Oops, I did it again... - Celestron EdgeHD 11

With my piggy bank now well and truly smashed, I have another new scope to show for it at least.. the EdgeHD 11! :-)
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These tools have changed the processing game for me, no joke.
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/ lukomatico
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/ lukomatico
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#astrophotography #space #stars #nebula #pixinsight #seestar #zwo #asiair

[@rbrickproductions123]

That Amazon “Buy Now” button has caused many EdgeHD 11 accidents

[@lukomatico]

Hahaha, I'll bet!! :-D

[@DSOImager]

Grats on the new beast of the scope Luke! Looking forward to seeing what you capture with that monster. CS!

[@lukomatico]

Can't wait my friend!! :-D Clear skies!!

[@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy]

Hi Luke, That C11 is a monster of a scope, but you just can't help but fall in love with it. I have gotten some great planetary views from mine. But I also discovered it is great for those globular clusters, small planetary nebulae and distant galaxies. Yes, guiding is essential. You have the off-axis guider, which should be fine. I recently added the Starsense Autoguider and have been getting great 5-minute guiding, and in some good seeing nights, 10 minutes. Clear skies, Luke

[@lukomatico]

Thank you Pat my friend!! Your own work with the edge HD 11 was an inspiration for the purchase! 👍👍 I'm looking forwards to seeing the planets again, only now in HD 😎 Clear skies!

[@WilliFromEarth]

Cooool :-). Congrats! Yes, planetary nebulas will be stunning at that focal length and aperture! Eskimo and Blue flash…

[@lukomatico]

Oh man I can't wait!! :-D

[@spaztech]

Congrats on the new space tube Luke! Can’t wait to see more of the images you capture with it. Cheers! 👊🏽🍺

[@lukomatico]

Cheers Carl my friend!! :-D P.S - 'space tube', that's a new one to me, love it!!

[@craigwallace6601]

I use the edge11 as well. The biggest improvement I made was fitting a Baader Diamondtrack focuser. This way the mirror can be locked down and eliminate mirror flop. I had the ZWOEAF installed like yours, but moved it to the new focuser… Have fun with it!

[@lukomatico]

Awesome tip mate! - I've been considering that kind of thing, I'll give it some thought, cheers and clear skies! :-)

[@scotiaastro]

Super chuffed for you mate! You’ve got pretty much all focal lengths covered in your obsy now…best of luck…until your next OOPS…lol!

[@lukomatico]

Can't wait! :-D Clear skies mate!!

[@keithhanssen7413]

Heck yeah! If you have an obsy a long focal length ota is a must.

[@lukomatico]

Agreed mate!! :-D thanks!!

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Oooops you've gone & done it again ha ha, looks an absolute beast mate one thing to note you said that it had been flocked, keep an eye on it over the summer months as if it gets hot in the observatory the flocking material could peel off as I had it happen to my RASA last year, the glue got so warm it almost went to a liquid state & off came the flocking material 🤬 Clear skies mate

[@lukomatico]

Crikey!! I'll keep an eye out for that mate, 100%! thanks for the heads up! Clear skies my friend!

[@mattestabrook]

Congratulations on the new scope Luke! I just got a C8 myself, and I am still fine-tuning it. I did test it on M57, however, and I can confirm that the C8 (shooting with a reducer at 1280mm and with BlurX) was not able to split that group of stars that you got, so cheers to your new rig on that front. Can't wait to see you get those tiny targets that are still just out of reach of my new scope.

[@lukomatico]

Very interesting to hear that Matt, thanks for sharing mate!! - I'm really excited to see what's possible from my backyard with this thing! :-) Clear skies!

[@mikeharden7904]

Used a C14 for years. Got some fantastic images of the planets. However, it takes forever to cool the mirror even if you add fans. It's extremely sensitive to sky conditions and it's a monster scope. I now use a C11. Mirror cools quicker, it's not as sensitive and weight is manageable. Good decision 😊

[@lukomatico]

Interesting to hear that Mike!! - I really like my Edge11, but I still would love a 14 someday if the opportunity arose - but I think from what you've said it might make sense to aim to one day have both, hah! :-) Clear skies!!

[@AstroLaVista]

Flipping Heck a C11 Edge! Chuffed for you mate! : )

[@lukomatico]

Thanks so much Chris my friend!! :-) should be a lot of fun!!

