Stub Mandrel

This inspired me to retrieve my 'weather station' from eth top of its pole. The direction vane assembly is 100%, except the fin fell off a few years ago - I have it and need to reattach it. The anemometer went on for years but then stopped rotating. The plastic powder scoop cups are so delicate one broke in two at a touch - it has a large lichen growing inside the cup! I'm not sure what is inside the aluminium case - I took the screw out but can't get it apart! The shaft is locked solid.

Depends if there is any cone error, I think.

I understood there would be an OSC/DSLR challenge in January-March. Is this 'open to all' RGB challenge a different one?

I'd say that was vignetting. Are you using flats? Very careful use of gradient exterminator should help you get an even better result from that data.

Is it being sent out now?

2 minute unguided subs on a 130P-DS

You could try opposed disc magnets either side of the disc, although they will attract each other strongly, three pairs could be used to hold the two halves of the box together!

I fear feature bloat. The limiting factor is how well the nozzle can deliver a bead at the right temperature and that's limited by the physics not the software. It may be that people 'able to print faster' simply push the enevelope more because they have a new controller?

Where are you putting the strings and brass?

More likely to be slight rotation as a result of the flip?

Spent ages trying to see if I was pointed at the witch head ... then realised it's a blue reflection nebula so a Ha filter is probably not a good idea...

Thanks - my first real go at Ha as I on my first two tries I were also my first two tries at guiding and cooling as well! Not sure how cool the camera will be tonight, but as its freezing out there I reckon it will be colder than Wilbur's armpit!

I've got my Baader 'Nige-beater(TM)' Ha filter in tonight and seem to be getting some might good 5-minute subs of the California Nebula despite the moon. Lots of lacy texture visible in the preview. The plan is at least an hour and a half here, then to the Flaming star nebula. Switch to portrait + maybe 10-minute subs for the Witch Head, then back to 5 mins for the Flame and Horsey. Although about the same RA, Orion is behind the house for at least two more hours.

Now I cool my camera, darks are 'optional' - a 5 minute dark stretched as much as I would stretch and image barely shows any noise

That's nice, but you do seem to have a bit of coma in the corners, is it an idea to crop it a bit as this dopesn't affect the 'main event'.

Clouded out here. looking better later in the week.

I don't suppose a 'show us your floras' thread would get much traction...

From here I can see: The Cambridge Photographic Atlas of the Planets (amazing how much more we now know of the outer planets and how little more we know of Mercury and Venus.) Pathways to the Universe - Francis Graham Smith and Bernard Lovell; excellent historical overview. Observing the moon Througgh Binoculars - Cherington (publish just before the first moon landing and has some nice, educated, speculation in it) The Discovery of Our Galaxy - Charles Whitney (Wonderful portraits of the great astronomers framed against the gradual unravelling of the scale of the universe with candid accounts of how nice (the Herschels) and how bitchy the world of 20th century astronomy could get (Curtis vs. Shapely, Hubble's ego). You Are Here - Chris Hadfield (an ISS holiday snap collection). The Observer's Year - Patrick Moore Oh and a copy of MEPC Several others in other rooms. I think The Look It Up Book of Stars and Planets is at my Dad's house, from the days of my initial interest as a boy in the 70s.

Novel framing, makes it look quite different.

If resources allow I would suggest an EQ5 for imaging, but I would hate anyone with an EQ3 to be put off having a go. I have some understanding of the engineering issues and the weight on a mount is largely irrelevant as the static load the plain bearings of an EQ3 can take will be more than the EQ5's ball bearings and they will be less likely to be damaged by shock loads or abuse (yes, really!) What matters is being well set up and lubed (I use teflon grease) to avoid 'stiction' as far as possible and to make sure the load is balanced well enough not to strain wormgears or motors. A real advantage of the EQ5 types is the larger worm wheel ratio on DEC.

Astrometry net hasn't got a clue! There's an even smaller one just to its right as well, I think.

I had vaguely heard the name but knew nothing else about this object! Great picture. There's a nice little galaxy near bottom left :-)

The aluminium tripod with three-part legs is marginal for AP. I filled mine with sand, added screw braces above the central part of each leg and even welded a plate across mine, but the round stainless steel leg versions are much better. The EQ3-2 mount itself is certainly good enough for a 130P-DS. I've been taking 5-minute subs with guiding recently and now I have a 100% keep rate (when I have all the right buttons pressed and icons clicked). Just for fun, here's a single guided 5-Minute EQ3-2 sub processed like a stack, obviously it's a bit noisy and it's been processed a lot but I haven't done anything to adjust star shapes or remove trailing:

If they are all set up parallel then, if you point them at a target, they will be lined up on three points spaced just like the two lenses and the rdf i.e. inside a 6" circle on the moon, Betelgeuse, andromeda etc. which should be close enough for most people (I know some people who would NOT be satisfied and want a correction factor built in for different targets...)

There's a rumour someone, somewhere once regretted buying a 130P-DS but Snopes haven't been able to verify it. Fine on an EQ5, I use mine on an EQ3 (with EQ5 tripod).