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todd8137

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  1. todd8137

    15/16/17 moon pics

    By todd8137,

    i am do in these a few a day i took alot of video what a did with a couple was shoot 10x 3mins ,registaxed them,got 10 good pics ,then staked all ten pics which out of 10 a seven average pics some filtered some not on photobucket heres the link
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/16%2017%20th%20APRIL%20FILTERS/
  2. todd8137
    hi all just a few more pics they on photo bucket so a can keep them full size done with cannon 10D and 12 reflector cheers pat heres the link
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/MOON%20AND%20SATURN%2012TH%20APRIL%202011/
    Theres about 93 pics please view them all and let me no what ya think and how a could improve themam obssesed with the moon at the min try in to spot all the craters mountain ranges and what ever else a can see its a pure delight dso`s are great but every one forgets about are moon
    thanks pat
    heres a link for a bit of moon drifting with the 90mm meade frac
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOzpEY-GRZA
  5. todd8137
    Hi all well what a pain the jemred with sensor was last night it was about 10 degrees out, now what a do not no is this.do a zero it on Polaris ?,or on magnetic north? well after a hour or two spinning the base ect a gave up brought the dob in and set to the base attached the digi read out and spun the base no probs worked fine a may have to loosen the thing up a did all test s with out the tube on so the weight on the base may nbe the prob any way a got the 90mm goto meade out to vid the moon and ended up fetching the 12"dob
    that turned out great heres a link for a rather long vid
    http://www.youtube.com/user/todd8137#p/a/u/0/dNkxA1nKu_E
    if you care to take a l(.) (.)k well like a say wdere do a line up on polaris ?or on mag north ? a may have other issues with the mod if a get time a will take some pics of the mod and how that went,but the main concern for now is were to zero the jemred (with the sensor ) ?any help would be great cheers pat I'll take a few pics as that will help cheers now
    right a have sorted it out a drilled the bolt and the rod of the sensor was set in it with firbre glass resin the washer that sits under the nut ,was stuck to it and catch in hold of the lost so some times the whole thing would spin and not the shaft so that was the prob its still a bit out but on a full 360 turn its about 00.2so after a full turn the measurement read 359.8/398.9 so its with in .2 like the paper work says that bliddy firbre glass was the prob the beat goes on this as you all no is just one of a million headaches that keeps the fires burning,not only that but a did not follow the mod properly i modded the mod because a did not have the parts,i spoke with me dad again and he suggested that a stick it on the out side .put a wheel on the shaft and let it run on the out side we may do that, yet will give it another go tonight see what happens
    cheers pat
  6. todd8137

    lyra and M57

    By todd8137,

    Hi all after waiting for a few months now lyra as shown her self,and what a thrill she was wow weeeeeeeeee ,i ran in side once a seen vega pop in up above the forest at the back of my house the tingle on the back of my neck was unreal.tea in hand and the daggers of the mrs i shown her what all the fuss was about in my books ,her lifted eyebrows said it all.an hour or so later there lyra was in all her glory,hands shake in a leveledb both the gemreds,spun the base round lifted the icy tube up to 23 degrees and held my breath scanning between sulafat and sheliak i checked sterluruim, for the numbers ,spun the base and a tweak of the tube and there it was the best dohnut i have ever seen.
    m57 the ring neb,if any one rembers the old he man cartoon,by the power of grey skull and the big bolt of lightning,let me tell ya i felt the tingle of that flash people have told me its just a round smudge, its not it does have a a hole in it plain as the hole a once had in my shoe ,that a side the doubles of lyra are great to at and there`s, a double double a gap of course but they was easy they form part of the little triangle of stars around vega easy to see tonight with the old eye balls,the gemred with the sensor works a treat the angle one for the tube works well similar to the wixey ,ive seen one and they are a bit naff looking the gemred just feels abit more solid and heavy ,well to sum tonight up the ole ring neb wow its really set my passion on fire for the stars above for any one thats never seen it make a note to have a look next time it will surely turn grown men to tears we are truly blessed us on earth to see these things and a feel it humbles me to think were just a tiny litle blue ball whizzing through space,we get caught up some times with life and forget about where we at in the grand scheme of things . if there a sgl award for the biggest smile its got to be my award tonight rember tonight the 4th saturn is gonna be out and on show all night it is on oppssition
    thanks still smilling pat :D
  7. todd8137
    Hi all ,well a wa up till around 04:30 we had a great clear skyand high mag see in conditions set the scopes up and got the coffee on and fired it all up well for some reson the 90mm refractor just would not focus with the cameras or the web cam .a new the dob would be a challenge as the web cam makes it shoot through the screen so of a go , after 2 hours of twisting turning i headed for the kitchen to warm up and check the footage so far a new soon saturn would be high in the south eastish and would be better
    a started with eps to start with and got some great views a could see a couple a moons one to the right and one close left a thought get the web cam. well the web cam did not pick them up well in one vid may be it could be a dead paixel or just wish full thinking,any way here the link for the video a did manage to pull a few pics out some of the vids and ya cam just see some detail on saturn no cassinni doh a want to see it on vid naked eye ball at the eep cam but the low res vid cam ,can not any way what a night a loved it saturn did not disapoint one bit a hope it stays clear tonight as a no were a went wrong last night so tonight "should be a breeze",i wish
    heres the link for the vid on you tube it is long hope ya make it till the end cheers now
    pat:hello2:

  9. todd8137

    crayford hell

    By todd8137,

    well were do a start,i decided to by a low profile crayford to better the scope and help with my pics adventure,well just put in a normal 1.25 ep in is a hassle and takes a good 5 mins to get focus because not only ,do you have to pull the ext tube all the way out,but also the 1.25:holderthat the ep sits in what a hassle the 12"dob was so easy to set up with the rack and pinion focuser.i had a long 2" skywatcher t adapter which was just to long when use in the cannon camera and ended up by in the short 2"one from flo.that was fun and games in its self but got that sorted all was fine the camera gets great focus.
    so my next headache started with the cape instrument uw80 f30mm ep , i thought this would make a great first 2"ep and after a bit of "duff advice decided to buy it for near on 55 quid, only to find out this time it can not get far enough away from the crayford even with the tube fully out, it would get focus if a held it just above the focuser so what to do ,do a by a ext ring just for one ep or by a star diagonal and use it in the 90mm meade frac ?. when a did end up getting focus it was usless the stars in the middle were fine,but round the edges rubbish the pain in side was welling up so a called it a night.a see flo do Baader T2 Extension Tube
    am not sure if these would screw on to the bottom of the 2 inch ep, to give me a bit more lenght am sure some one will put me straight ,as these ext tubes come in all lenghts but i do not think these are what they are for . (add in lenght to my 2" ep) so my troubles will end with this some day any ideas why the 2:cape will not get focus a no it needs to be longer at the bottom so it van,get further away from the low profile crayford .
    update 5th April
    hi got a 80mm exttnsion tube delivered and theres no prob at all nowthe 2"eps get perfect focus the web cam is 100 times better the cameras are fine a was gona get the 50mm one glad a did not now after get in the tape measure out and some card just to see how much travel was needed it was 53mm phew,every thing works fine now and i take back all what a said about the crayford but think befor ya buy this may be a prob for you to .........


  10. todd8137
    a few pics a got posted to photobucket
    heres the link and hope ya enjoy a had a great night,the cloud came in to spoil it as normal but a tried a few color filters to see what a would get was great night thanks pat .
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/the%20moon%2019th%20march%202011/
  12. todd8137
    hi all had a great night out last night got a few pics a say a few about 300 all in all,well it started with a few day shots of the moon just to get the focus right ect and to test some day time settings worked well.a took a few moreof the moon as it got dark then decided to have a go at pleaides got a few not brill but its a start,a now no and recorded down the settings for next time m42 was the next one a got about 100 shots of this more than 4 secs with no goto is a pain.the baterries were dead from the night befor ,a must get a power tank of some sorts soon.well i put them on photo bucket and a hope ypou do not mind take in a look and maybe give in me some pointers on how to improve the obivous bein get in the goto on the meade go in would help
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/13%20marc%20cannon%20eos%20300d%2012%20dob/
    theres the link and thanks for reading and take in and take in a look at the pics thanks pat comments are welcomed here
  13. todd8137
    hi all me and elisha was out play in with the dobson and 90mm goto and cannon 300d it was fun and games but my daughter loves the moon she is more excited than me she was try in to name the carters and had a go with the web cam we put this 5 min video together this morning from about 20 mins worth and a play in registaxs sh takes the vids to school and they play them in her sience class and she feel great talk in about it and the teacher always comments that its good for here take a look if ya get 5 mins to spare thanks pat