[@astrojudebob]

Congrats on the new scope. I have a Edge800, but the Edge1100 is on my wishlist. Can't wait to see your next images.

[@lukomatico]

Coming soon my friend!! Desperate for clear skies haha :-) I had an edge hd8 a few years back and loved it btw, really miss that scope

[@KingLoopie1]

Glad you found the problem in that scope... That's a real treasure! Gonna have to make the Ole Observatory larger. Maybe a new dome? Perfect excuse here... 😉

[@lukomatico]

Oh mate that's tempting, haha! I need a bigger yard!

[@KingLoopie1]

@@lukomatico Don't we all need that big back yard...? With a nice clearing too. My little back yard is pretty much over run with trees... Oh well, heh, gotta work with what we're given...

[@iandobbin8068]

Congrats, you sound more excited about the potential of this setup than I've seen for a while. I may be wrong, but I think giving yourself new challenges is the beauty of astrophotography and all the best for the future.

[@lukomatico]

Absolutely agreed mate! new challenges keep it fresh and engaging :-) Clear skies to you my friend!

[@Jcorban08]

Brilliant “Oops”, Luke!! I’m very happy to hear you talk about SXT and high f.l. imaging. I wonder if it aids oversampled images up to 80-90% compared to correctly sampled images at similar f.l.? Enjoy the EDGE11, you deserve it!!

[@lukomatico]

Thank you my friend!! I really think BXT allows traditionally oversampled images to shine now - I'm seeing promising results anyway, needs further testing though! 👍👍

[@damienk2372]

Bit of planetary would be good fun, the season has started 👌

[@lukomatico]

Thanks mate!! I'm certainly excited to try out some planetary with this and the mak, I've really missed that aspect of astronomy 👍 Clear skies my friend!

[@Astro_Shed]

Your gonna need a bigger observatory Luke..😂 great video as usual….👍🏻

[@lukomatico]

Thanks mate!! And you're not kidding lmao 😅😅

[@user-lt9py2pu6u]

Congratulations on the new scope Luke, I'm sure you will soon be sharing some great images which I look forward to seeing.

[@lukomatico]

Absolutely my friend!! Can't wait for some clear skies now :-)

[@avt_astro206]

Cool new Scope man! Nice image

[@WilliFromEarth]

What about the meridian flip? That‘s where an Avalon mount will become handy ;-)

[@petesastrophotography]

Awesome stuff Luke, you can never have too many scopes🙂I think a comparison between the Maksutov and SCT would be an interesting experiment. I suspect the SCT would show better colour having a larger aperture but sharpness might be much closer with the smaller CO on the Mak. Really looking forward to seeing the images you take with this. Out of interest, have you thought about using something like an IMX410 camera with this? With our dodgy skies you probably wouldn't lose any resolution but would gain massively from the larger pixels which would offset the F10 ratio. Software binning the 455C would help as well of course, that might make for an interesting comparison video😉

[@lukomatico]

Thanks Pete mate!! - I think a mak & edge comparison is very much on the cards once the planets are up, that should be fun! :-D RE: imx410 - if the opportunity came up to try one it'd be spot on I bet, yeah! I do like the extra fine sampling from the 3.76um pixels on my current cam though I have to say, BXT really seems to work wonders with pretty oversampled data! :-) Clear skies my friend, as always!

[@IanSmith-Astro]

Congrats on the new “oops”. So nice to see someone bing positive about long focal length imaging. I’ve been doing it for several years and get a bit fed up with people being negative about it, so well done and good luck. One thing for you to look at is the On Axis guiding from Innovations Foresight. Great for guiding and continuous real time focusing to boot!

[@lukomatico]

Awesome! Thank you so much mate! 👍👍

[@Tony-Elliott]

Hi luke thanks for the update on this scope mate, really looking forward to seeing what you can a achieve with this fantastic set-up

[@lukomatico]

Thanks Tony mate!!

[@SirDerpsalot1]

Congrats Luke! Can't wait to see your future images and possible experiment vids. CS 🙂

[@lukomatico]

Clear skies my friend!! :-D

[@DavesAstrophotography]

Awesome Luke! Happy new scope 😀

[@lukomatico]

Thanks Dave!! I've ended up emulating you, haha, RASA and edge! 😀

[@DavesAstrophotography]

@@lukomatico Just need a Lunt now for Solar :-D

[@Wilfredos_Astrophotography]

Awesome scope. Can’t wait to get mine.

