Eric. (México)

Un grand Bravo pour toutes ces superbes images...je vois que j'ai encore
beaucoup à apprendre pour arriver à votre niveau!
Félicitations encore

Hello Florent,

many thanks for your kind words about my website :-)
I visited your site to and I looking very fine! Nice job, very good!
I take your site in a short time in my link list!
Best regards and any time clear skies!

From: webmaster@astroklaus.de (Klaus Maritschnigg)

Hi Florent,

excellent AO-7 pictures. I really enjoy, because I use the
AO-7 and the ST-7 with a 10" SC f/6.3 too.
Keep on !

Kindly regards

Klaus Maritschnigg
www.astroklaus.de

From:COudecOlivier@aol.com

Salut Florent,

Très impressionnant, les images sont formidables. A quand la couleur ? Nous reviendrons régulièrement pour voir les nouveautés. Encore toutes nos félicitations.

Sylvie et Olivier

From:JOHNSTAR13@aol.com

Salut,

J'ai visité ton site pratiquement en entier et je pense qu'il est vraiment très bien exposé pour les amateurs comme nous, c'est un site pleins de ressources !!! On voit quand même que tu as de l'expérience pour les photos de ciel profond, elles intègrent des méthodes de pro pour la maîtrise du CCD. Mais le seul problème à tous cela, c'est tout de même l'investissement important que cela demande.

Bon boulot !

JOHNSTAR13

From:gilles .fontanaud@wanadoo.fr

Salut Florent,

Tout ce travail est tout à fait impressionnant. Toutes mes félicitations.

Bien amicalement

Gilles

From: mr.p@skynet.be (Martin Pugh)

Hello,

I have visited your web site and I am very impressed.  Your image of M51 with your 12" is spectacular, as is your image of the Horsehead with your 8". I hope I can get an image of similar quality once Orion is high enough. However, I do not have a camera that can guide yet.  I also plan to upgrade to the 12" one day, and I cannot wait if images like yours are what I can expect.  You must have excellent seeing where you are.

Very, very nice work....congratulations

Regards

Martin Pugh

From: Calvin.Hill@arl.siemens.com (Hill Calvin (x5153))

Hello Florent,

 You are to be congratulated on the high quality of your images! Very, very impressive!Your stars are "very tight and small", which means you have control of your focusing, which is the toughest part of CCD imaging. I noticed the 2 stars inside of the Ring Nebula, which is hard to capture! Since you seem to have already mastered monochrome imaging, in a short time, you should try tri-color imaging. I believe you will be able to produce some outstanding accurate astronomical images with your equipment. I will stop by your website from time to time. I am quite interested in the performance of the AO-7, which should make even a bigger difference the quality of your images by compensating for atmospheric air movement.

Cieux clairs et chasse heureuse d'objet!

Les Meilleurs souvenirs,

Calvin E. Hill

Engineering Lab Supervisor

Technology Development

Siemens ElectroCom LP

From: carrico@proaxis.com (Julie and Tom Carrico)

Hi Florent,

I enjoyed your site. I am amazed at how well the field De-Rotator works. You images have plenty of signal, you should try processing them using the DDP function available in MaxIm or StellaImage. These programs will really help bring out the centers of the galaxies.

 Good Work

Tom Carrico

 From: tutsky@yahoo.com (Tut Campbell)

My favorite that you did is NGC 4535.  Also, the resolution is noticeable better at f/5... much better than the ones at F/3.  It uses the 12" aperture's resolution more effectively at F/5. Keep up the good work!  I'm forwarding your images to some friends.

Thanks,

Tut

 From: jb20@voyager.net (JB)

Nice pictures.   I was extremely impressed with the NGC 891 image.  Very good detail.   Keep it up.

 Jason Blaschka

 From: richmann@concentric.net (Michael Richmann)

You certainly have some nice shots here, most notably the NGC 2903 and 5985 galaxies.  The fact that these were taken with the derotator makes them all the more impressive.  And the M51 shot is just beautiful and loaded with detail.  That shot says to me that you're really refining your technique well.  One of these days, I have to sit down and create a page of links for CCD work.  I'll stick your page up there then.

 Nice work.

