The Sailor

I have a goto and it has helped me greatly with my manual mount. For instance, last night I was able to hit each target spot on with the goto, those that I knew where to look anyway. I used the tour guide on the handset to take a look round and as each object came up in the viewfinder I noted where it was in relation to other stars, a help for later if and when I use the manual mount. Hope that is a help, not an expert in any way.

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 :).

Went well Isabelle. Snow storm, yes can well believe it, have been known to have them here in May so keeping fingers crossed :).

Looked a clear one again tonight but maybe a sea mist will be rolling in :(, all setup at the moment, just waiting to do a Polar aligmment.

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.

Thanks Isabelle, just had a coffee :D, now for clear nights. Oh, new photos up :)

At last it is finished, a runout with the equipment last night showed that I had to move a few item on the walls around, done now but a little more to be done, happy chappy :)

I wonderd about the moon shot as you can see the radius of the eyepiece :) Jim

Neil, Sirius was moving pretty fast there, like it though. The moon, have you got the webcam attached to the scope, when I say attached, the lens out and an adapter attached? Jim

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.

At last, the pier adaption for the NEQ6 is finished, can now load it fully and give it full use, now what I need is clear skies :)

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.

If you take a look at my setup, the latest one on the NEQ6 I have a centre bar with a 7 port USB hub, the following will be attached to it: Canon 450D Nikon D40 SPC900 Mount via Serial/Usb cable The hub is than attached to the laptop, basically the setup you are employing, works for me. Jim

Another clear night but cold. Delved deeper into the workings of the NEQ6, seeing how it learns. Went well, will be good when the mount is on the pier and I can bring it all together.

LOL, yes Isabelle, a sandstorm. When it happens we normally find the cars a new colour, just wonder what effect it would have on astronomy, lots of dust high in the sky.

Mmmmmm, do we live on the same street? :D

Have the same problem here, sourrounded by street lights, the observatory does help but still an LP area :( Jim

Ah, sorry to hear that, am now making up the time when we had wall to wall clouds. Just sitting here making my log up and after browsing the Imaging - Deep Sky forum and in conjunction with Stellarium I have now made a list of targets, eight at the moment which I should be able to see let alone photo. I have seen a report that a sandstorm in the Sahara has blown dust quite high and it's headed north, just hope it don't spoil things. Jim

Last night, Fri 8th, was very good, clear skies and nice temp. Setup and started up a three star align, as the scope was slewing to the first star all went wrong, the scope was falling sideways!! Grabbing hold of it and hanging on for dear life I started checking to see what the problem was. After checking all the clamps was still puzzled when I seen the problem, I had not put the weight on!!!! Reste the mount to home and prayed it would not slip and quickly got the weights doen and started all over again. All went well, aligned and all targets came up centre in the EP, stayed out till 2am and went to bed a happy chappy :)

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 :) .

I use a Canon 450D directly attached to the back of the scope, I also use webcams in the same way, still learning myself. I normally look at the Imaging - Deep Sky forum, there I can look at a photo and see what gear was used at the time, all helps :) Jim

Lovely weather, obsy opened, pier adapter fixed, cement poured, oh what a lovely day :) Jim

Yes your correct, roof closed and can work away, just need good ear defenders :D

The weather is not the best here Isabelle, if clouds are not around then it's a sea mist, either one or another lol. Still, plans are on schedule :)

Drilled the new holes in the pier top today, pick up the pier adapter tomorrow and then its remake the top of the pier, hopefully all will be in place by the weekend.