[@lukomatico]

Right on! Good luck mate, hope you get it soon :-D

[@sevenskiesastro]

Ooer Luke. Some super galaxies out there too that could take that focal lenght. Guiding definitely has to be super good. Clear skies my friend.

[@lukomatico]

Totally agree Rob mate!! - Clear skies my friend :-D

[@briankotak403]

That’s a beast of a scope! Congrats. Will be fun on those galaxies that are very far away! Dr B from Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦

[@lukomatico]

Can't wait! Hope you're doing well my friend :-) Clear skies!

[@paulholdsworth2502]

Congratulations Luke on a wonderful piece of kit !! I reckon you could pretty much go over most nebula targets and get a completely different perspective from previous shots. Imagine a close up of the tadpoles nebula to name but one. Anyway mate well deserved for all the effort you put into the channel 👏

[@lukomatico]

That's really kind of you to say Paul mate! and I think you're spot on about the close-ups, the tadpoles would be phenomenal as you suggest!! Clear skies my friend!

[@actudoran]

I got a C11... it's cool as ice 😂 I wish I had a FF camera now 😢

[@StevenViltoft]

I think folks would like to get details on your imaging train for that long f/l SCT. Could you make a short video showing that and explaining your choices? Thanks for great content!

[@lukomatico]

Thanks for the idea! I'll have a think about that, clear skies mate!

[@azzaqmb]

Not a bad Oops to have lol. Hopefully you get a few more clear nights to play with it, I also got a "new to me" scope as well but my one came with a 100% clouds.

[@lukomatico]

Aw mate sorry to hear yours came with free clouds, ahha!! :-D

[@frackcenturion]

careful now Britanny has her eyes you 🤣👍

[@lukomatico]

Oh no! let's hope she's not too 'toxic', haha! :-D Clear skies mate!

[@CDigata]

thats a nice dewshield guv :P

[@lukomatico]

Hahaha!! it's not bad is it mate, got it from a real nice chap, you might know him? :-D

[@AstroSoundscape]

Hang about mate how many ooops are we up to, 180Mak, 120Apo and a C11. That ain't no oops that's called purchasing with intent 🤣 Looks nice mate! I'm actually gonna have a native FL stint soon just take the reducer off my C925 as we've got a few tiny planetary nebula I'd like to try take a look at. Clear skies pal.

[@lukomatico]

I'm guilty as charged, haha 😜 can't wait to see what you're gonna cook up with the 925 mate, I love me some planetary nebula action! 👍👍 Clear skies!

[@stuparker776]

Hi Luke Cool scope I was considering that one as well.Really interesting that you are going to use it with no reducer most people would say it couldn't be used with one!!! so that will be interesting to see how it goes.Question the player one camera is that the mono or colour full frame.Also can you do a vid on the collimation it would be interesting to see how you do that.

[@lukomatico]

Hey Stu! - I'll try and get a live-collimation vid sorted for you mate, I actually recorded a bit on it already but I don't know if it's usable - fingers crossed! RE: the camera, it's an imx455 colour :-) Cheers for your support my friend!

[@rafaberrios8142]

What I think is really interesting about this set up, is that your imaging at .41? From what I saw. It would be interesting to see what your actual seeing is and what you’re getting away with . I have a 14 at home, I’m finding that I have to throw a lot of hours at target with a OSC

[@lukomatico]

Interesting mate! - I'm imaging at 0.28 with this, it's oversampled for sure but it seems BXT doesn't mind a decent oversample and can recover more details when done like that! :-) your 14 must be a beast!!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Whoopsie!

[@lukomatico]

My finger slipped! :-D

[@grahamwhite75a]

Luke would really like to see you do a video on re-cantering Celestron Edge HD corrector plate. I have a 9.25” (from new) and it’s secondary is nearly 5mm off centre too and I have same issue with 0.7 reducer. Incidentally I have tracking ‘sorted’ as I use 10micron.if you are interested I have a ‘spare’ HPS2000 10micron waiting for my observatory to be built. You can borrow it to try if you want?