  14. todd8137

    What went wrong

    By todd8137,

    hi every one well a awake this morning to the neighbour knocking on the door with a smirk on is face and he said come round the back ?.when a got there the green house a converted to the obs was on is garden.it was very windy last night and it blew it on is garden i did secure it down ,but not good enough with the looks of thingsi took a few pics and today will have to get the drill and screws out she will rise again am sure just checked last nights winds and we had 45 mph gusts what a pain pics below what a job a wonder how a will get to o this on my own it should be fun and games it may force me to buy a new shed we will have to see
    pat
  15. todd8137

    The greeservatory

    By todd8137,

    Hi all,well spent most of the day out side in the sun ,and i finished the green house i filled the sides in with clear solid platic .then covered the lot in black plastic the stuff builders use for damp proofing. its really tough stuff and it does not look half bad ive left the top opend with roll down black plastic and can close one side and open the other,a will get a few pics up soon,the shed a was gonna use was wrecked by my first atemtp and as made a large bag of pot ash for the garden.and can not wait to give it a whirl a will get some tongue and groove for the inside and get that done it may be a bit better than standing in the cold but a think that is just a dream
    pics to followas it was around 19:30 and a cold cooked dinner when a finished
    pat
  16. todd8137
    Hi to all well my order came from the states (usa)this morning after 18 days and its not the make every one is after,,and a think i ordered to much the roll is 5 meters by 650mm i did not understand there crazy website but any way it worked out at around 98 pound a was gobb smacked any way.let the panic begin the only thing i am scared to do is take in the spider out just incase a do noy get it back in the same place as it was before,s a may just flock of the tube and to the left of the ep and 2nd mirror and may baffle the foccuser as well ,i will ost the pics and my results in a bout well for as long as it takes which could be a while .........
    23:16 update
    well just come back in from the frost and packed every thing away a brought a new 20mm uw ep and never tried forgot it was in the old box,the flocking does make things better a can say that ,lat night a had a look with out it done and noted thatthings were a lot dimmer in the ep .now tonight was dif it could all be in the mind but things did look brighter a had to tweak the main mirror a litlle after a few star tests arcturus is a great target rising early now was waiting for saturn but got a bit to cold for me and was worried a bout the glue a used not setting it was 12 pound and the tube was sooooooooo small but it said let it cure for 24 hoursbut it does say -50 to +150c the hight tac floc is great a love it.i baffled the focuser as well the stuff was tricky am glad the dob was a 12" i could nrealy crawl inside which helped,after a few sheets which my daughter expertly cut the night before and they was all square as a die is straight.that along with the dew shield which is yet to arrive from FLO should be a great help i would say that the improved black tube as worked am over the moon with it and my pal said it looked great heres a few pics below well the link any way,cheers now
    pat
    http://stargazerslounge.com/album.php?albumid=940&addgroup=1#page1
  17. todd8137
    Hi all well the 26th was a great clear night my meisser score went up vastly,m81,m82,m101,m36,m37,m38,,m35 and many more which a did not write down heres the link to my test video and before ya say a no its not brill but am still learning the focus andsettings on sharp cap a will get there in the end and a 12"dob with no auto track is a tad hard

  18. todd8137
    Hi to all,well last night was a steep learning curve with the web cam spc900 and settings the clouds and the wind.well around 18:00 stuck the scope out side it was real clear we had are tea and went out about 19:00.as normal the clouds were back and we set the laptop and cam up.then total cloud cover till about 22:15,so back out again Polaris was the only thing a could see so I tried to get the settings some were close a was led to beleave of morgans that the web cam would act like a 15mm ep,ok no chance more like a 6mm.a barlow would have killed it all together. Any way Polaris was hard to get focus on will put the link to the rubbish effort and I then saw arcturus flashing away all colors and pointed the scope that way,the wind was blowing a tad now so things were going down hill fast but a got a few seconds worth of footage ,saturn was in and out of the clouds so a had a quick go the 12" dob is not the best scope for this but never the less I got a few secs worth
    now the settings are so important ,and I had a good play about with them the rack and pinion focuser is not worth it for this cam work I could not get the focus right most of the time a crawford is my next purchase ,the zoom on the cam settings is ok and sharpcap is great once you rember to save the settings as default ie,10fps,ect. the v lounge settings the zoom was set to 1 to start with a played about with them settings and got there in the end I liked the results all be it shaky and not in focus notes were made and next time things should go a lot quicker the hardest prob was no tracking this is a big pain with the dob and cam in general its not a prob at all but when ya try in to press buttons ect at the same time fun and games start my daughter was cold and was not interested in help at this point but all the same a had a not bad night link is here if you care to waste a couple a secs of your time
    thanks Pat

