rasa in monochrome. I designed a 4 filter changer for my Rasa 11 which fits in the (very small) space between the camera and the corrector plate. It works well, and I got some prototypes built, but I got distracted by my day job, and didn't get round to releasing it. If anyone is interested, then get in touch and I'll move it forward.
I love my hyperstar. But i also love to use the full focal length of my edge hd. I sometimes wish i just had a RASA instead, just so i wouldnt have to go through the process of switching my sct over. But, i still love the versatility of traveling with just one scope, but still being able to image at f/10 & f/1.9. There are few things that get me as excited as stacking a bunch of 10minute subs that were shot at f/1.9.
I had the V4 on my C8. I loved it until I was told I could not use a IMX571 with a filter on it due to backfocus meaning I was stuck with Micro 4/3. I ended up selling the v4 and went mono
I've got both the 8" EdgeHD and the 8" RASA. I figure get the best of both options. In the end, an 8" RASA isn't much more that the Hyperstar v4 for the 8" SCT(classified on Cloudy Nights). Of course comparing a C11 to the cost of a11" Hyperstar doesn't hold up very well
It’s actually a hotone ampero stomp 2 and I gotta say, after the last firmware update it’s up there with helix, maybe even quad core. Smaller footprint, less than half price and a simply amazing modeler .. lots of community presets. Tri core processing. Easily the best modeler at its price point.
Been thinking the same thing myself with regards hyperstar, although currently i only have the 6"SCT with no hyperstar and a focal reducer. But with the cloudy UK weather im tempted by the hyperstar for the fast scope! However, ill loose my planet imaging abilities, so i might have to purchase a second scope for that :)
I have an 8" Edge HD and went the Hyperstar V4 route and am quite happy with my decision. Price is relatively the same so if you really wanted a RASA that's your decision to make. Shooting at F 1.9 and 30 second exposures is like cheating. I can get two targets in one night. But processing 300-400 subs can take some time. And you'll need lots of hard disk space. ;0)
I have a C8 and am considering Hyperstar. After the first installation of the Hyperstar and it’s collimating do you have to collimate the Hyperstar or secondary mirror every time you switch back and forth? I have to setup and tear down every session and due to my living arrangements store the OTA in a storage bag so the Hyperstar would have to be removed. Thanks
Personally I didn't find that I had to recollimate, and I was in the same situation as you, having to pack it up. But maybe I just was less anal back then too!
RASA is an f2ish reflector scope that can not be used for direct viewing nor with a filter wheel and could suffer light loss on small scopes with large cameras. Likewise the RASA is an SCT with the second f5 magnifying and correcting mirror removed, replaced by correcting lenses similar to hyperstar. So, they're selling you half an SCT with limited use for the same money, that's crazy. Hyperstar; One would be far better off buying an SCT and adding the hyperstar when desired, there you have two scopes in one picking up a 2000+mm monster for about 1200.00, you'll have both a wide angle and deep space scope. Two separate scopes; An f4 reflecting scope with coma corrector isn't normally too far off the cost of hyperstar. One could keep their SCT and buy a Newtonian scope which unlike a RASA will allow for direct viewing and filter wheels. NOTE; a RASA is simply an f2ish reflecting scope without off axis viewing. An f2 mirror is deep cut which has a short focus point making for a short low power fast scope nice, HOWEVER, the light around the perimeter is now hitting the camera/sensor/filter at a steep angle and that is hard to correct, this is what hyperstar does, its a serious light straitening coma correcting complex pair of glasses. Reflecting scopes normally don't go below f4 because of the distortion and the higher cost of deep cut mirrors. One can build an f2 reflector same as the RASA however finding a way to correct the coma would be an issue, its not standard and the cost would be prohibitive unless, or until, f2 or 3 reflectors go mass production.
I have one, the first generation in fact, for my C11. Its quite great honestly. For polluted skies is not only amazing, I think its the only option. My C11 looks more like an APO with it. Pin-point stars. Of course you wont get a lot of magnification with it. And I also use the C11 a lot without it, for planets, etc. I think the Hyperstar is more flexible.
Why would you ever consider buying the Hyperstar while for significantly less you can purchase a wide-field William Optics tube? What would make the Hyperstar a better option?
So...... I travel with my EdgeHD8 for outreach, etc. Guessing Hyperstar would be a Bloody inconvenience, because right now the rig itself (known as Scopezilla) has guidecam, widefield ED72, 2 cameras and electronics all on a crossbar attached to the EdgeHD. But I guess when Hyperstar is installed, No dust cap can be added, and Hyperstar needs to be Removed each time...Because I guess the last thing you want to do also is travel with it installed and increasing stress on the Corrector plate, or simply more chance to knock it and just break the plate anyway... So - looks the the Hyperstar will have to wait until the Observatory is built...But then something to look forward to making the EdgeHD8 usable far more than it currently is.
If you have a dew shield on it, which one should, especially an aluminum dew shield then you don’t need to worry about it. You can also put the cap on the end of the dew shield.
@johnnydanger8701 understood...except, i'm talking more for constant travel to darksky sites and Outreach, dew heater band is permanently around the scope, then dew hood is basically just material which can be folded down for travel, thin carpet from bunnings actually (more like black Speaker material), because it adheres to velcro, which is around the outer of the OTA, very easy to On and off the Dew shield, then when that is taken off to travel again, the cap goes on the OTA as designed. Suppose more than anything asking/wondering whether Hyperstar OR RASA are worth the trouble for NON observatory permanent installations.