[@lukomatico]

Crikey, that's very kind of you to offer Graham! - I think I'd be losing sleep having something so valuable in my obsy though, haha! :-D Sorry to hear your 9.25" is decentered on the corrector too - once I'd confirmed the secondary housing was centered on the plate, all I really did was take initial measurements all around using a digital caliper, going from the secondary housing to the inner rim of the corrector plate cell, - record all those so you can reset if needed, then simply loosen the corrector plate retaining ring, and using the grub screws that interface with the corrector plate through the cell just center everything mechanically again - I got mine to within 0.5mm centering and left it alone at that - worked great! :-) Potentially a video is possible on that at some point, but I'd probably have to deliberately decenter my plate again to demonstrate it, haha! Clear skies mate

[@luboinchina3013]

First request for the next live stream please... Cat's Eye Nebula's outer ring with reducer and dual narrowband or O3 filter, combine it with the core from the last live stream and make HDR version... 😏

[@lukomatico]

That'll be a great target for sure! :-)

[@jesuschrist2284]

At 2800mm you'll be able to image my dad

[@lukomatico]

Love it, haha :-D

[@jesuschrist2284]

@@lukomatico im just jealous id love the 11" version so versatile. 2200m (i think) can use .7 reducer flattener for widefield (lol) of rasa like f2. Shame its £3k plus, and i only have a sky watcher gti and a dslr :(

[@SKYST0RY]

Lovely telescope. I have had my eye on getting a C11 or Edge 11 or Meade 11 for some time. I don't understand the fear of high FL that so many have expressed. Is it more an issue in a high Bortle area?

[@cratervanawesome]

I don't think its so much fear as it is a healthy respect. I have an EdgeHd8 and it's worlds harder to get things setup just right compared to something wider in field like my William Optics Pleiades 68 . As mentioned in this video guiding becomes a whole new challenge. You need a way larger mount (I'm pushing the limits of a belt modded HEQ5 pro on a pier with the edgeHD8). They're also so much slower, so you end up needing way more exposure time to get as nice of images, remember each f stop is a doubling in light gathering ability, so from f/4 to f/10 you'll need ~6 times the exposure length to get similar signal to noise. Its absolutely rewarding results, but some people don't have multiple clear nights in a row to dedicate to one target.

[@AmatureAstronomer]

Interesting.

[@stephanep1330]

Hi Luke, Congrats for this new beast! I've always wanted to try one of these C11 on my mount (CEM70). But I'm afraid I won't have a good enough guiding, What mount will you use? And would you also guess a CEM70 will be a bit short for precise guiding such a monster?

[@lukomatico]

Hey mate! I think the cem70 could guide it! 👍 I'm currently using it on an EQ8

[@briantheprimateastro]

It won't stop until you get the C14 😉

[@lukomatico]

Oh man I'd love a C14 someday if it'd fit 😅 I really like this 11 though I gotta say 👍

[@josephluciani5531]

I know you’re excited Luke and forgive me for speculating, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if I woke up one morning to find that you’ve begin construction of a new observatory capable of holding your EdgeHD-14 😂

[@lukomatico]

Hahaha!! if the opportunity arose Joe, I'd take it! :-D Clear skies mate!

[@ASTROKING-S]

I have wanted one of these since i first started many years ago... ive never been able to find one in my price range

[@lukomatico]

I felt the same mate, but eventually this one popped up within budget! :-) I'm sure you'll get one someday!

[@ASTROKING-S]

@@lukomatico its the versatility, super planetary scope, great for small and medium galaxy's, and then the hyperstar for fast widefield... its a 3 in 1...would love to learn how to do mosaics with a scope like this. We always try to get 1 picture in one frame.. never a super detailed mosaic and how to stitch them together. Maybe a topic for a vid on your channel for the future. Which is great by the way.. keep doing what you do fella...

[@tizocsuarez1563]

Greetings from costa rica, great video. Can you comment on the comparison between mak skymax180 and the c11 edge?

[@lukomatico]

Thanks for watching!! - I've not had the chance to test them side by side directly yet, but having tested them individually I can say that the mak performs very very well for its size and cost, but the edge is overall better! (but it should be, at 11" and 4x the cost!)

[@anata5127]

Bluer XT helps, but it is not a substitute for seeing and quality scope. Thus, no way Blur XT will show details of planetary nebulas, if there are no details to begin with.

[@lukomatico]

Agreed! :-) definitely need good data to begin with!