Mike

 From: alf.buchner@t-online.de (Alfons Buchner)

Hi Sir,

 we have seen your webpage. The CCD-images are really great!

Regards

Alfons Buchner

 From: chris@astrim.com (Chris Deforeit)

Pas de doute, le derotator marche aussi bien que l'équatorial, la démonstration est faite ! Félicitations, très bonnes images, à quand la couleur ?

Christian D.

 From: jim@kendrick-ai.com (Jim Kendrick)

Beautiful images. Well done.

Jim

 From: litebkt@pacbell.net (Michelle Stone)

Some of these shots are really quite good.  I'm impressed with your M51

Shot.

Michelle

 From: ja.lefoll@wanadoo.fr (jean-alain le foll)

Ce 2e site est tout à fait passionnant pour la ccd et fait découvrir un système OA pour amateurs.

 From: e.bisquer@bgi-technologie.com (Eric Bisquer)

J ai deja regarde le site altaz depuis un momemt d ailleurs et je le trouve tres bien.

 From: kkduda@juno.com (Keith J. Duda)

Florent

I visited your website.  I really liked your photos, they are very nice. Your 3.3 focal reducer gives you a very large field of view.   I especially liked your photo of the horsehead nebula and the area around it. 

Keith

 From: clayfeld@best.com (Clayton A. Feldman, MD)

Thanks for the letter and the information, Florent; I appreciate it! The field de-rotator looks like a very useful device, one which I will not be able to use (Celestron Ultima owner). Your site is very nice indeed. Your group is very lucky to find an astronomy-compatible town away from what I presume is the immense light-dome of Paris. Those are very good photos in your gallery- I assume that you are very pleased with them. What I am leaning toward is real-time imaging rather than cataloged images- an attempt to have my 8" scope function like a 12". I'm still investigating.

Take care,

Clay

Clayton A. Feldman, MD

San Jose, California

 From: visonneau-vin@infonie.fr (visonneau-vin)

Bravo pour le site

Les images sont tres belles (avec un tel materiel,c'est presque normal).

 From: wordepot@erols.com (Richard Robinson)

Florent,

 Your site is very well laid out and your images are very good.  I have not tried a field-derotator, but yours seems to be working very good with the 12 inch and ST-7.

From : Billy Patt

Hello Forent,

  I visited your site and enjoyed it very much.  My French is very dated as I studied it in high school almost 30 years ago but I was able to follow some of the text.  The pictures were very good.  I was impressed with how sharp the star images were and noted that you were using exposures as long as 20 minutes.  When I started inquiries, most people said that the Alt-Az solution was not very good but I've heard from a few people such as yourself that are producing good results with the field rotator.   I live in Los Angeles and must drive at least 45 minutes for dark skies.  Setup must be easy for me and the field rotator sounds like a decent solution.  I am still learning my new telescope but am starting the process of investigating CCD imaging.  I think I will buy the camera before summer and see what I can do.  I'll probably start with the moon and planets first and then work my way up to deep sky work.  Thanks again for the very nice reply and I wish you the best in your work.  I hope to do imaging as well as you soon!!    Bill Patterson, Los Angeles, California, USA

 From: Patrick Pelletier (MEDAS SA)

       Bonjour Florent,

Bravo pour les images, impressionnant !!

@+

Patrick

 From: AQUARIUS@wanadoo.fr (Phil)

Bravo pour votre site, et surtout pour l'ingéniosité de votre montage ! Je suis moi-même l'heureux possesseur d'un LX 200 qui me donne entière satisfaction.

Astronomiquement votre,

 Philippe ILIOPOULOS

  From: christiancastagne@free.fr (christian castagne)

Bonjour Florent.

Je viens de visiter le site.

Le site est bien. Tellement que l'on souhaiterait qu'il y en ai encore plus... Les photos CCD sont vraiment bien! J'espère qu'avec mon fils nous arriverons un jour à en faire autant!

 From: MASSON@chsa.broca.inserm.fr (MASSON Catherine)

Stupéfiant !!! tu m'as fait rêvé . ...c'est où déjà chez E.T.

 From: jlb75@cybercable.fr (jean luc)

Bonjour,

Bravo pour le site,

 From: dominique.sophrone@wanadoo.fr (dominique.sophrone)

Merci pour la visite du site qui est super.

