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Blog 22548

A blog by James4 in General

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Jupiter with Celestron Neximage 5

New Year's Eve 2012, was chilly around 2 degrees C. But the skies were improving and Jupiter was shining through the thin cloud cover. I had just picked up a 'Celestron Neximage 5' and was hoping it would clear enough to give it a run. I set up the CGEM and put the C9.25 on board. Jupiter was in and out the clouds as I hooked up the Neximage. Flashback About 2 years ago I was imaging with a pocket digital camera (a Pentax Optio E30). I had surprisingly good results from this non astro camera.
James4

James4

17

June 5th, Transit of Venus

Leading up to The Transit of Venus - billed as the biggest event in Astronomy, there had been much discussion in the club about publicity. Some people said 'we need TV, Newspapers, Radio, massive publicity -lets get everyone down there for the greatest show on Earth. I instantly flinched, picturing hoardes of excited visitors under a rain soaked 'Greatest Show on Earth' banner. OK got to stay positive but realistic I thought. Somewhere in between 'American Idol' and a one line ad in the pape
James4

James4

2

Saturn, Uhc Filters - Celestron Versus Lumicon

I was up at the airport with several club members Saturday night and we lucked out with the best clear skies of the year. I enjoyed views of the crescent moon slowly sinking in the west, while Saturn rose into good position. I shot a few frames with the DSLR and wondered how many moons I could pick up with the camera. I also got a chance to compare my budget minded Celestron UHC Filter 2" with my Neil's 2" Lumicon UHC. The Lumicon sells for $200 while the Celestron is $100 so wondered just ho
James4

James4

2

Astro-Cafe - Supernova - Venus - Mars - Saturn

It was third Friday of the month and that is Astro-Cafe night at Davis Bay by the ocean. After tea, coffee and hot chocolate, I was eager to get the scope setup. I left a half dozen members in the coffee shop while I drove round to the South end of the Seawall and began setting up the Scope. I had the Celestron C9.25 and the Alt/Az T-Mount. Without motors and power it was quite quick to set up. I pushed the scope to Venus and found a really nice view. The 9.25 has a long focal length 2305 mm w
James4

James4

5

Solar Observing 14th April, 1600 hrs PDT

Came back from my regular Saturday outing yesterday and decided to get the scope out for some solar observing. I have not done a lot of solar observing but I really like the casual nature of it. No need to worry about lights, or cold and no need to wear ski pants! I used The Explore Scientific 152mm Refractor with Thousand Oaks Glass Solar Filter. At first I thought wow - there is nothing here ... Just the Solar Disk. After about 20 seconds a small group of spots came into view in the lower rig
James4

James4

0

T-Mount, C9.25 and Scope Shop Psychosis

While I was awaiting delivery of a new CGEM, I made the mistake of visiting the new scope shope that opened up within lunch time driving range of work. I immediately noticed an large wooden tripod with Alt-Az T-Mount atop. I've been looking out for a large Alt-Az mount for some time - for those nights when you don't intend to stay out too long. I wanted one capable of supporting a 152mm Refractor or the 9.25 inch SCT. A strange thing happens when visiting the scope shop - I call it 'Scope Shop
James4

James4

0

Two Cases - A CGEM - A C9.25 and AR152

Another outing with the new CGEM - this time in daylight. I had the Explore Scientific AR152 Refractor on board with a Thousand Oaks white light glass solar filter. I used 'Quick Align' then slewed to the Sun. You allow The Sun to be displayed on The Planet Menu by going to Utilities and enabling it. Although the Glass Solar Filter is not quite as sharp as the Baader Astro Film, I really like the safety aspect of it. It can't rip or blow off in the wind and apparently the glass is quite hardy
James4

James4

3

Jupiter Square Moons - 21st Jan, 2012

Jupiter Second time out with the C9.25 and Jupiter served up a surprise. At first look I thought - Oh yes, I'm not falling for that one again - one of those apparent moons must be a star. But no, it was actually the four Gallilean moons in an unusual (what do I know, its cloudy here for 4 months of the year) configuration. Crayford Focuser I had trouble with vibration when focusing at at 470x (5 mm ep). I need to put a crayford focuser on the back with fine focus control. F/6.3 Reducer I recent
James4

James4

2

First Light C9.25 - Jupiter - Orion - UHC

First light for my Celestron C9.25 was pretty chilly at -2 degrees C. It was Thursday night and I had asked for Friday off work in the hopes that the Clear Sky Clock would come through with its promise of clear sky at 9.00pm onwards. Minutes after making this request, the clear blue skies seen from my work desk clouded into a heavy grey shroud. Not kidding - I managed to change the weather pattern from clear to cloudy just by asking for time off for Astronomy! I was not feeling confident that n
James4

James4

1

Oxygen 3 - UHC - The Veil, N.America Nebula, The Helix

03rd September, 2011 I was eager to get the new Explore Scientific 6” Refractor under dark skies again. The Sechelt District has recently given us the keys to the Airport and encouraged us to make use of the under used land there. It looked like only Neil and I were going – none else answered our emailed invite. But at the gate 12 members of The Sunshine Coast Astronomy Club turned up. I’m always harping on about the lack of people who will come out under a dark sky and see the real universe ab
James4

James4

2

Jupiter - Io - Astro-Tech AT8iN, Explore AR152, Baader Fringe Killer

This blog is part observation, part scope comparison, and part equipment test. What can I say my time is limited I had to squeeze it all in to one session :) All-nighter Friday night started poorly - I missed the boat home (I was the last car not to get on). I left work at 4.15pm and finally got home at 9.15pm. So I thought, I'm not losing my Friday night. I decided to pull an all-nighter and finally get Jupiter under a clear sky. I had dinner, took a shower and delayed until Jupiter was high en
James4

James4

3

Baader (multi purpose) Coma Corrector

Just wanted to post some information on using the Baader (multi purpose) Coma Corrector on my F4 Astro-Tech 8" Newtonian. I've been hearing (from telescope dealers themselves) that some coma correctors do a very poor job of correcting coma in fast Newtonians. Some also increse the focal length and therefore the F Number. For those of us that don't guide, the F Number is king. I don't want to lose the edge that F4 gives me. For this reason I chose the Baader Coma Corrector, as it specifically s
James4

James4

0

Celestron CG5 ASGT - All Star Polar Alignment

CG5 All Star Software Polar Alignment I have always used a Polar Scope to set up equatorial mounts for imaging. When I heard about Software Assisted Polar Alignment I was skeptical. I was skeptical because during star alignment I have often found alignment stars to be fairly off centre and occasionally outside the field of view. However this was happening with my C8 partly due to having to rotate the 2" Diagonal every time the OTA moved to a new star. When I rotated the Diagonal, the sta
James4

James4

2

The Hunt for Sirius B

I'd just like to point out that Stargazers Lounge is solely responsible for me deciding last week, after 5 years of ignoring 'Stars' and treating them like sign-posts to everything else, that wait a minute, there may be something interesting about them after all. The thread on Sirius B - soon launched me out the door onto the driveway to have a look for the impossibly tricky double that is Sirius and Sirius B. Here's what happened: I setup my 8" Astro-Tech AT8In on CG5 ASGT Mount on the drive
James4

James4

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