The Celestron 14ā³ Edge HD Optical Tube costs Ā£9k ā GULP!
My suggestion of donating a few of the kidās less important organs to pay for a C14 fell on deaf ears so rather than buying one, Iām hiring one for a few months. On Monday I picked up a C14 from Alex Gillās farm in deepest, darkest Wales and last night I got to try it out.
The C14 weights 21kg
The weight of it is the reason Alex doesnāt use it much anymoreā¦ and I can totally see where heās coming from. The arse factor of setting this up and tearing it down is immense.
Alex lives on a bortle 3/4 farm in darkest Wales
Alex about to give Storm a kiss (lucky girl)
Donāt tell Alex but while Iām waiting for Dave from Dark Frame Optics to finish our special mount project the C14 is going to have to sit Ā on my far too small for Big Bertha red Avalon Linear. Getting the scope on the mount requires the kind of drugs that only female Russian weightlifters have access to. Even so I managed it. And getting the scope to balance requires some additional counterweights which had to be improvised ( I canāt show you a pic in case Alex seesš). The giant planet looked good but soon began to go dimā¦ and then really dim. Could it be clouds?
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Ā I carried on for two hours shooting an increasingly fading king of the planets.Ā I NEVER have a dew problem in London but turns out the 15 inch diameter corrector lens is prime real estate for any passing droplet that fancies condensing. The front of the C14 was a lake. So I mopped it up and thenĀ put the heated dew shield on (thx Alex) hooked up the home made dew heater power thing (thx Alex) and cranked it up to the max.
The dew problem was no more BUT now the wind was catching the dew shield and my little red mount stood no chance of preventing Jupiter from dancing around all over the place. Even so at 22.38 I managed to get this shot of Jupiter. I know @peachastro#2809 can do better but fingers crossed it was poor seeing rather than me that made the difference.
Thats such an incredible image of Jupiter š Also I never really appreciated how big the C14 is.
either its really big or Iām really small!!!
Congratulations to your fat cat adoption!
Things like these just help us all show our wifes weāre not half as obsessed as they think. Thank you biscuit man.
21kg? Thatās nothing you fannies š Great image
I shoot from a rooftop too, this shake is a question I need to answer before I go with a longer focal length! Renting is such a good ideaā¦or inviting a friend for a week or two who has one and wants to experiment in bottle 3/2.
Cheers from Canada!
you live in bortle 2/3ā¦ put the kettle on Iām coming over
What is the aperture of this thing?
Errr. Itās 14 bro
14ā³
I have the 11.5 and it is fanatastic, could not afford the 14!!!!
I have the c11. A bit more manageable. That being said, and I may have been misled, but Iāve been told that if my corrector plate becomes drenched, mopping up any condensation without begging very careful, can actually muck with the optics. Is this not true?
I mean it would be crazy if a few dabs of rosco lens tissue ruined the optics right? Whoād buy one if that were true? Perhaps we need to get in touch with Celestron.
OMG, you actually wiped the front of a 9k C14 scope. Brave! Oh, hang on, itās a rental. Looking forward to your youtube video.
š (I used lens tissue so its ok)
How does the C14 do when you have distant planets like Neptune and Uranus as the target?
I imagine it does okā¦ damien peach has gotten uranus beforeā¦ with a little bit of detail. Its all about the seeing though.
Great pic. I have the EDGEHD 11 which a much more manageable instrument but still heavy and with everything rigged pushes the mount limits on my EQ6R.
Did Alex loan you a focal reducer or hyperstar?
yeh Iāve got the 0.7 reducer. I would love to try the hyperstar thoā¦
Err, Have you told your insurance company that you clamber onto roofs, in poor lighting conditions and then spend most of the night preoccupied with celestial bodies and with one eye shut?
Cant wait to see your vids of using of the C14. What a monster!
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And you missed the chance to take a look at Uranus?
I said āWoah!ā out loud (the only person in the room) when I got to Jupiter ššš¼
That detail, even with the wobble, is giving my -120 a serious inferiority comlex. Most excellent and canāt wait for sāmore!
HahA selfish kids! š¤£ š looks big n heavy.try Mars while itās still close-ish! Would love one similar. I just use svbony 80mm.looking forward to a utube vid