Date - 26th/27th May 2012 START : 22:03 WEATHER : 17 DEG C - ??% Humidity FINISH : 00:42 WEATHER : 13 DEG C - ??% Humidity TARGET : ---------------------------------------------------------- Date - 12th May 2012 START : 22:23 WEATHER : 9 DEG C - ??% Humidity FINISH : 23:42 WEATHER : 5 DEG C - ??% Humidity I noticed tonight that 1 min is fine without guiding however 5 mins caused huge star trails. I must get this mount aligned. For now that's another few things this evening completed so I will now poack up and take the descant in. Then once aligned maybe I can image the faint Sharpless 73 object. TARGET : ---------------------------------------------------------- Date - 2nd May UPDATE : So the first update for some time, I have tried to go out recently but failed to get anything working including being able to update this Journal. Goodness knows why! Anyway since February and now I have purchased and installed the new NEQ6 mount (temporary but maybe for some time!) I have focused the camera, fitted the new focal reducer/flatner from Williams Optics. I have also fitted the Lakeside motor focus and got that working. What I now need to do (when it stops raining, as it has rained for nearly 3 weeks!) is to polar align the mount probably using drift alignment with PEMPro. Tonight I failed to get the Pinpoint working however I have had working the last time I came out. Since I did not record in my Journal how O got this working I now clearly cannot remember. I think, indeed as I left the dome, that it may have been the Maxim sw not connecting to the Sky correctly. I'll check the next time I go out. ---------------------------------------------------- Date : 9th February UPDATE : As you can tell I have not been very active in the dome as of late. A mixture of work (a necessary task) and the more fun outward bound Astronomy with my society. I must say it has been a busy start to the year with Stargazing live events, the start of our Basingstoke Astronomical Society meetings, committee, practical and main. I have also been into my local Junior school to continue teaching Astronomy to the children and then back for a very successful clear evening viewing with some 50+ children. Fantastic! So now you know why I have not been in the dome. I have also been dismantling the Paramount ME mount that I have now sold to Chris from Scotland. I hope he has as many good evenings with it as have I. I am in the low point of now saving for my new setup on my wish list of an AP3600 and CDK20 OTA with a wide field camera. Whilst that is more than likely still some years away I will be buying a Sky-Watcher NEQ6 mount from Astrofest tomorrow and mounting my Williams Optics back on. Over the coming months and years (until I can afford my dream setup) I will be taking wide field images and learning to process them on Pixinsight. To start my friend Tim Powell has processed the raw data I gave him for SH171 and the image is below. I hope to learn to process this well soon. It is a spectacular image from my narrow band data. I'll put more info up about it on it's own page soon.  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATE : 3rd January 2012 START : 18:45 WEATHER : 6 DEG C - 58% Humidity FINISH : 19:59 WEATHER : 5 DEG C - 58% Humidity TARGET : NGC 1499 - Californian Nebula - 4 x 5min Blue (WO) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATE : 2nd January 2012 START : 18:23 WEATHER : 4 DEG C - 64% Humidity FINISH : 21:03 WEATHER : n DEG C - nn% Humidity TARGET : NGC 1499 - Californian Nebula - 4 x 5min (L) 4 x 5min (R), 4 x 5min (G) (WO) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |