Unistellar eVscope

[Stephen]

Hi Just getting to grips with this new type of scope only had a few days and of cause it has been cloudy so far 

[+RonC]

It got a good write up in S@N, look forward to seeing it at Kelling Stephen 🙂

[Stephen]

Look for ward to showing you Ron

[+Glafnazur]

I read the write up in S@N too and it sounded pretty cool. Good luck with it Stephen, I look forward to hearing more about how you get on with once it clears up.

[+Streetbob]

Looks good. I’ll be interested to see how you find it. Could it be the way  all scopes will be going?

[+Glafnazur]

Hi Stephen, I was wondering if you'd had much chance to use this and if so how's it going? 

[newtyng5]

I saw the review in S@N mag. Seems rather expensive. £2600?  Interested to hear what it's like. Although there is zero chance i will get one.

[+bryand]

Finally got my hands on one of these.  Thanks to Stephen for his comments and suggesting the supplier.  Astroshop.eu came up trumps: ordered it on Saturday and it arrived Wednesday!

Having read the online comments about it, I made sure I took a new dark frame to start with, and focussed with a Bahtinov mask.  As I suspected, my William Optics mask worked better than the one supplied with the scope.

I had upgraded the app to the new version (v 1.1) but it still behaved oddly at times. Re-starting it cured all problems, and it always picked up from where it had left off, which was nice.

Didn't have the time, patience or sky conditions to get any nebulae, but the old favourites were all there:

Can't split the components of the Double Double, but there is plenty of context, which is often the point of using the eVscope.

The difference between Visual (= instant) and Enhanced (=stacked) views is shown below.  The only processing applied to any of these pics was the application of Affinity Photo's Clarity filter.

 

An encouraging start.  The only gotcha I've found so far is that the mount is sensitive to vibration, and hence would be affected by wind.

Happy so far.

[+bryand]

Second light on the eVscope yielded some DSOs behaving as expected, which was a relief:

Andromeda was beginning to show some detail:

But even after 8 minutes the emission nebula round Merope in the Seven Sisters was only just beginning to show:

The Ring nebula was small but pretty:

And the Dumbell nebula was the best of the evening's haul.

OK they aren't immaculate pics, but they do the job and most of all... it's FUN.  (And we all need some of that nowadays).

 

One question:  I've never has an open-tube scope before and I get a bit concerned about condensation when I bring it indoors after a session.  What do folk do to dry out Newtonians?  I normally keep a bag of silica gel in the case.  Is that enough or do you put anything in the tube during storage?

 

[BAZ]

Some interesting results there Bryan.

I just bring my scopes in and leave them open until the next morning, that usually sorts it out. For the money you have paid for it, I would have expected a dew shield to come with it.

[+bryand]

Thanks Baz.  It’s not dew forming while the scope is in use that’s the problem.  It’s the condensation that forms when I bring it indoors after a session.  Maybe I’ll take to leaving it in the garage overnight to acclimatise.

[+Glafnazur]

Good stuff Bryan, sounds like you having a good time using this.