@@lklmmedia4715 I wouldn’t use either for outreach because they’re not able to do visual. I wouldn’t want to be fumbling around for 30 minutes adding or removing the hyperstar and AP gear to add EPs to the back of the SCT. I suppose if you wanted to have it set up to show people pictures on a tablet with live stacking or something similar then it would be helpful since it’s going to acquire the data much faster. You could set it up and have people watch the image essentially develop over an hr. As for being worth it in non permanent locations, Yes. It doesn’t take me any longer to reconfigure than it does for planetary. Celestron now makes an aluminum dew shield specifically designed for their Edge SCTs that has a locking end cap. They also sell dew rings that replace the ring for the corrector plate. You could safely leave a hyperstar on indefinitely and transport. The corrector glass takes a significant amount of weight to break. As for the RASA it would be the same situation, except if you didn’t have a dew sheild you could just remove the camera and adapter/filter drawer and put the cap on. The RASA is less portable due to increased size. An Edge 11 is going to take a decent amount of muscle to transport and a RASA 11 will take more. That said, people transport Edge14s.
quick question, what Mono camera do you use on your Edge 11? i can't find a camera that really hits the sweet spot between over and under sampled and Binning always looks worse to me.
Yeh I’m oversampled with the c11 and qhy268m but I choose not to bin .. I dither, drizzle then downscale later before final sharpening just so I have the most detail / resolution in the data before I halve the resolution in post.
or if you really have piles of $$$, you have both, on their own dedicated mounts. Even run at the same time. Obviously in your owen spacious dome, which one would have with all the $$$$. Some people do. Recently saw a video of Planewave CDK install. 'Scope alone was $100K. I will have to settle for traveling to dark skies. I don't have the location or the $$$ to even have the mounts required, let alone the OTA. Still like seeing interesting content, well presented. Looking forward to updates with your C14 Edge. - Cheers
@@DylanODonnell I need to get a shot of my ZWO 130mm Apo Astrograph in front of my K.Kawai grand ;) I wonder if that adapter would work on my Meade 2080 from 1980 ! Have you checked out StellarMate pro for your automation ?
Yeah Celestron WTF with your objective covers?! My favorite one is the one on my 14", it's just a trashcan lid. The 8", 9.25" and 11"ers that I have owned are a royal PITA to get on.. especially first thing in the morning before I've had coffee...grrr.
Recently, a cheap fake HyperStar for SCTs popped up in China. If I remember correctly, it's around 80 bucks. And of course, as the true representative of the 'Broke Club,' I got myself one! Oh, and I subscribed to this channel, too. Times are changing, aren’t they?
The reason RASAs are used for sky surveys isn't that it's f/2, it's that it's wide field. For a compact object like an asteroid there is no difference in sensitivity between a f/2.2 RASA and a f/10 SCT. The stuff you're saying on exposure time isn't really correct once you have the same pixel scale of arc seconds per pixel (or binned pixels). It's pure aperture once you hold that parameter constant.
I've been watching some videos on NINA. I can't help but think they have got it wrong on the scheduling. This comment was triggered by your changing filters bit. Most people have a a list of targets they want to get. So setting up a job for each make sense. What I think NINA should then do is have means of setting a score on each job. The highest scoring job gets done first. The score relates to things like how high the target is above the horizon. Where the moon is, and what the equipment sent up is there. So if you have a red filter in, its going to pick off the highest priority tasks that need a red filter. NINA also needs the two telescopes one mount sorted.
True. The one thing that bugs me about NINA is the wasted time in session recovery, if it recovers at all. One errant cloud and it wastes 30 mins and dud subs before realising something is wrong. It should halt guiding if the guide star is lost for too long, stop exposing, wait, plate solve, and try again all in a minute after a cloud. I could be doing something better I'm sure, but NINA too probably.
@@DylanODonnell Half reverse engineering it, there is an issue that the type [Telescope] and an instance of that type are confused. Another example, wait for 5 seconds. The system should know, when was the last time I moved. If its a wait for 5 seconds, and its been stationary for longer, don't wait. One other design issue. Local or remote? You should be able to run remotely on say an computer on the telescope, and also have an instance elsewhere the just says, I've a camera but its running on a remote instance. If that is done right, then you can get things like collaborative projects where people pick off a task to perform from a central NINA instance, post back. It's all coordinated. The next bit, when I look at post processing. Well doesn't that look like a NINA scheduling job?
@@DylanODonnell One errant cloud and it wastes 30 mins =========== I haven't seen anything that uses an all sky camera to work out where clouds are, and guides a telescope for the gaps.
@@DylanODonnell I find that oversight in the program is somewhat disappointing Dylan as all I hear is that this software is better than anything else around. I do have NINA installed on my mini pc but have never used it in anger as SharpCap v4 does everything I currently need and is very easy to use. The guiding does of course utilise PHD2 but if the guide star is lost, SC pauses the capture and discards the sub, waits for a while then tries to restart the guiding, if that is successful it restarts the imaging routine. I'm not sure if it can perform a plate solving routine, though the programming is very flexible and plate solving is used for target acquisition. Anyway, I've been using this for around twelve months and it seems to work fine. Even on nights where there have been fairly frequent cloud induced guiding failures, the target appeared to have remained pretty well centred. To be fair my set up is relatively simple so it doesn't require a more sophisticated program to run it. The only problem I have with Sharp Cap is the latest version (v4.1) won't run properly on my Eagle LE Windows 10 mini pc.
I really like HPS, but im VERY disappointed that they deleted a review I left (a fair one, followed all the guidelines too) that was harsh on one of their Apertura branded products. Makes be very, very uncomfortable looking at reviews for anything on that website now. What a shame. Be better HPS, you shouldnt reject unfavorable reviews.
