Phil Fargaze

With reference to the live science update from the New Horizons team  here on Thursday 3rd, Chris Lintott (BBC Sky at Night) asked the same question regarding the fact that two spherical objects have come together but have not formed a larger spherical object. The response  is supplied by Mark Showalter (SETI Institute) at roughly 44:30 minutes. Interestingly he points towards the fact that there could be a moon or moons that have carried off the angular momentum of the two parts of Ultima Thule which enabled it to join together slowly. So far there hasn't been any moons spotted yet but he is waiting to investigate further images as and when they get downloaded.

Looking forward to The Sky at Night which is broadcast on 13th January BBC4 22:40 entitled `Beyond Pluto` and takes a look at the latest from the New Horizons mission. 

Good graphic here

What an amazing object! We are most likely seeing formation in progress, in time it may coalesce with more fragments until it gets to a large enough mass to pull it into a more spherical shape. Alan Stern did comment that he would be interested to see if there are any smaller chunks of material in orbit about the object as the resolution of images improve. 

As far as I am certain there is a press briefing by some of the NH team regarding latest science results at 7pm UK time today. Hopefully they might have some new images to show. 

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

All looking good, looks like everything went well! Most status' in and green or nominal, let's hope the data comes back ok now!

Fingers still crossed!

Fantastic result. Awesome achievement! 

As far as I know, they are due to receive the `phone home` signal from the probe at about 15:30 UK time. Amazing to think that at this very moment that signal is zooming it`s way across the Solar System on it`s way back to Earth. 

Todays live update by some of the team on youtube here. 

Getting excited now!

I was looking at the MU69 picture of the day page here and the NH team remind us of the constraints regarding sending images across such a large distance.  So if I understand correctly it is going to be two days before we get the close up images of when Ultima Thule is revealed to us. Anyway, what is always a joy to watch is the extreme tension in the control room give way to emotional celebration once they get confirmation that the mission has succeeded. 

Latest update. FLO retweeted news from Alan Stern about a new mission website design    see here    looking good with rendezvous count down 

On 30/08/2018 at 19:46, Stub Mandrel said:

So closest pass is 5:33 on New Year's Day.

I bet a few SGL'rs will be grateful for the time delay of about five hours for the sluggish radio signal to reach Earth ?

To start with I was half expecting to do an `all nighter` and scrape myself off the floor after the New Years Eve party to watch the fly past coverage at 5 in the morning, but of course, the time delay puts it just right for breakfast viewing. Can`t wait, New Horizons has been an amazing mission, with still more to deliver.

When I was at the Herstmonceux Festival of Astronomy in Sussex UK, the QRZ Amateur Radio Group of East Suusex are based there and they tried to contact the ISS whilst we were watching on. However the guy explained that due to a possibly large amount of other people trying to get in touch, they would be lucky to get a response. I don`t know anything about amateur radio but it was very interesting. They did get in contact with a Japanese fisherman somewhere in the Pacific Ocean though!

Thanks, I will give those points you mention a try.

Remarkably the skies have been reasonably clear down this way so I have had a few goes with the set up. I have watched the you tube tutorials for doing sync, but I am finding that it is strangely off target sometimes. Scope is mounted on solid pier, started from park, polar alignment is good, EQMOD cleared of old alignment data. Did 3 star alignment to get nice big triangle of coverage, went to M15 and that was fine, went to go to Vega and it was a few degrees off! Went to another star and it was centered. Re synced on to Vega, then selected M57, again it was not on target. Scratching my head at the moment as to what is amiss.

Unfortunately, it costs 100odd quid...

I think I will stick where I am for a while

For those looking for another way to control with ease, may I also suggest the 'Skysafari Pro' on an iPad or other tablet, connected by wifi (wireless).

Easy setup, less wires and is really great to use.

Just another option

what! I've got an ipad as well. I've only just got started with the laptop and now there's another option!

Cheers for all your help. I'm looking forward to getting ready for the coming winter now. I've got a permanent set up so this should do just fine.

It`s a hot clear night tonight so I fired up the mount and laptop. I went straight for Arcturus and got some pretty weird pointing, so I re parked in EQMOD and de-clutched to return to home position. Slewed to Arcturus and it was almost pointing at it It is now that I realise that having a game pad to move the scope is highly desirable. ( I`ll look into that a bit later)

In CdC I did sync and went for a star in the plough, that was a bit off so I re synced and went almost overhead to Vega, it was in the finder. I did a sync, and aimed at M15, now it was in the eyepiece but a bit to the side. Re sync and aimed for M31, this time it was centered nicely in the eyepiece.

This is so good, I should have got round to it years ago! I just need to get more familiar with CdC, which I can do when it is cloudy.

It`s working!

Thanks again to you all for your help and patience.

I found that I had not selected the EQ5/EQ6 option, it was still set on simulator.

BIG TIP:- If you try to move the mount without the OTA in place, but the counter weights are still on it, the mount will not like it! I suddenly realised what I had done by the not good sound from the gears.

Obviously it was totally out of balance. I took the weights off and tried it again and it was fine so I don`t think it was damaged,

So that was my first `emergency stop` using EQMOD I guess.

Next step I reckon, is to drive it with the OTA in place and a clear night.

Right then.

I connect the lead. Switch on the mount. Start CdC. EQASCOM doesn`t start so I start it from laptop start menu. There is green for connected.

The mounts motors are running now.

I can select an object and the cursor goes to it in CdC but the mount does not react.

There was an extra window titled telescope simulator. I clicked that off and then at the bottom of CdC screen it now shows telescope not connected.

Probably something simple but bit of a mystery.

I got it connected and managed to move the scope with the EQMOD control panel.

But I couldn`t get to control it with CdC at the moment.

I don`t know what EQMOD is up to now , but I can`t get the control panel back.

Shirva, looking forward to getting it going. I ordered the EQDIR adapter Thursday eve from FLO and just got it delivered this morning, how`s that for efficient service!

I`m going to order the adapter and take it from there.

Malc-c, I like the idea of self build, but I would need to study into it a bit. To save myself any extra time and work I would likely opt to purchase the adapter.

My mind gets drawn to the current "how much money have you spent" thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/188543-how-much-do-you-think-you-have-spent/unread/

However if I can get away with going through the hand controller I will give that a try to start with.

Have had some progress. I have got the driver for the cable installed. My lat and long has been set twice. Connected to mount and started CdC and EQUASCOM. I pressed connect telescope and got the green light.

EQUASCOM was showing "connect error: invalid parameter". The mount hasn`t `fired up` yet despite being switched on.

Thanks for all the info so far. I did read that it was not best to put the handset into PCdirect mode but I think that is how I did it before in the past.

I was hoping that my existing USB to serial lead would be fine to use or do I really need to get the HitecAstro EQDIR adapter?

I will give it a try at connecting tonight anyway.