PhotoGav
-
Posts
4,065 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
7
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Events
Blogs
Everything posted by PhotoGav
-
Happy New Year Astro Buddies! Here's to 2017 having a record number of clear and dark nights!!
-
Here's my set up whirring away at The Pacman Nebula just recently...
-
I heeded Oddsocks' advice regarding sealing the concrete base and now that I have put a good thick bead of silicon around the base, the inside of the dome floor remains dry even after the harshest of downpours. It is slightly prone to a bit of moisture being trapped underneath the waterproof membrane under the rubber floor tiles, but that seems to be quite normal and to be expected. I have a dehumidifier that is set to run during the daytime to keep humidty down to 40%. Nothing has ever been wet within the working area of the dome, so far!
-
There you have it - the two ends of the dome electrical install spectrum!!! That's quite some job you've done there @Oddsocks! I hope the dome is now fully functional after your travels and you are enjoying the upgrade from the SkyPod.
-
I have a mains power cable running under the garden that arrives inside the dome through a conduit. I fixed a small-ish panel of mdf board to the wall with a no-nails like product, forget exactly which, and the spark wired it all in. So far, so good! Please excuse my 'cable management'!!
-
I guide with the OAG part of my QSI CCD. I am sure that you would be fine with the side by side set up you are suggesting, so long as the side by side bar is not huge!
-
I thoroughly promote the Pulsar dome. I have only had mine for a couple of months, but, now that a few teething issues have been dealt with, it is the best upgrade that I have made so far. Mine is on a concrete base, a 1 x 1 x 1 m central pier base and a 150mm deep, 2.4m diameter round pad. There is no evidence to suggest that the concrete base is anything put the perfect stable base on which to fix the dome. I find that the telescope is generally at ambient temperature all the time and there is basically no cool down time at all. I just press the button to start the computer, open up the shutter and off we go. So much easier than setting everything up every time. You could of course use a wooden decking, but you would still need the concrete pier base for maximum stability. As for the side by side system you are running, yes, you are limited by the width of the aperture, 600mm, through which all equipment can 'see'. So, if you have a rig that is wider than that, it will be eclipsed by the dome wall. I run SGP to control everything and that is coping very well with slaving the dome to the mount, though I have so far only used a small telescope. The slaving becomes more critical as you approach the 600mm width - the shutter aperture must be placed very precisely to enable the equipment to see through. That is more than possible, but might take just a bit more tweaking of the dome slave values to achieve. What ever you decide, good luck and you certainly won't regret an observatory, whatever the flavour!
-
I have just had the same problem with my HEQ5 mount. I have made quite a few changes so don't know exactly which change has had most curative effect, but my mount is now performing pretty well. I did the worm adjustment process as described on astrobaby's website yesterday, not the full strip down and rebuild, just the worm tightening and it has definitely helped to improve things. I was worried about tinkering with the mount, but it really wasn't too frightening in the end and the mount still works! The only word of advice I would offer is that when you remove the power panel, if the leads are very short and you can't move it away enough to easily get at the worm screw, take the lid off the mount and release the cables so that the power panel can move further away. Also, don't overtighten the worm adjustment screws, make sure you move the mount in all directions to check for binding (it's a very obvious squealing noise when you hit a binding point!). I found that my DEC worm was a bit too tight last night, so had to ease it off a fraction at about 1:15am! It did make a difference to the Dec guiding. Good luck.
-
All of my images are from the first three months of 2015. Things went very downhill for me from April; health, a duff guidecam that took ages to diagnose and weather conspired against any decent imaging. Anyway, here are my highlights, all taken with a QSI 683-WSG: The Pleiades - LRGB - SW80ED The Triangulum Galaxy - LHaRGB - SW80ED The Crab Nebula - Ha/Oiii/Oiii - Celestron EdgeHD 800 The Rosette Nebula - Ha/Oiii/Oiii - SW80ED The Orion Nebula & Running Man Nebula - LHaRGB - SW80ED The Whirlpool Galaxy - LRGB - Celestron EdgeHD 800 WIth any luck 2016 will be a much better year and will provide many more imaging hours. I still haven't managed a first light with my William Optics Star71, purchased in October...... Clear Skies all!
- 32 replies
-
- 18
-
-
At last, a proper imaging night. 6 hours of subs in the can. Stunning out there all night. Packed in at 3.15am. Stood for a last gawp at the sky and a bright meteor sped through Leo. Beautiful. Unlike me this morning... I look and feel like I haven't slept. I love that 'image-over' feeling!
-
Maybe I was too excited at the prospect of clear skies... All set up... It's started raining... Aaaaaaarrrgghhhh... Happy New Year everyone and I wish you all clear skies for 2016.
-
Well, it was good for a short while... Clouds arrived and rain. Thankfully I packed up in time! Surely we will have some proper clear nights again one day soon.......
-
Thanks to the weather I have become a Theoretical Astrophotographer...
-
Has Clear Outside completely lost it's mind recently?! Current cloud cover prediction = 0%. Actual cloud cover = 100%...
-
What a fantastic project, love it! I wish you the very best of luck and look forward to seeing your progress reports. By the way, is that blood on the floor??!
- 8 comments
-
- 1
-
-
- mobile
- mobile observatory
- (and 2 more)
-
Can't make it to SGL XI next year, so made up for that disappointment by hitting the buy button on a WO Star71 - apologies to those in the south for the imminent cloud out...
-
Argh - last night... Perfect clear forecast... All set up... Clouds roll in... Game over...
-
A return to astronomical darkness is under a week away... :-)
-
Excellent Steve. Downloaded (only 79p... If only everything in astroimaging were this cheap!) and tested... My home office has an SQM of 16.81. I look forward to pointing my phone at the heavens tonight.
SM.thumb.jpg.710c6783e8cec4e975eb530ad56100d5.jpg)
.thumb.jpg.d9d349e11452760d8039b119ec2bfb98.jpg)