You're not making it a RASA by adding a Hyperstar, right? It's already a RASA. You're just changing where the sensor is placed. Am I correct in saying that?
Thank you so much for the shoutout Dylan! The RASA system is incredible - it truly gives a wow moment when you first stretch a stacked image and see how much data-rich signal is captured, and when you find faint, intricate details normally hidden.
Cheers mate!
I am elderly and feeble and had a light go to mount which could not handle heavy optical tubes. So, I bought Celestron 6" Schmidt Cassegrain optical tube and a Hyperstar 6 v4. Works nicely.
Perfect! I’m in peak male form and I can barely lift the rasa 11 😆
*peak may be hyperbole
@@DylanODonnell posted, "Perfect! I’m in peak male form..."
That too will pass. 😮💨
@@DylanODonnell Most people make their kids mow the lawn. I could see you in the future being like “son go swap my telescope”!
There is nothing stronger than a 30 yr old Filipina Wife..just sayin..
Excellent discussion, Dylan! I have a C14 OTA which I bought about 35 years ago, but never used much for imaging. That changed when Hyperstar first became available. I love using it now, both because of the 700mm focal length and the f/2 speed. It's mounted permanently in a 4m dome that my wife and I built 40 years ago.
When I retired, we started wintering in Arizona, away from our home north of Toronto, taking the 14 was not an option, and I went with a variety of different smaller scopes. Until the RASA 8 became available. That is what we've been using, and love it. Some of our best images have been taken with it. It's a breeze to use and light enough for my octogenarian self to handle easily.
My conclusion is that I enjoy both, and I agree with the points you have made. Clear skies,
Rick
Perfect example! Yes someone else was disagreeing with me about the rasa’s being a good beginner option .. I think they’re an extremely forgiving and easy to use!
I have been enjoying the more frequent videos. I appreciate it. I know it takes a lot of work, and they are certainly insightful. Almost at 50k!
Thanks Brian. My sub numbers aren’t really budging but I’m surprised I have this many anyway. 😆
@@DylanODonnell that's because Trevor and Chuck are hogging them all....
A very cheap 3D printed cable router is available for the C11 Hyperstar setup that pretty much eliminates the diffraction spikes Dylan. Works great on my setup.
I second this...works great!
Love my Hyperstar! Good to hear the comparison though!!
Little tip for helping to get the lid back on a Celestron telescope: I put little colour-coded sticky dots on the lid and on the rim of the scope to show where the two match up. Makes putting the lid on much much easier!
good idea :)
Dylan, great discussion. Very informational. Happy day mate
The frequency and quality of content is the stuff of legends. If I could sub twice I would.
Thanks man :)
Excellent video, as always! I can add a bit color: I do have a C14 plus the V4 Hyperstar for it and for some time I was wondering if I would be better off with having purchased a Rasa. But I could not find a single reason! Price wise - as far as I can tell - you get pretty close in both scenarios. But the flexibility you have !! It’s just wow! I did get a dedicated color camera for the Hyperstar (standard I shoot mono and use an EAF) but I now even went back to switch my mono camera to Hyperstar and got myself some fast Baader filters! Once you have your cabling figured out it is literally just: unscrew camera from back, but some cover on back, move camera to front and screw on Hyperstar and you are done! I got my cables completely prepared such that I literally just plug in and ready to roll..so: Hyperstar plus SCT all the way!
Yep.. this video must’ve made the most sense to you then :) great choices !
For anybody who didn't understand the point about filters, when you have your camera mounted to the front of the telescope, the diameter is a big issue. If your camera and whatever is bolted to it is much wider than the central obstruction, then you're losing light. There's not enough space to install a full filter wheel in front of the camera without blocking most of the telescope's front glass, but you can get away with a single-filter drawer because it's usually smaller than the big astrophotography cameras.
This means you can't automatically change filters, which really limits your options if you want things fully hands-off and automated.
Still you can always do one filter on one night ;)
Yes, Celestron’s lid latch system bugs everyone else.
We recently moved to an area near Lake Tahoe with 0% light pollution and just found a clearance on a mountaintop just 10 minutes away (it's my wife's hobby, I'm the sherpa with a pickup truck). I've been debating this for a while myself, as she has a C11HD setup and wants to get into photography. I was just looking at the RASA and thought "let's see if Dylan has covered this". Thanks man! For less than the RASA, I can get her the camera, Hyperstar and autofocuser. Now I have to obsess over the 1st camera.
Hey that worked out well!
Thank you for making the videos and keep them coming.
Thanks !
Clear and informative, as always, Dylan. Thanks!
True confessions (with a little embarrassment), careful as I was, … I dropped the secondary while putting on the Hyperstar. It was disheartening. Celestron was wonderful, but the repair took a long time. I now have a C11 and RASA 11, both on JMI wheelies. Foot-powered automation - I roll them out of my garage to marked spots on my driveway to image.
The focal lengths are slightly different. The FoV is just a little wider with the Hyperstar v4- 540mm vs 620mm - not enough for me to put the Hyperstar back on, yet. That day may come.
Thanks for all you do for the community.
OUCH! I feel that pain deep in my soul (assuming I have one). The convenience of the RASA sure is good .. interesting insights on the FOV there too! Thanks for your kind words and even for just watching at all Marsha :)
@@DylanODonnell I look forward to your videos, Dylan! I always learn something. Hope you’re feeling better.
Cheers Dylan great video !
Nice comparison mate!
That's a relief. I have the C11 so don't have to feel so sad knowing that I can't afford a RASA!
