bluemaxroe

Lovely proper job. Well done. Are the bottom 2 t&g the final colour?

Hi all I could do with a little advice. I am trying to get focus with my c80ed and 2x Barlow. I have achieved focus easily with a small extension tube and no Barlow, but when I try my 2" ed Barlow focuspoint seems to be miles back from the full extent of the focuser. Any ideas why this is. Just don't see why it's so far back!! Scope - Celestron ed80 Aftermarket Crawford focuser 2" ed Barlow as pictured Also tried with additional 50mm extension tube. Camera is canon 1000 with standard t-ring adapter. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks Andy

Thanks. Yes Nice to have some clear skies too.

and another clear night of 4 hrs of good seeing and guiding .....

And the above image with all the usual calibration flats bias and darks.

Ok so first proper light from what in our family has become known as the Beehive Observatory. couple of snaps with no darks, bias or flats...so some horrible gradient etc ... but hey last night was fun.

Ahhh yes. Sorry, when I got up the next morning after concreting the movement had gone. I was being "mildly" impatient... what I am noticing is now any little knock does reveberate quite a bit, but I think that is because the pier is nearly 1500 from ground to mount plate. Nowt I can do about that. However I used the observatory in true anger last night and it works wonderfully. Took some experimental pictures all over the sky. Sombrero galaxy, heart nebula, Praesepe and finally M101. Tracking was good, and didn't use guiding until got to M101. 5x20min exposures. Will see what that looks like when stacked later today.

It's plastic with a coat of black paint. Not sure what you mean by 3mm?

Next update, roof now fully insulated. There are a few panels I could fit a bit better. But just managed to squeeze this work in before the good lady got over run by the kids.

Ok so got loads more time on diy and the observatory today and yesterday. Here are some update photos. Mount nearly wired up....cabling needs sorting. Going to polar align tonight.

It on the scope now, and I found as many cables as possible tonight. Thinking of wiring up tomorrow.

So have managed, between work, to get the mount on and the scope too. It fits much more comfortably below the roof now. I am now trying to remember how to put all my kit back together. And choose a guiding setup. I am thinking the qhy and it's companion mini scope.

Thanks. And a little company at night...even if they are asleep!

Hi all Very quick update. Hammerite time. A couple of coats applied. Ready to go back on the pier tomorrow. 😀

Needed to drop the scope height by approx 2" Que mod on extension tube. Will need to hammerite it. But should be effective.