[@tostativerdk]

Looking at tools like astronomy.tools CCD suitability at OK seeing, anything beyond 1000mm and 3.8 mu pixels seems oversampled. But that is without BXT (and drizzling) :) How much would you say BXT improves seeing, eg if OK seeing is 2-4 arcsec, so you go to 1-2 or even 0.5-1?

[@lukomatico]

Great question mate! - I think the astronomy.tools calculator is probably spot on if you're not using BXT as you suggest! :-) I do think BXT pretty much totally changes the rules now, i've been having my best images ever come from very long focal lengths really! excited to experiment more for sure Clear skies!

[@conradsanders8475]

I missed the type of camera you used with your C11? I believe you said it was a full frame sensor?

[@lukomatico]

Yes indeed my friend! an IMX455 based camera, the Player One Zeus - OSC :-) Cheers!

[@stephenlast1897]

Good video Luke . What step size do you use on the c11 with the Zwo ?

[@lukomatico]

Hey mate! - I believe I'm using around 70 as my step size :-) Cheers!

[@jesuschrist2284]

Would love a test of an imx585 sensor on this thing

[@lukomatico]

That could be fun!!

[@jesuschrist2284]

@@lukomatico even more zoom?

[@ridetheliger4176]

Comparison, please!

[@deep_space_dave]

Congrats on your new EdgeHD 11! You definitely have the perfect setup to allow such a monster scope! Have you considered using a HyperStar over having to unmount and remount the RASA 11? Be careful with you spine mate as even though you're a strong chap, you only get one spine 🙂 Looking forward to the awesome images you will capture!

[@lukomatico]

Thanks mate!! Funny you mention my spine as I'm currently nursing a bad back!! 😂 (Though not scope related.. I think!!) Clear skies buddy

[@old_photons]

Luke, forgive me, but I've been following a shorter period of time but what is your mount setup on this rig? And the adjacent one for that matter?

[@lukomatico]

Hey mate! I have a Skywatcher EQ8 on my front pier, and the one off camera has a Skywatcher EQ6 on it 👍 I also own a ZWO AM5 which I keep on a tripod pier

[@deltacx1059]

I could build a 14 inch RC telescope for the price of that 11 so its probly not for me.

[@deepskyjustin]

Can I ask why your dew heater band sits so low on the OTA. How effective is that?

[@lukomatico]

Hey there! I place it there to give the heat radiating into the tube and warming the air near the internal walls a chance to mix with the air inside the tube before rising and hitting the inside of the corrector glass, if it's placed right on the cell next to the glass I feel it's possible to cause a boundary layer effect and end up with less thorough dispersion of the heat, - just a theory anyway! It works great placed quite low 👍

[@deepskyjustin]

Fantastic... Thank you. Will give it a try

[@DamienBoath]

Nice! How are you finding the player one Zeus camera?

[@lukomatico]

Hey mate! - I love it! it's a really lovely camera to use, just huge files is all so there's that to consider! :-)

[@DamienBoath]

@@lukomatico I have the Area C Pro. Tempted to try mono and filters. Is it worth me getting the Ares M? Or is there another slightly cheaper one?

[@lukomatico]

Sorry about the late reply mate! I think the ares is a great mono cam if you're interested in it 👍

[@Gumba213]

what's your pixel sampling on this setup?

[@lukomatico]

0.28"/pix with the imx455 👍

[@Gumba213]

@@lukomatico significant oversampling, I think you'll find you want to use that reducer to help sharpen up the images.

[@hakankaya-gj1su]

Is that dew shield shorter or standard one that sold

[@lukomatico]

I cut it down mate 👍 it's about 6" shorter

[@hakankaya-gj1su]

@@lukomatico what did u use. Any tips on cutting it

[@lukomatico]

I used an angle grinder with a thin kerf cutting disk after carefully marking it up, I've had a lot of experience using an angle grinder so it was fine, but I can't recommend it to everyone - hope that helps!

[@ma-fi1nu]

Guiding is super easy with my c11 edge telescopes with the celestron starsense auto guider. My Oag and my long focal guide scopes are now collecting dust..

[@lukomatico]

Interesting! good to hear it's working out for you mate :-D

[@l0nemonk100]

I am not buying another scope 🙂 Nice buy buddy. Check your email

[@lukomatico]

Thanks so much my friend!! :-D