Great video Dylan, thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Rasa
I’ve been so on the fence between the HyperStar and the RASA. I think the big thing I don’t like about the HyperStar is having to reconfigure the scope. I also love the flashback to your long hair in the intro! Lol.
Interesting video mate! - I've got the RASA11 v2, and an EdgeHD 11 now and kinda wonder if I'd be happy with Hyperstar v4 and leaving the Edge on the mount as an alternative to fully OTA swapping each time I want to swap to 'wide and fast' mode!
Really happy to hear QHY have a Q-focuser to SCT adapter now by the way!!! where can I purchase one if you don't mind me asking? I tried to google but couldn't find them
Cheers!
I saw the q focuser bracket announcement on their Facebook .. I’m waiting for one too as I don’t think they’re in the wild yet.
I originally started with a NexStar 8SE and got an EdgeHD 8 as an upgrade. Instead of selling the NexStar 8 I got a HyperStar 8 v4 for it. It's been amazing and works great. My understanding is the main difference between those two scopes is the secondary mirror quality and since the HyperStar replaces that by all appearances it works well and has just as much quality as the EdgeHD. HyperStar is a great option if you have a non-EdgeHD SCT or an older scope you want to upgrade and bring new life too.
I love being able to do both wide and narrow field imaging now and that f/1.9 sucks in light so fast. Doing 5 minute subs with it blows my mind compared to my EdgeHD.
I should say too the people at Starazonia are absolutely amazing and always there to answer any questions I have had in a timely manner with great insight.
Yes fantastic point. Great strategy ! And yep, Starizona have always been amazing.
Don't know if it came up in the comments already, but if I'm not mistaken the Hyperstar's corrected FOV is smaller than the RASA's. So that might be a factor for some users. I'll be looking out for that "Back to the RASA part 2" thumbnail @DylanODonnell !
Good point :) and yes it will happen one day.. although I must say I’ve got so many more target options with this tight focal length !
@@DylanODonnell stop making excuses and build a dual scope setup already 🤪
I'm in love with refractors so this video was perhaps not very relevant to me, but I still found it very interesting. It was obvious to me that this was something you wanted to make - and it showed.
That F/2 is alluring though...
I bought a HyperStar for my EdgeHD 8 but after a few months I ended up selling the HyperStar and buying a RASA 8. The main reason is that I was wanting to swap back-and-forth very often, but doing so was not as straight forward as they imply. Every time I swapped I'd need to recollimate, and that sucked. So now I have the EdgeHD 8 and the RASA 8 mounted side-by-side on the same mount in my observatory so swapping between them is as a easy as picking the appropriate profile in NINA.
Yes my point exactly .. the main rasa benefit. Sounds like your setup is pretty dope now!
Thanks.
I have the EdgeHD 11 with Hyperstar giving 540mm focal length at f/1.8. I went this way so that I can also have 1960mm (using reducer) and 2800mm (no reducer) from the same scope without the Hyperstar. Always been happy with my decision.
Versatile !
I've always been a Hyperstar guy. I first started with a CPC-800 and the Hyperstar was a good investment for my fork-mounted scope. Soon as I hit retirement, my dream was a C-11 or 14...I got a very nice (hardly used) C-11 with a CGEM-DX mount and a lot of extras for 3K (post COVID)....I purchased another Hyperstar for that unit and love it! They do sell a few different types of doo-dads for the diffraction spikes, not a big deal to me. But you make a great point and I'll chime in with one word to sum the Hyperstar up; "versatility." The Hyperstar is very versatile; one night it can be deep space, the next night planetary and the next visual (although I do very little visual). I'm lucky enough to live 100 miles or so from Starizona, the folks there are great and have helped me tremendously through the years. Great topic Dylan!
Exactly .. well said !
I've got a v4 Hyperstar for my EdgeHd 8. It's been a challenging setup. Shooting that fast makes everything more important like backfocus and collimation. I've heard the larger ones like the c11 are much better as well since the image circle is larger. I'm not even using a large sensor (ASI183) and always felt like the image was never exactly right. I also felt like it wasn't wide enough to capture a lot of targets well, or framing had to be dead on. I haven't decided if i'll resell it or not, but i ended up getting a faster smaller scope (William Optics Pleiades 68) to feed my need for speed and wide field work and found it just way more trouble free. Not to mention Mono is so much easier without having to manually swap filters etc. I was lured in by the flexibility of having a wide-ish FOV at fast speeds and a longer focal length for galaxies and planets. Maybe if i had gone with a C11 I'd have a different opinion to the 8 setup, but i was limited by mount capacity.
Good perspective there 👊🏼
Great video Dylan, I almost just want to mention I'm really enjoying the vibe of the last few videos, nice and chill.
I was recently gifted a C8, so hyperstar is a *very* attractive option as the total cost would be amazing for me with having to only buy the Hyperstar. I currently use an 8" newtonian so the wider option would be immense while also still being good for planetary.
Thanks man :) this week I stopped worrying so much about scripting and production and just pressed record haha
I need to check out the filter changing platform for hyperstar. I’m considering setting up a rig at a remote site, of course need to get that all running here locally. 🎉❤
Let me know if it’s possible to automate!
Another very interesting video Dylan, I don't own either of these scopes and I am not likely to in the near future but if I do get round to buying one I would probably go for the RASA simply because I would only use it on wide field targets anyway so wouldn't need the extra focal length.
Bought V4 hyperstar for my C925. Best accessory I ever bought. NB Be aware of bandpass shift when imaging dual narrowband and purchase filters specifically intended to work at f2
I’m still using my f2 filters at f7 and they work great … funny enough.
