New Cassegrain 8″ @ Ager

I finished the temporary set up with the new classical Cassegrain 8″ telescope in tandem with my Ritchey Chrétien 10″.

This new tube will provide options for planetary, lunar and long focal range astrophotography.

Originally this tube was made at f12 (2436mm) but in my case it’s set at f17 (3500mm).

I will use a QHY-III 174 monochrome camera (Sony IMX-174 sensor). It is a 1/1.2 inch CMOS sensor with 2.3 megapixels (1920×1200) with 5.86µm pixel size with global shutter. The maximum capturing speed is 138 frames per second.

The Field Of View of this camera and telescope (in red) compared with the RC10 and the AS1600 (in yellow)

It’s only 11.5 x 7.2 arcminutes.

Temporally I use a Sesto Senso focuser with the original focuser. New Moonlite CSL 2.5″ is on the way.

Everything is aligned with a JTD Dual Rig Telescope Alignment Saddle from First Light Optics and the idea is to use the RC10 as guiderscope and finderscope 😛

I am waiting some nice weather to test the flexure and guiding of the group.

Here the initial balance

and one of the first movements with the Mesu 200 mount and very close to 40kg of weight.