 From: jstys@umich.edu (Jeff Stys)

Hi,

Thanks for the note about the de-rotator images.  Very nice shots.  I was wondering. If you know of any sites with longer exposure photos (ie film shots) that might show any limitations of the setup.  Obviously this is a useful setup for CCD imaging, but I'm wonderin how well it stands up to 1hr+ exposures (esecially withouthg adaptice optics!)

thanks

 Jeff Stys

 From: natjo@ukonline.co.uk (natjo)

Hello,

I found your page very interesting and your images very impressive.

  Many thanks,

      Nathan Harris.

 From: (Benoit Schillings)

Merci pour tes commentaires sympa sur L'AO-7. Si tu a besoin d'info supplementaires, n'hesite pas a m'ecrire.J'ai egallement ecris ccdsharp pour sbig.

 A+

Benoit Schillings

 From:  Patrick Pelletier (Medas SA)

       Quelle classe Florent !

Je n'ai jamais rencontré Benoit Schillings mais tu tiens le gros lot car ses compétences sont reconnues dans ce domaine. Prépares-toi à répondre à de nombreuses questions de la part des astronomes américains. Cela fait plaisir que des Européens sont meilleurs qu'eux sur ce terrain.

Félicitations Florent,

A+,

Patrick

From: geert.vdb@online.be (Geert Vandenbulcke)

Bonjour Florent,

Certes inattendu mais tres interessant, votre site web. Vous etes le seul
amateur que je connais qui utilise le Field-derotator en fonction Alt-Az.
Eh oui, c'est interessant quand on voyage souvent aux USA, leurs jou-joues
coutent aux moins le double dans nos pays... De tres belles images en plus
et vous montrez egalement les moins reussies, ce n'est pas toujours
facile...

Merci de m'avoir faire connaitre votre travail.

Geert Vandenbulcke

From:     pedrore@mail.telepac.pt (Pedro Re')

Hi Florent.

I enjoyed browsing through your site. Great images.

Pedro Re

From:    djones@jump.net (David Jones)

Florent,

Thank you for the reply, your work is impressive. I have received several
responses to my query, but yours is the only positive response regarding the
Field De-Rotater. Based on your experience, I think that I'll give it a
try. Thank you for response and again, nice work.

David

De :    Jdguil

Thank you for sending the link to your web site. It is very well written, and your pictures are impressive. Although I do not have a camera now, someday I too hope to start making CCD images. I hope my pictures will be even close to as good as yours.

Thank you,
Jim Guillory.

From:    chuckfa@mediaone.net (Chuck Faranda)

Hi Florent,
Your web page is great! Indeed, your alt/az images are very impressive.
I look forward to seeing your work with the AO-7.
--
Regards,

Chuck Faranda

From:    Marc.Sylvestre@wanadoo.fr (Marc.Sylvestre)

Salut Florent

un site étonnant, où tu nous prouves qu'il est
tout-à-fait possible de faire des poses longues en mode altazimutal...
.. ce qui va ravir de nombreux utilisateurs ne voulant pas s'embêter avec
une monture équatoriale !

Amicalement

Marc.Sylvestre

From:    jf@mtobsy.fsnet.co.uk (John Fletcher)

Congratulations on the excellent CCD images of deep sky objects.
Best wishes and clear skies from.
John Fletcher @ Mount Tuffley Observatory. UK

From:     aengusofearghail@eircom.net (Aengus O'Fearghail)

Florent.....Bonsoir....your site is very good...

The images show a good lot of detail....you are doing nicely....
I like the way the finer detail is not washed out ....in the brighter
portions of the images....
your processing is working....

Your imaging is good too...vey little errors in the tracking etc...
Very nice work

Aengus

From:    neworion@libero.it (Lorenzo Lovato)

Hi Florent.

Sorry for the delay of this mail......
Your pics are very very good......I see with very surprise that the
Field De-Rotater make an excellent work!

Compliment also for your site......