Agree with the rest on the quality of your last videos, bro. Keep them coming! Mybe unrelated, but have you tried an ordinary SCT with the Starizona Reducer? Do you know how much of a difference will it make, in terms of field correction, compared to an EdgeHD of the same focal length / aperture? Cheers.
Thx! I did have a hyperstar 1 on a 9.25 edge hd before I got a rasa 11 .. so the FOVs were quite different. They were both very reasonable in the corners tho!
I've owned a few scopes over the years, WO triplets, Mak-newts & sct's.
my final two scopes were edgehD11 & RASA11.
I now only own a RASA11 (on an EQ8 mount) & a Seestar S50 for EAA.
If you live in the UK, the weather means you really need an F:2 scope
I don't get time for anything else with the weather and work getting in the way,
RASA +OSC camera + IDAS NBZ filter and your set for a great UK imaging season.
You really can get multiple targets in one night at F:2
Awesome setup.
Great choices !
Thanks for the review. It is good to hear from someone with years of experience working with the gear they are reviewing. I like the convenience of switching out the entire scope and train. I truly hate fiddling with finding the perfect 55mm back focus every time. Too much lost time, in my opinion. I have the C11, and when it comes time to take the plunge, I'll probably buy the RASA 11" and add a dedicated ZWO ASI2600 Monochrome Camera w/filters. What's another $7k or $8k? Keep up the good work!
Yeh you got my point exactly .. I’ve been fiddling with my current image train for a year now.. I don’t want to touch it 😅
Celestron Focus motor works on a V1 RASA 11. Just FYI
keep 'em comin 👍
Dylan have you tried any of the large diameter truss tube RC scopes? Do you have any views on the RC for astrophotography ?
No experience whatsoever
Cool video, Dylan. This had been on my mind a lot lately. Just recently had my first taste of somewhat fast imaging with my Askar 103 and 0.6x reducer getting me down to f/4. I bought that scope over a RASA 8 because I wanted more reach and now I'm finding myself wanting more aperture at higher focal lengths and drooling over a RASA 11. I'm still shooting OSC (Bortle 3) and I'm kind of torn on what my next step is. The RASA would be much more expensive and I'd probably need new filters and accessories but curious if you think it would be more beneficial to keep going with OSC at f/2.2 or jump into a monochrome setup at f/7 & f/4.
I mean, that’s rhetorical danger I guess. The FOV for the rasa 11 is quite good but I always want to go closer ! F2 imaging compared to f4 is still a big jump! But mono always trumps OSC
@@DylanODonnell any words of wisdom on mono at f/4 vs OSC at f/2? I’m so torn haha
@@mdnt_astro I’d go mono but that’s just me :)
@@DylanODonnell thanks man, I appreciate the suggestion. I trust your opinion much more than my own so sounds like that’ll be my next move.
Dylan I was actually going to mention in comments in your last vid', "Dylan you're on a roll at the moment bro! I've never seen you knock out so many vid's in such short period!?" Well thank you Dylan, I love your vid's! 👌👍
Heh thanks for watching and commenting Wes, I notice and appreciate!
@@DylanODonnell Thanks Dylan! 🙂👍
I have an Edge HD8 with a V3 HyperStar. F2.1. I’ve never had a RASA, but off the top of my head, the versatility of having a scope that can shoot F2.1, F7 or F10 with the same scope. I’d prefer that to a dedicated F2. But that’s me.
I like the Hyperstar because of it's flexibility.
Perfect timing. I'm wanting to get a C6 for more FL, but I was also looking to get a Hyperstar for it too for wide field stuff :o
The c6 v4 hyperstar looks dope!
Dylan....Celestron innovates at the speed of cold very cold near absolute zero molasses....On the flip side at least for me having a RASA 11, RASA 8 as well as a EDGE 11 the customer service has been top notch !!! now if they would just make a Encoded mount !
Since I don't have the luxury of an observatory in which would be a waste since I live under Bortle 9 skies, I have a portable rig for which the RASA 8" worked well for going to dark sites. Thanks to its speed and aperture, I could grab enough data in one night to make a decent SNR image. But now years of being a computer engineer and being active had ruined my joints and now I wish I had never sold my C6 Hyperstar setup which was very versatile. I am hoping Celestron makes their new RASA 6" available as an OTA option and hopefully it is lighter as the RASA 8" is a bit heavy. Thanks for the video and Clear Skies!
True .. and the c6 hyperstar looks pretty good actually
Can't resist playfully saying "this is an expensive hobby"... While you're sitting in front of a K. Kawai piano. Nice piano ^_^
I can't believe that the legendary banging techno intro with the equally legend beer toss has seen the beer replaced with an arse crack.
Hahaha
I have a C11 and a C8+Hyperstar, reason : No filter draw available with the RASA 8. (also wider field of view with the 8")
Love the daily dose of videos! Keep it up :)
Thanks Marina !
I feel like I've spent a bunch on my setup while still trying to do it as economically as possible. Right - contradictory, I know. But when I first looked over all the specs of what I wanted to do, a C925 Edge HD which I got a Hyperstar for hit all the configurations I wanted. So, for those of you who want to get into a really expensive hobby without it being really, REALLY expensive -- SCT with Hyperstar and then too many cameras, filters, adapters, and everything else. Hey, I got one of those cameras and some of those filters from High Point Scientific. *waves to the sponsor*
Yeh I agree Thad such a great configuration! For what it does it’s inexpensive.. but that’s relative :)
I am a version 4 user from 2019 with my C8 HD and awesome product. Great for my crap skies in Stockholm with bortle 8 and color camera. Deep shorts even from this light dome. Its a blast a so versetile. Shoot at f 1.9 f7 f10 and f20 with my televue 2 inch powermate. Only that holding back is that no DSO for 3 months in sweden. 59 parallell and Bright skies untill mid august. I still have use my Daystar Quark and my 80mm refractor on the sun. Clear skies and Nice to see your many videos. Cheers. 😊 What we do in life will ecco for etenity and the we all going to die.
