Hi Serena, and all others,

Yes indeed, that is coma showing its funny little distorions towards
the edge of the CCD images. The CN-212 in Newtonian mode has a field
flattener which does take out a lot of the distortion, but at f/3.9,
there is bound to be some coma lurking about no matter what. The issue
is of no matter when doing the "pretty picture" taking, or even when
doing photometry, but when doing astrometry, it is problematic. I
actually get better measurements and residuals when using the FSQ-106n
for astrometry. I just can't get too deep (magnitude-wise) with a
106mm scope. I suppose there are always compromises to be made, since
I can't afford an $18k RC telescope. ;-)

As far as liking the telescope: the CN-212 exceeded my expectations
actually. I have read reviews that pointed out the unlikelihood of the
collimation being stable and such, but I have swapped back anf forth
between Cas and Newt mode several times and not encountered any
collimation hassles. As a wide field imaging scope - it is a LOT of
fun. It is a real light bucket. As for planetary work: in Cas mode, it
shines. The views of Saturn this week have been incredible... much
much better than any commercially available SCT I have used in the
past. I was seeing cloud detail on the planet. The Cassini Division
was obvious along the entire ring. The Crepe ring was not a problem at
about 250x magnification. One has got to love that!

Yes, I have has issues with receiving emails from the groups. I have
since turned off all auto emailing, and just come out here every now
and then to peruse the groups I belong to. The overall use of the
groups has really dwindled recently. I guess that people are either
losing interest, or are too busy with other aspects of their lives
right now.

Hey! I loved the kangaroo shot! Are you hoping to see any of the
upcoming eclipse??

~john

--- In ccdimaging2@y..., serena_aussie <no_reply@y...> wrote:
> John, those are very nice images. So good that I can ask if there is
> a little coma showing on the botton right of the Veil? Apart from
the
> evidence of the images, how are you liking the scope compared to
your
> old SCT?
>
> I've not been receiving mesages from this group, so I presumed all
> was as of the grave. So I've made a change to the messaging and
maybe
> now I'll keep in touch. My own astronomy has been hibernating and I
> have to get things set up for my summer efforts. Have upgraded the
> Gemini to L3, but haven't plugged it in yet to play - poor show,
what?
>
> Serena
>