Oh dear, Why do things always go wrong. Had a feeling it would be a bad day, decided to do a bit more on the new set up , having done the software on the Laptop , this just left me now to make sure the CCD was working ok and that i could focus, so set it up , only to find , the Sun was to bright ,could not see my Lap top screen , amazing when you dont want the Sun , its there to cause aproblem lol . Anyway i thought i would move it to a shaded spot, bad move that as i tried to lift it with all
Bought one of those Aldi ironing stools today. Looks well made only niggle I have is it's a bit long winded to adjust to different heights. The 1/4" UNC nuts I ordered have arrived this morning. Isn't it rather sad when the highlight of your day is receiving some nuts in the post. Anyway it will give me something to do tonight if it is cloudy again. Just spent the last 2 hours working on my barn door mount. Just have to secure the ball head mount on a riser and sort out some form off dial so I k
Still no clear skies here. Beautiful sunrise and nice blue skies now, but I bet it wont last. Contrails from planes are beginning to fill the sky though. Still, at least the scope is nice to look at as well as thru! I think sometimes we forget the work that goes into producing a scope and how good it looks in the corner of the conservatory. Modern art indeed.
I'm trying so very very hard to remain positive and not let this remarkably long run of sh%^y weather get me down, but I feel I'm beginning to lose the battle. Expensive kit, including some that hasn't even seen the dark of night yet, sit in their respective recepticles waiting for the call up. I find myself going and uncovering the mount and pier, stopping short of apologising to it for it's lack of use, just to make sure it IS still there-inspite of the conspicuous lump under the shroud. Perh
Bad day today.... Hard day at work. Got home form work to find a £250 bill for work that our digger driver caused to next doors drive when we had our extention built. Had to sort out some computer problems. Got headache as well. All I wanted was to relax with clear skies and guess what more clouds. I'm going to have a beer tonight.
Well, I expected the Science Museum to be busy, what with it being half term and all, but half a mile queue to get in?!?! Ridiculous! Suffice to say we didn't bother queuing up! Natural History Museum was worse. We had a nice picnic in Hyde Park though and a visit to Hamleys, so not all bad. The little chap was overjoyed at riding on a train there a back and his first Underground trip was a experience for him. All in all, not a bad day at all. Have walked about 50 miles though! And still cl
Oh dear , its really getting a pain in the neck now . when Winter comes i say, oh long clear cold nights , but nooo its long cloudy nights for the past few years, Then i think to myself , ah ,!! but wait!, Roll on Summer , at least its warm ,and i can wait till later on , bound to be better nights , sun all day and nights remaining clear . But no just rain and clouds again , will we ever go back to those long clear nights i had , when i started this crazy Hobby about 15 years ago, when i could
Still half term for the kids. But they are out and about playing with friends so it's pretty quite here. Tried to find some 1/4" UNC nuts. How hard tried Midland fixings and Cromwell tools. Both don't stock them. Have now ordered them from E-Bay. Fitted my TAL finder to my newly made brackets on my barn door mount. Another job done. It's coming along nicely now just need a ball head mount for the camera and a way to turn the screw. Going for manual turning first then if it's all ok I'll add a m
Can any body help me out were to find spare parts for a ETX 105 EC. The horizontal motor/gearbox is making a knocking noise, the gear teeth from the motor to the worm drive is not engaging due to the plastic clamp being broken. Found out the motor/gearbox mounting screws had come loose and caused the breakage. Any ideas for locations would be most greatful. Peter:clouds1:
Day off tomorrow, possible trip to the science museum with my little boy and SWMBO. Should be excellent! Today's topic is short, but sweet: - 'Bananas are the instruments of Satan!' Discuss...
Spent most of today writing review copy and looking at some new kit. Picked up a lot of projects at Astrofest, and our club now owns some shiny new kit which I will be trying out and testing for the observatory in Spain. Best bit of kit is the LHires III, which I am hoping to image the Sun in Mg and Fe with soon. The little ASUS laptop just got a big memory stick for China (64GB SDHC card) for storage of the video data (all being well) GPUSB has arrived (*note to Uk suppliers....4 days...door to
Spent today.... Drilling 6 x 32mm holes in my Laptop/Eyepiece tray which will be connected to the dob in time. Also done some more work on my barn door project. All in all a good morning.
At last i,m Mobile. Its been along time coming , but now i can join all you guys at the Star Parties ( Hic Hic ) , well you know what i mean ,lol. But Joy , i can now move around my Garden, and take it to my Holiday Home in Suffolk ,also at Dave ,s AKA Centroid Place of Residence . So hopefully to image those way down Nebula in the South , which i cant get from Langdon Towers. My Set up will be the HEQ5 PRO, Scopes Mounted ,C8 and the Equinox 66. using the Atik 16Hr and Guide Camera QHY5, a good
Clouded out last night, so no astronomy! :embarassed: However, had to go to a little village in Oxon this morning for work and saw a red legged partridge and 33 (yes, you read right! 33!) red kites! Remarkable birds. One was gliding not more than 10ft above the car. Truely awesome and quite massive. Glad to see they are spreading across country. Onto today's subject, water... Water is a basic necessity of life, right? It is illegal to charge anyone for tap water in this country although wa
Day 2 of my blog. Why are there so many school holidays? Took James to dentist today, had to wait 30 minutes. I hate waiting one of my bug bears. Dishwasher is playing up. Sometimes washes in hot water sometimes cold. I think it's the heater element on the way out. I wonder if it's a DIY job! Have sent of cheque for Star party in August. Cannot wait to see you all. Bought a 32mm holesaw today to drill some 1 1/4" holes in my laptop/eyepece table. Going to do it tommorow.
Ahh yes the sky is clear ready for another night of stargazing but unfortunately I am too knackered...if only I could flog my good weather to someone else and then buy it back again when I am less tired. Imagine the possiblilities! Mother in law coming over? no problem buy in some rain and save the clear weather for another night. Unwelcome guest? thunderstorm and force nine gale should do the trick!...aaahhh stinking reality....my imaginary world functions so much better.
Well that's it with deep sky pratting about. After the nth time (where n=very large number) I've set up only to summon up the grey wispy stuff. Until I get the obsy built it is quicky planetary and lunar for me unless there is a rock solid, god given promise of a clear night. So it's off shopping again - DMK, filters, filter wheel, barlows and imagematey thingies. Colimation and more collimation. Cue endless wobbly skies.
It's half-term as I'm sure some of you are aware, which actually makes my life easier as I don't have to get the kids ready for school etc etc, and as we've got a waning Moon too so this would be a good week astro-wise. I just looked at the weather forecast for the next 5 days. [removed word] :(.
Well, today is an overcast day with sunny spells, so still hoping for clear skies tonight to go observing. While I'm waiting for the sun to set, my eye was caught by a little collection of Ikea pencils that I have amassed over many visit across the years to the nations favourite Swedish home furnishers. I wonder, how many people have these pencils and actually sharpen them? Or do we, as a collective in our throw away society, tend to use them to they blunt and then snaffle another one next t
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