AurigaDoug

Thanks everyone for your replies! More soon. -Doug

Hello everyone from a devout stargazer that has wondered back into the hobby after being burned out by Bob Hale's comet back in the 80s. I met him in Arizona hunting comet Haley which as we all know was a dud compared to the Hale/Bopp comet. I showed up regular like with my pressurized canister of Konica 1600asa hypersensitized in a mix of hydrogen/nitrogen gas at 30psi. I was an instant hit there based out of Phoenix. All night sessions. I used my shortwave radio tuned to WWV to help with the exposure timing and had the Coleman stove making instant coffee. Not bad for a young engineer from Silicon Valley just moving in from California. I'd love to post pictures here on this forum directly from my PC. Not from some URL as other astro forums mandate. I purchased a 12 DOB, and then a Atlas EQ-G mount. I made a stiffening cell from 5 pieces of 3/4" aluminum conduit and some 3/4" aluminum 7075-T6 plate in 8 each quarter circle sections. A real chore. With 20 pounds added weight, the 12 " Neutonian is balanced. Now IF it will track worth a darn is another thing. I purchased the mount for a good $$ & the 12" DOB for only $600. It's in decent shape, but the Apatura focuser needed some set screw re-work, and mounted with a ADM dovetail plate. It looks like my image is uploaded. That is a good thing. The Atlas EQ-G has a WiFi remote and works well on my cellphone running SynScanPro. Now just waiting for a clear night. Thanks for reading. Also looking to re-connect with anyone that was there in the summer of 1985 chasing Haley in the Phoenix astro groups. Looking for advice on what camera to purchase as climbing around this thing will be a task. Deep sky imaging is what I'm after. - Auriga Doug