Nice setup man ! Hope you see some actual dark sky again :) cheers
@@DylanODonnell i call it astro hording. Asto junkie and always craving for more data 🤣 Stared in 2018 with your planitary video and I was stuck in this rabbit hole the became my passion. That video was for me life changching in that I fond my hobby and friends. That sparked me and thaks to your channel. That always happy when I see your videos and problably only moron has seen them all. Keep inspire and keep looking up. 🪐
Dude that’s amazing :) I’m very happy to hear it. I love the astro community too. I might do a video on how it changed my life one day. I get it.
Hey Dylan dude. Do you have a filter drawer for the hyperstar? Else hyperatar and rasa suffer the same lack of automation pain.. i see some crazy pics of people using filter wheels in front of the scope.. any thoughts?
Yeh obstructing the ota with a filter wheel is insane. Therein lies the problem, I use the magnetic filter drawer which works great but is still manual.
I had the same issue as you with wanting to automate the Rasa in monochrome. I designed a 4 filter changer for my Rasa 11 which fits in the (very small) space between the camera and the corrector plate. It works well, and I got some prototypes built, but I got distracted by my day job, and didn't get round to releasing it. If anyone is interested, then get in touch and I'll move it forward.
That’s insane .. so it worked?
Judging by the number of comments on this video I’d say there was a market. Starizona and Celestron might be interested.
@DylanODonnell Yes it worked. I was midway through testing the Ascom driver when I left it. I'll see if I can send you a prototype.
@@MasseyLee Amazing. No need to send me anything, I'm nowhere near swapping scopes right now.
I love my hyperstar. But i also love to use the full focal length of my edge hd. I sometimes wish i just had a RASA instead, just so i wouldnt have to go through the process of switching my sct over. But, i still love the versatility of traveling with just one scope, but still being able to image at f/10 & f/1.9.
There are few things that get me as excited as stacking a bunch of 10minute subs that were shot at f/1.9.
Yeh that’s nuts!
Yeh stacking f2 stuff is wild eh !
Going fast is the only why to go imo. I just bought 3 rokinon 135mm, antlia SHO 2.5nm filters and 3 qhy294 for....MAXIMUM POWER!!!!
yessss
The ending was perfect
I had the V4 on my C8. I loved it until I was told I could not use a IMX571 with a filter on it due to backfocus meaning I was stuck with Micro 4/3. I ended up selling the v4 and went mono
Makes sense .. mono is the way to roll.
I've got both the 8" EdgeHD and the 8" RASA. I figure get the best of both options. In the end, an 8" RASA isn't much more that the Hyperstar v4 for the 8" SCT(classified on Cloudy Nights). Of course comparing a C11 to the cost of a11" Hyperstar doesn't hold up very well
Yeh .. must say I really enjoyed the rasa 8 even at modest fovs
How about a review of the H90 sitting in the corner of the opening shot? I love my H9.should I upgrade?
It’s actually a hotone ampero stomp 2 and I gotta say, after the last firmware update it’s up there with helix, maybe even quad core. Smaller footprint, less than half price and a simply amazing modeler .. lots of community presets. Tri core processing. Easily the best modeler at its price point.
Sweet! It sure looks like an H90 from that angle😅
Been thinking the same thing myself with regards hyperstar, although currently i only have the 6"SCT with no hyperstar and a focal reducer. But with the cloudy UK weather im tempted by the hyperstar for the fast scope! However, ill loose my planet imaging abilities, so i might have to purchase a second scope for that :)
I assume there’s no noticeable differences in image quality or potential artifacts between the two systems?
I don’t have a 1:1 comparison but I found both to be excellent. The biggest artefact was the diffraction spikes, which affect both.
I have an 8" Edge HD and went the Hyperstar V4 route and am quite happy with my decision. Price is relatively the same so if you really wanted a RASA that's your decision to make. Shooting at F 1.9 and 30 second exposures is like cheating. I can get two targets in one night. But processing 300-400 subs can take some time. And you'll need lots of hard disk space. ;0)
Can we get a video on photometry?
Sure .. I’ve got a bit of learning in that regard :)
@@DylanODonnell Google: "The AAVSO DSLR Observing Manual" It's helped me a lot. Found out ASTAP has most of the tools required. Stoked.
You are trying to answer the same question as I am trying to find out. I have 8HD right now and thinking about it too
Hope there was some food for thought ! The rasa 8 is actually amazing tbh
I owned a rasa 8, got an edge 11. Sold my rasa for hyperstar and couldn’t be happier. If you have a hyperstar compatible scope just by the hyperstar
C11 is so good. I love it.
With qhy minicam8 this should be possible (full automatisation of rasa or Hyperstar)
Yes I’m pretty interested actually!
I wish the hyperstar was cheaper 😅
I have a C8 and am considering Hyperstar. After the first installation of the Hyperstar and it’s collimating do you have to collimate the Hyperstar or secondary mirror every time you switch back and forth? I have to setup and tear down every session and due to my living arrangements store the OTA in a storage bag so the Hyperstar would have to be removed. Thanks
Personally I didn't find that I had to recollimate, and I was in the same situation as you, having to pack it up. But maybe I just was less anal back then too!