Lorenzo

From:    lcourier@free.fr (Laurent COURIER)

Très sympa votre site. Je vais bientôt le mettre sur nos liens. Nous avons
un projet pour motoriser notre T560mm, mais pas en mode altazimutale. Nous
pensons à une monture à fourche ou à fer à cheval.
Pourrions nous correspondre régulièrement ?

Laurent Courier
Président de AED-Observatoire de Cestas

From:    gibala@online.no (Robert Gibala)

Hi,

Nice work! I have been to your web page before. It's good to see that the
derotator works.
Keep up your good work.

Regards
Robert

De :    TchPhysics

Your site and images look fantastic. I wish I could read French, but I can run your site through one of the translation tools to help me out. You are off to a fantastic start and I welcome you to the world of ccd imaging. You will be hooked and lose much sleep.
The one recommendation that I could make for you now is to consider taking shorter exposures to prevent blooming (the elongated bright stars).

Again, your images are fantastic, especially so if you are just beginning, because they do not look like beginner images. Good luck and thanks for writing.

Regards,
Jeff

From:    adk@integram.com (Arpad Kovacsy)

Excellent images Florent and an inspiration to us all. I hope to
eventually get into deep sky after I master solar system imaging. I only
hope my images will be half as good as yours.
Arpad Kovacsy

From:    stevec@pcug.org.au (Steve Crouch)

Hi Florent

Very impressive images. It took me a while to work out that you had to
click on the American flag to get the English translation but it gave me an
opportunity to brush up on my French.
Keep up the good work

Steve

From:    dan@thurs.net (Dan T.)

Ya, I remember your site. Very nice shot. I'm still dealing with bad
viewing. I really have not had much of a chance to use the de-rotator, I'm
using a wedge on my pier. I'm a bit interested in getting an adaptive
optics system.  Any time you have a shot you want to show off, feel free
to send it to me, I really enjoy looking at other peoples craft work. Keep
up the great work.

Dan T.

From:    pedromar@chilesat.net (Pedro)

Hi Florent,

Your pictures are really impressive. It would be a good idea if you post some
note in the ccd-imaging newsgroup, because is not so comoon to see long
exposures photos using a alt-az mount, or send the images to Meade. I know a
guy that send some very good planetary pictures and Meade send to him a 16
inches to use his pictures for advertising.

Greetings from the southern hemisphere,

Pedro

From:    screed@visto.com (Steve Reed)

Hello:
I visited your web site and like the pictures very much.
At the present time, I do not have a CCD imager, but hope to get one in the near future. Until then, I will continue to use film.
I have a 10" LX200 and a NexStar 5 for more casual use from my yard. I had a Celestron 8 that I used for many years, but recently sold it because I like the computerized scopes so much more.
It was good to hear from you.
Best wishes and clear skies! -- Steve Reed

From:    garcia49@adinet.com.uy (Jaime Garcia de Arechaga)

Nice Site and extremely good pictures !! congratulations !
I would like to talk with someone who deals seriously with a Meade 12 ".
I'm thinking in buying a new telescope and the Meade 12 is one of the
choices I have .
Wath do you think about the 12 , and what are from your point of view other
options to considere .
Other one : your 20 min pictures are extremely fine . Congratulations again.

Jaime

From:     rouxph@maths.univ-rennes1.fr (Philippe Roux)

Bonjour,
je connais déjà le site POLARIS et ses fameuses images CCD en altaz.
c'est très intéressant de voir ces images prises avec un derotator. Vu le
mal que je me donne pour avoir des images avec un LX50 8" (equatorial)
j'était très dubitatif quand au possibilitées de faire des images en altaz
avec un compensateur de rotation de champ : avec 2 moteurs c'est déjà dur
d'avoir un bon entrainement alors avec trois moteurs en même temps .....

On pourrait noter aussi un petit manque d'esprit critique dans les page consacré
au matériel. Par exemple le LX200 12" est très bien je suis d'accord, n'empêche
l'entrainement n'est pas à la hauteur de l'optique et de la stabilité de l'instrument,
et les circuits on une certaine fragilité (pas de protection par diode sur l'entrée
d'alim!) . Je pense ces pages font un peu trop (à mon gout) dépliant publicitaire,
alors que j'attendrais justement des infos sur les défaut du télescope (tous en ont
forcément!).

Bravo quand même pour votre site.
carpe noctem.

