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The Sailor

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Blog Entries posted by The Sailor

  2. The Sailor
    Day started well, decided to do some solar viewing, although I put all the OTAs on the mount I can only use the 6" SCT as that is the one with a filter :) . Put the rig on the mount, started Stellerium and sent it to the sun, bad thing to do!!! Standing at the laptop I got a blow to the back, swinging round I found the rig in my face, again I had forgot to put the counterweights on, I will have to put a small sign by the on/off switch to warn me. Anyway, tracking went well and the sunspots showed up well, so got the DSLR working, took the photos and then left the gear to track the sun for the rest of the day. Evening started late, went well, concentrated on both M5 and M13 and checked alignment by hitting other targets. The moon again caused problems with its brightness, although I could see both the Messiers it was difficult to catch on camera. A good day all round and hoping to improve on all.
  3. The Sailor
    A great night, could have stayed up longer but my old bones were giving out by 0100 hrs. The moon again was a bit of a problem but I persevered and towards the end of the viewing I decided to use the tour option and went looking at the heavens, sometimes the side of the observatory but the rest was good. Alignment was spot on all night, this was due to getting Polaris in the right position and waiting for the star to appear to get a good alignment, all target appeared in the centre of the eyepiece, was good to see. Found a problem getting focus with the Canon on the Evostar, not enough travel, this has now been recified with the addition of extenders. Altogether another good night viewing, making up for the long weeks of clouds earlier :).
  4. The Sailor
    Although a nice clear night the moon was too bright to get any good shots. I used the time to run through all the aspects of the cameras and cams on all 3 scopes and it went well, any photos or videos I took were not worth keeping but they did help. Also used the time to work out the guiding software, more to be done.
  5. The Sailor
    Cloud cleared for a couple of hours and was able to put the gear through its paces. Alignment went well and with all the gear now installed it turned out to be a nice few hours, aligned 3 scopes, 2 finders, 3 cameras, a laser and laptop and everything was great :hello2:. Most of the seeing was on the moon and Saturn, the clouds were never far away and they soon took over, so the night ended.
  6. The Sailor
    Well decided to put the mount on the pier, although still waiting for one part it worked. The only problem was the amount of cloud, allowed me to align Polaris but a 2/3 alignment was impossible so went for just one. With just the 6" SCT on the mount I ran it through it's paces and it went well, very little noise and the comms to the laptop work well, had some good views of the moon and Saturn but because of the alignment I stayed away from DS viewing. The dismount and clousre went well and a good night was had.
  8. The Sailor

    Viewing

    By The Sailor,

    A great night tonight, not a cloud in the sky and the air temp was just right. Using both scopes the viewing was good, will wait till the mount is on the pier to align the guide scope, so a successful night :) .
  9. The Sailor

    Redoing the pier

    By The Sailor,

    As I am now changing from a CG-5GT to a NEQ6 the pier need to have a bit lopped off, not easy as it is concrete :(. Anyway, this afternoon I decided to get it done and got the electric saw out, yes thats right, the electric saw!! It's one of those all singing and dancing thingys you put in whatever blade and has a powerful motor. Well the motor may be powerfull but the blade was another thing, not only that but in a confined space and at a height not conducive to old age, my arms gave out after my body was shattered my flying bits of concrete. I ended up using a lump hammer and bolster and after five minutes it all happened, top off and ready for a cleanup. The next installment next week when I prepare the top for the new mount.
  10. The Sailor

    Solar viewing

    By The Sailor,

    After going through the menu on the NEQ6 I realised that the sun was not on the menu. Went out today and using Stellerium I clicked on the sun and waited, the mount zoomed away and hit it spot on. Hitting identify on the handset it went through it's routine and reported nothing there :( . Was not able to determine if lt stayed on traget for long as clouds came and stopped viewing in it's tracks. So, something to think about at a later date :).
  11. The Sailor

    My viewing

    By The Sailor,

    Clear skies late last night enabled me to get my new setup out of the kitchen and onto the patio. Can't use the pier in the observatory yet as it needs to be modified to take the NEQ6.
    Done all the normal setup procedure and got the mount into action, am very impressed with the lack of noise, actually had to look to see that it was slewing. The align procedure was was very simple, thorough and quick and I was pleased to see all tagets come up almost centre in the eyepiece.
    The only problem I had was dew but carried on regardless checking that all was well for the transfer to the pier, comms between the mount and laptop was first rate. The only quesion I have is should I start buying 2" EPs, there is an adapter for 1.25" and I have them in abundance, time will tell.
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