RASA is an f2ish reflector scope that can not be used for direct viewing nor with a filter wheel and could suffer light loss on small scopes with large cameras. Likewise the RASA is an SCT with the second f5 magnifying and correcting mirror removed, replaced by correcting lenses similar to hyperstar.
So, they're selling you half an SCT with limited use for the same money, that's crazy.
Hyperstar; One would be far better off buying an SCT and adding the hyperstar when desired, there you have two scopes in one picking up a 2000+mm monster for about 1200.00, you'll have both a wide angle and deep space scope.
Two separate scopes; An f4 reflecting scope with coma corrector isn't normally too far off the cost of hyperstar. One could keep their SCT and buy a Newtonian scope which unlike a RASA will allow for direct viewing and filter wheels.
NOTE; a RASA is simply an f2ish reflecting scope without off axis viewing. An f2 mirror is deep cut which has a short focus point making for a short low power fast scope nice, HOWEVER, the light around the perimeter is now hitting the camera/sensor/filter at a steep angle and that is hard to correct, this is what hyperstar does, its a serious light straitening coma correcting complex pair of glasses. Reflecting scopes normally don't go below f4 because of the distortion and the higher cost of deep cut mirrors. One can build an f2 reflector same as the RASA however finding a way to correct the coma would be an issue, its not standard and the cost would be prohibitive unless, or until, f2 or 3 reflectors go mass production.
i wish someone would bring back an option for meade .
I have one, the first generation in fact, for my C11. Its quite great honestly. For polluted skies is not only amazing, I think its the only option. My C11 looks more like an APO with it. Pin-point stars. Of course you wont get a lot of magnification with it.
And I also use the C11 a lot without it, for planets, etc. I think the Hyperstar is more flexible.
Exactly
The cover on my edge HD sucks I have Velcro on it
Both are great options! Whether your color or mono! My ego could go either way! 😂
Shouldn't the question be, "should you buy a Hyperstar for your RASA?" You could image at the Cassegrain focus or at prime focus. Right?
F0.1 let’s go !
Dylan , Did you ever know about Pocono Mountain Optics ? They had 2 stores in the US. You might be to young.
Why would you ever consider buying the Hyperstar while for significantly less you can purchase a wide-field William Optics tube?
What would make the Hyperstar a better option?
I’ve never used a WO so can’t rightly say!
If we could just piggyback the WO on top of long FL OTA.
Have you ever imaged at f/1.9?
@@delleps no, that’s why I was wondering the above comment
So...... I travel with my EdgeHD8 for outreach, etc. Guessing Hyperstar would be a Bloody inconvenience, because right now the rig itself (known as Scopezilla) has guidecam, widefield ED72, 2 cameras and electronics all on a crossbar attached to the EdgeHD. But I guess when Hyperstar is installed, No dust cap can be added, and Hyperstar needs to be Removed each time...Because I guess the last thing you want to do also is travel with it installed and increasing stress on the Corrector plate, or simply more chance to knock it and just break the plate anyway...
So - looks the the Hyperstar will have to wait until the Observatory is built...But then something to look forward to making the EdgeHD8 usable far more than it currently is.
If you have a dew shield on it, which one should, especially an aluminum dew shield then you don’t need to worry about it. You can also put the cap on the end of the dew shield.
@johnnydanger8701 understood...except, i'm talking more for constant travel to darksky sites and Outreach, dew heater band is permanently around the scope, then dew hood is basically just material which can be folded down for travel, thin carpet from bunnings actually (more like black Speaker material), because it adheres to velcro, which is around the outer of the OTA, very easy to On and off the Dew shield, then when that is taken off to travel again, the cap goes on the OTA as designed.
Suppose more than anything asking/wondering whether Hyperstar OR RASA are worth the trouble for NON observatory permanent installations.
@@lklmmedia4715 I wouldn’t use either for outreach because they’re not able to do visual. I wouldn’t want to be fumbling around for 30 minutes adding or removing the hyperstar and AP gear to add EPs to the back of the SCT.
I suppose if you wanted to have it set up to show people pictures on a tablet with live stacking or something similar then it would be helpful since it’s going to acquire the data much faster. You could set it up and have people watch the image essentially develop over an hr.
As for being worth it in non permanent locations, Yes. It doesn’t take me any longer to reconfigure than it does for planetary. Celestron now makes an aluminum dew shield specifically designed for their Edge SCTs that has a locking end cap. They also sell dew rings that replace the ring for the corrector plate. You could safely leave a hyperstar on indefinitely and transport. The corrector glass takes a significant amount of weight to break.
As for the RASA it would be the same situation, except if you didn’t have a dew sheild you could just remove the camera and adapter/filter drawer and put the cap on. The RASA is less portable due to increased size. An Edge 11 is going to take a decent amount of muscle to transport and a RASA 11 will take more. That said, people transport Edge14s.
quick question, what Mono camera do you use on your Edge 11? i can't find a camera that really hits the sweet spot between over and under sampled and Binning always looks worse to me.
Yeh I’m oversampled with the c11 and qhy268m but I choose not to bin .. I dither, drizzle then downscale later before final sharpening just so I have the most detail / resolution in the data before I halve the resolution in post.
or if you really have piles of $$$, you have both, on their own dedicated mounts. Even run at the same time. Obviously in your owen spacious dome, which one would have with all the $$$$.
Some people do. Recently saw a video of Planewave CDK install. 'Scope alone was $100K.
I will have to settle for traveling to dark skies. I don't have the location or the $$$ to even have the mounts required, let alone the OTA. Still like seeing interesting content, well presented.