Philippe Roux
IRMAR campus de Beaulieu
35042 Rennes
http://www.maths.univ-rennes1.fr/~rouxph/

From:    jpolhamu@bwn.net (JOHN POLHAMUS)

Florent,
    Excellente'! Good job. I like all the graphics. 'Awesome'
    My ST-7 is an ABG, so I'm not used to the spikes, but I like the
detail you're getting. I see you use both Maxim and Prism. What
do you use Buil's Prism to do? I see an airplane in M-81.
JOHN

From:    astrozap@yahoo.com (Joe Golias)

Hello Florent,
Congradulations!! You are the first person who has
emailed me from my new site.
You have some great ccd images.
Are you happy with your 12"LX200?
I too had a Meade field De-rotator but could not use
it with my current equipment.
May I ask you a question> Are you doing your imaging
near a city or at a dark site?
Keep up the great work!
Joe Golias

De :    SCCityClerk

Very good images, first class focusing, which I know is extremely difficult to achieve. congratulations on the fine work. I wish I had your good seeing! Is tri-colour next on your agenda?
Matt
Roeser Observatory luxembourg.

From:    cermex@infonie.fr

Bonjour
Je viens de voir le contenu de votre site,tres impressionnant et quel materiel d'exception!!!
Je possède egalement un meade LX200 (un "petit" de 200mm seulement) que je me suis acheté d'occase sans notice malheureusement (3ème main d'après le vendeur),comment faut il faire pour piloter ce télescope à partir d'un micro portable,quel logiciel planétarium me conseillez vous.
Dans l'attente de vos conseils....
A bientôt
Cedric Mexer

From:    magnus@nybtech.com (Magnus Nyborg)

Hi Florent,

I have already visit your page previously ;-) _Very_ nice work so far! Your
system really seems to be working out very well.

I use one 12" LX200 permanently mounted in the local clubs observatory
together with a MX5c for imaging (call me an ccd-imaging consultant!), but I
also have a 12" LX200 of my own and am awaiting a LISÄÄ
Megapixel+Filter+Guider from Apogee which I will use for my own imaging.
Things will start to develop as soon as I get my new camera...
Good luck - and keep in touch!

Clear Skies,
Magnus

From: "Doug" asroguy@swbell.net

Very Nice site!
really enjoyed the images, hope to see more soon.

I wonder what is this setup of the Field Rotator like compared to doing a
Polar Alignment on the Wedge.
Which is easier to set up? I am looking for the advantages and
disadvantages of each.

Doug

From:    jsefick@earthlink.net (John Sefick)

Hi
I looked at your images. I found them all good in the tracking and focus
aspects. One thing you might work on is in the area of composition . I
think for example M57and M27 could be more centered. The one thing I might
have a problem with that you do not have any control over is the bleeding
of some of the exposed stars. I know this is a function of the type of
camera you use
In all, I think you have mastered the two primary tasks of doing good
imaging focus and tracking. Good luck with your work.

From:    msimm@ucla.edu (Michael Simmons)

Hello Florent,

You have some very nice images on your web site. It's also very
interesting to see the pages where you have different images of the same
object showing different types of detail. Keep up the good work!

Mike Simmons

From:    markpippin@email.com (Mark Pippin)

Very nice! I don't read French, but it looks like a well-done site.

Regards,
Mark Pippin

From:    ftissera@free.fr (Francis)

Bonjour Florent et merci de votre soutien,

j'ai visité votre superbe site, j'ai été particulierement bluffé par
l'image de la tête de cheval qui est vraiement une superbe image.

Cordialement
Francis

From:    Matthias@Pfersdorff.de

Hello,

I just visited your website. What can I say... Wow... Very good images, especially
M51 (12" LX200). Unbelievable fine details are visible! I really would love to have
the SBIG ST7-E (and the AO-7 too), but the prices you have to pay for SBIG stuff are horrible here in Germany.

Keep up your excellent work!

Best regards,
Matthias Pfersdorff

From:    arnedani@online.no (Arne Danielsen)

Hi Florent,

That's some really great images! Excellent guiding, good focus and using
long exposures for high S/N ratio. I'm really impressed.

Best regards,
Arne