goose35

Hello All Friday 17 July Big set up. 150pl on the exos 2 GOTO First target was Saturn to see what the longer FL made. I wasn’t disappointed, more magnification on the same EP. Used the 9mm x-cell (133x) the view was superb even though it was behind trees for a while and very low in the sky. Next outing I will capture some webcam video and see how it goes. 150p on the EQ 3-2 manual Found M57 ring nebula. This was more an experiment in seeing how my manual finding skills were. I must say a proper finder scope rather than a RDF made a huge difference. I first found Vega and set the setting circles. Then found the RA/Dec for M57 and slewed round. A quick look in the finder to get bearings then looked in the 25 mm NPL EP, M57 very slightly of center but in view. Once I was dark adapted I changed to 9mm X-cell and learn’t how to use averted vision, I was stunned by the difference it made. Then I slewed to M13 co-ordinates and that was bang in the centre of the 25 mm EP, back to the 9 mm WOW I found the EQ 3 so much easier to use than the old wobbly CG-3 my astromaster came on. I can’t emphasise enough the difference a quality mount makes even for visual use. Also the extra 20 mm aperture over the astromaster 130EQ I have now shortened the Astromaster 130 EQ tube by 20 mm to allow Prime focus photography without the need for a barlow. Overall I have the options for visual and AP simultaneously and am now starting to enjoy astronomy rather than think about what else I need to do it Sunday 19 July 130EQ on the Exos 2 GOTO I piggybacked the ST80 to use as a guider with a webcam. Couldn’t resolve a star on M27 so I reverted to 1 min unguided exposures with the Olympus. After focusing on Vega I slewed to M57 and ran the first exposure. Checked the screen and there it was bang in the middle a fuzzy white BMW badge. So ran off 30 1 min. exposures plus 5 each flats, bias and darks. For the lights I used the laptop screen with notepad open over the tube and set the cam to shutter priority. All calibration frames taken at same focus and orientation. 150p on EQ 3-2 While the images were running, Observed M27 and M57. Finding it so much easier now. M57strainght on target with the slewing, first a distinct ring with a slightest two tone hint of greys. M27 Again strainght on target with the slewing, a brightish fuzzy but I could resolve the swirl looking something like a BMW badge Both of these were sketched. Sketeches can be found in my gallery Lesson learnt Lower the mount when I want to sketch so I can sit down and concentrate steve

“the Story So Far” This is my first ever blog It started Christmas 2014 when I had a Celestron astro master 130 EQ with motor drive. I soon discovered that although the OTS part was great the mount and motor drive were severely lacking in quality and function. First I stripped and re-greased the mount and modified the motor drive to use 8 rechargeable AA batteries to provide more amps as the pp3 was poor in the cold. This made a massive improvement to the mount and made viewing a little more pleasurable but it was still very light weight and not sturdy. It was this time I joined “SGL” It was then I made the decision to upgrade the mount but found them more than I could justify spending thus I hit “the bay” and found a Bresser EXOS 2 GOTO and got it. I found it to be excellent and solid as a rock. It also transpired that it was formerly owned by an SGL member and I had read his thread before deciding to buy. This is where the “money pit” really started. I bought some Quality EP’s I found an interest in AP starting by piggybacking eventually getting an ST-80 to use as a guidescope and other bits and pieces. I’m still short of a guide camera though and I’m trying to used a webcam with varying success. I then shortened my astro master tube to hit prime focus without barlowing. I got a second DSLR body, an Olympus E-510 as the E-500 couldn’t be controlled by a cable remote only IR and thus had to stand there through an imaging run. I have also discovered “astro boot” and I now have 2 more scopes A 150 p and pl ota's along with an EQ 3-2 mount I learnt that longer focal length is more suited to planetary so I got both. Along with the astro master I hope to have viewing and photography options covered. And be able to view on the EQ 3-2 whilst performing an imaging run on the EXOS. I am hoping now guide camera aside the spending will “slow down” and I can start doing dome more observing/imaging without thinking “I need something else” Though I doub’t it J steve