Looking forward to updates with your C14 Edge. - Cheers
Someone quick make a wireless camera big bandwidth or big onboard memory and trickle data into your main processing system. No chords no spikes.
ZWO asi2600MC Air to the rescue
Are there any performance difference between the Edge-HD vs the Non-Edge-HD when using Hyperstar?
I believe the hyperstar you get for either is different so it should help flatten a non-edge hd field and reduce the coma.
but for the price you can have a rasa and an edge hd
Great taste in Pianos BTW ! .... Telescopes.. hmmmm ;)
Haha!
@@DylanODonnell I need to get a shot of my ZWO 130mm Apo Astrograph in front of my K.Kawai grand ;) I wonder if that adapter would work on my Meade 2080 from 1980 ! Have you checked out StellarMate pro for your automation ?
Shoot a planet one day... shoot a galaxy next day... shoot a nebula next next day... Hyperstar is the best...
I think the family guy clip at 3:34 was literally made for you.
Haha it really was wasn’t it 😆
I had a RASA8 and I sold it. Epic fail- It's a great scope. I have a 9.25 EHD now and I want a hyperstar but I'm really on the fence.
Yeah Celestron WTF with your objective covers?! My favorite one is the one on my 14", it's just a trashcan lid. The 8", 9.25" and 11"ers that I have owned are a royal PITA to get on.. especially first thing in the morning before I've had coffee...grrr.
Hahaha
11:55 It looked like you were holding a smoking pipe! 😆
Recently, a cheap fake HyperStar for SCTs popped up in China. If I remember correctly, it's around 80 bucks. And of course, as the true representative of the 'Broke Club,' I got myself one! Oh, and I subscribed to this channel, too. Times are changing, aren’t they?
Amazing! How did it go?
I heard the RASA has better image quality.
Don't apologise for the number of videos mate the more the merrier
This is some good stuff, even for us visual dilettantes.
The reason RASAs are used for sky surveys isn't that it's f/2, it's that it's wide field. For a compact object like an asteroid there is no difference in sensitivity between a f/2.2 RASA and a f/10 SCT. The stuff you're saying on exposure time isn't really correct once you have the same pixel scale of arc seconds per pixel (or binned pixels). It's pure aperture once you hold that parameter constant.
Hyperstar back ordered😒
looks like Starizona has them in stock if you want to order directly from them.
I've been watching some videos on NINA. I can't help but think they have got it wrong on the scheduling. This comment was triggered by your changing filters bit.
Most people have a a list of targets they want to get. So setting up a job for each make sense. What I think NINA should then do is have means of setting a score on each job. The highest scoring job gets done first. The score relates to things like how high the target is above the horizon. Where the moon is, and what the equipment sent up is there. So if you have a red filter in, its going to pick off the highest priority tasks that need a red filter.
NINA also needs the two telescopes one mount sorted.
True. The one thing that bugs me about NINA is the wasted time in session recovery, if it recovers at all. One errant cloud and it wastes 30 mins and dud subs before realising something is wrong. It should halt guiding if the guide star is lost for too long, stop exposing, wait, plate solve, and try again all in a minute after a cloud. I could be doing something better I'm sure, but NINA too probably.
@@DylanODonnell Half reverse engineering it, there is an issue that the type [Telescope] and an instance of that type are confused.
Another example, wait for 5 seconds. The system should know, when was the last time I moved. If its a wait for 5 seconds, and its been stationary for longer, don't wait.
One other design issue. Local or remote? You should be able to run remotely on say an computer on the telescope, and also have an instance elsewhere the just says, I've a camera but its running on a remote instance.
If that is done right, then you can get things like collaborative projects where people pick off a task to perform from a central NINA instance, post back. It's all coordinated.
The next bit, when I look at post processing. Well doesn't that look like a NINA scheduling job?
@@DylanODonnell One errant cloud and it wastes 30 mins
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I haven't seen anything that uses an all sky camera to work out where clouds are, and guides a telescope for the gaps.
@@DylanODonnell I find that oversight in the program is somewhat disappointing Dylan as all I hear is that this software is better than anything else around. I do have NINA installed on my mini pc but have never used it in anger as SharpCap v4 does everything I currently need and is very easy to use. The guiding does of course utilise PHD2 but if the guide star is lost, SC pauses the capture and discards the sub, waits for a while then tries to restart the guiding, if that is successful it restarts the imaging routine. I'm not sure if it can perform a plate solving routine, though the programming is very flexible and plate solving is used for target acquisition. Anyway, I've been using this for around twelve months and it seems to work fine. Even on nights where there have been fairly frequent cloud induced guiding failures, the target appeared to have remained pretty well centred. To be fair my set up is relatively simple so it doesn't require a more sophisticated program to run it. The only problem I have with Sharp Cap is the latest version (v4.1) won't run properly on my Eagle LE Windows 10 mini pc.
there's a nina plugin for the scheduling you're describing
All the OSC users feeling that pang in their hearts haha.
I'm sorry haha
So, not only do i need to do a bank heist, i also have to learn new stuff? ;(
Yes :)
I really like HPS, but im VERY disappointed that they deleted a review I left (a fair one, followed all the guidelines too) that was harsh on one of their Apertura branded products.
Makes be very, very uncomfortable looking at reviews for anything on that website now. What a shame. Be better HPS, you shouldnt reject unfavorable reviews.
You're not making it a RASA by adding a Hyperstar, right? It's already a RASA. You're just changing where the sensor is placed. Am I correct in saying that?
You’re making it the equivalent focal length and F ratio as a the equivalent RASA