michaelmorris

Hi

I'm very interested in the pier you have for sale.  Several questions 

Is it still for sale?

Whereabouts are you?

Do you have photos the pier itself?

Thanks

Hi Marty

Welcome to Stargazers Lounge.  We have a policy of only allowing for sale advertisements where the seller states a specific price.  Please will you amend your advertisement to include the price you want for your items.  It is okay to put 'or near offers' in your advertisement.

Thank you

Forecast is for a lovely clear night, so the plan is to collect colour data for M42 and the Horsehead Nebula data to go with the Ha data I've collected for these targets over the last couple of weeks ?

At last, some clear skies.  Last week, I managed to get around night 5 hours worth of 10 minute Ha subs of M42 over a couple of nights.  Last night I got the last 3 hours worth, giving me 48 x 10 minutes subs of Ha.   The next job is to collect some colour data using my ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro. ?

We've had a nice run of clear nights over the past week, so I've trying out my new ZWO ASi 294 MC Pro camera.  It seems easy to use, but I've quickly learned that it takes around 10 minutes to get down to -20, so need to start the cooling cycle before I start telescope alignment if cooling time is not to delay the start of taking subs.

Over the last few weeks I've been reviewing the level of security for my observatory.  I identified a couple of potential weak spots.  I spent most of this weekend upgrading the security on the entrance doors, with new 6 lever locks and steel strengthening bars in the doors and and door frame.  I also beefed up the roof tie-down system to make it pretty much impossible to pry off the roll-off roof.

There are three possibilities

1 - There is a God and I've died and gone to heaven, or

2 - A weird form of climate change/techno withcraft, or

3 - I'm hallucinating!

Sorry, "what is this rambling idiot talking about?" I hear you say.  Well, it's the combination of FIVE clear nights in a row, minimal technical hiccups and no Moon.   

The result = 101 x 10 minute subs.  

I don't believe it, a third clear night in a row! 

By the end of the night I will now have a total of 29.5 hours of narrow band data for the Jellyfish nebula.  After tonight, I'll aim to get another 4.5 hours of SII data and another 7 hours of OIII data.  Whether I manage this before the seasons end only the weather gods will know.

Forecast looks okay for this evening 

I swear the gods themselves conspired against me tonight!  First clear night in weeks and we are baby sitting our grandchild.  My daughter is back an hour later than planned, so I don't get home until 11.30.

I immediately open up the observatory quickly get everything set up to start collecting some more 10 minute subs of the Jellyfish Nebula in OIII.  Half way through guiding calibration then ...

.. all the electrics go in the road!!!

10 minutes later it comes back on and it's then another 30 minutes before everything is working and I start the first sub.  :-)

45 minutes later the Jellyfish Nebula disappears behind next door's ever expanding Bay tree.

Ah well ......

Another clear night!  Another night of grabbing 10 minute Ha subs of the Jellyfish Nebula. ?

My project for the winter/early spring is to try to get about 7 to 10 hours each of data for Ha and OIII and maybe try to get some SII as well. I hopefully then add some RGB data for the stars.

It's great having the observatory. I've now got it down to 20 minutes from opening the observatory,  to turning everything on, aligning the scope, checking focus, calibrating the guiding, and starting to image. ??

Just got 22 x 600 sec subs of the Jellyfish Nebula (IC445) in Ha.  The clouds have rolled in, so I've just packed it in for the night.   

Yet another night observing doubles in Auriga.  That's 4 decent observing sessions in 2 weeks! 

Just captured 20 X 300 second subs of IC410, only to realise that forgot to turn the cooler on the CCD camera. That's the third time I've done this.  DOH!

My new mount is off with my mate Chris at the moment. So, for the first time in years, there are no scopes in my observatory.  Chris is making a pier extension to raise the whole kit and caboddle by 15cm. Hoping to have it back within a fortnight.

Another night of trialling out the new set up.  Back on the Jellyfish Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha.  Getting some nice 10 minute subs coming in, but the general murk has meant that I've lost three subs due to PHD2 losing the guide star.  I've now selected a new guide star and we're off again. 

Just spent a lovely hour trying out my new-to-me C9.25 on my new EQ8 mount.  All I can say is WOW,  it is all such an improvement over my old 8" LX200. 

This very happy bunny is off to bed now as I have work in the morning.

I've finally managed to get a hour or so of clear skies and (after a 3 or 4 false starts), I've finally got the marvellous SharpCap 'Polar Align' tool to get a rough polar alignment on the new mount. 

The EQ8 is now installed on the observatory pier and the three scopes mounted and balanced.

I've spent a frustrating few hours trying to get the computer in the observatory to communicate with the mount via EQASCOM, but I eventually bent the damn computer to my will and the computer and mount are now chatting away merrily.

The next task is polar alignment, but that relies on some clear skies and it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon.

Once it is polar aligned, the next job is to work out how far I can actually view/image things before the observatory walls get in the way.  Once I have that sorted, I can then try to work out the optimum height for the mount.  This will be a compromise between -

• minimising limitation of views by observatory walls
• making sure the eyepiece position isn't too high to view comfortably
• making sure the observatory roof will clear the scopes when it is opened and closed
• minimising glare from surrounding street lights and so-called security lights

My guess is that I'm going end up asking my mate Chris to build me a pier extension to raise the whole kit and caboodle (mount + counterweight + scopes = 1.34 solar masses) up by somewhere between 10 and 30 cm.

Had a marvellous day at Astrofest on Friday.   It was great to bump into a few familiar faces (Hi to Steve, Grant, Owen and Callum).  Great talks including the inimitable Dr. Allan Chapman. 

I also did a wonderful job of emptying my bank account by buying a ZWO 8 position filter wheel, an Atik 460EX and a Skywatcher EQ8! :-)

I've moved your post to the Imaging > Image processing forum where you'll probably get more replies.

Re - CCD camera advert

Sorry to here about the mount blowing.  I'm afraid that SGL requires that all items advertised here have a fixed price or with a guide price with ono.

Please can you edit the advert to include a price for the CCD

Thanks

Saw the northern lights last night!  A dream come true (although I did have to go to Iceland to see them).

We've just done a trial pack for going on holiday.  We're off to Iceland for 4 days on Wednesday (very a.m.).  The reason for the trial pack? - Can I fit all my camera stuff in the suitcase?  The answer is yes (just).

Really hoping to see the aurora.