    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/?action=view&current=done.mp4
    the vid shows a random start 1st then arcturus,then saturn
  19. todd8137

    the double star chase

    By todd8137,

    hi every one a love double stars and a hope you do to,so what have done is put a few maps to get started with to see how many of you out the can tick them of.i have put the picks on my photobucket account its easy to copy them press keys alt and prtscr at the same time open windows paint and copy from clip board,see how many ya can get and repost a a thumb nail in this blog a doubt many of you will but its worth a try just to test ya scope out and for some thing to do whilst out in the cold thanks
    pat
    http://s473.photobucket.com/home/todd8137/index
  20. todd8137

    More Moon pics 14/2/2011

    By todd8137,

    hi just three more pics a did the other night a used the a focal method ,and the trpiod which sounds easy but line in the thing up to the eye piece was crazy. ep was 32mm cam sony mavica and zoom was x3 ,in these pics they on photobucket here is the link if you want a look and all comments are welcome cheers pat
    clear skies always
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/moon2/
    do not for get to clik then klik again on these pics to see full screen on photo bucket
  21. todd8137

    The moon

    By todd8137,

    HI all and welcome did a few pics afocal cos it was really damp out last night the link below is to the pics a was use in this a/c for my cloud pics but can stick my moon and other astro pics in it as well the weather held for a few hoursand a ussed a iso of about 600 and set to infinity with about a 1/30 sec time with tripod and cam up to the eye piece they not brill but could ya let me no what ya think if ya get the time cheers pat
    http://s473.photobucket.com/albums/rr93/todd8137/moon/
  22. todd8137
    Hi all just a quick rant,well a set the scope and web cam up last night spc 900 and 12" and just wanted to give it a quick test.the moon was my test subject but a soon found the thermals and windy conditions were against me. but still a wanted a play with the settings sharpcap kept crashing so a had to use v lounge and a quick play about with the gain ect got it going a had just the cam in the eye piece a took a few vids and they were not bad a better tweak next time,would be better with the settings.
    the moon looked like it was boiling so a scrapped it in the end a must remember to save the settings next time because it kept jumping back to 15 fps and not ten when a put them in v dub to convert the vids to avi a kept get in a long list of errors .but a will work through them today and try and resolve this
    all in all it works ok and a better steady night may give me better results but the gain settings ect take a bit of mastering
    will re download sharp cap as that saves as avi as ya no
    thanks pat
  23. todd8137

    m35,n42,m44,m47

    By todd8137,

    Hi to one and all,
    M35
    Open star cluster Messier 35 (M35, NGC 2168) is consisted of several hundred stars,to which popped out at me last night under partly cloudy skies and a bit windy ,is fairly easy once you recongize the constellation of Gemini. You’ll find it just a little more than the average field of view north of Eta – the centermost of the three “foot” on the northernmost twin. In the finderscope under low power it was easy to spot.32mm first then a droped down to 25mm to have a good look round it was not visible to the naked eye but is easy to find stuck the telrad on propus and its there no probs this was my first view of this great open clusterand i like nothing more than cluster i like them better than galaxys
    M44
    Messier 44 (M44, NGC 2632) or the Beehive cluster. It is also one of the objects easily visible to the naked eye and it was last night easy to find in cancer and a first for me .The Beehive is most easily observed when Cancer is high in the sky; in northern latitudes this occurs during the evening from February to May. At 95 arcminutes across, the cluster fits well in the field of view at 32mm this time a dropped down to 15mm to get a good look round and it did not fail to impress me 2 really bright ones and 7 small that were the main ones and hundreds of others was a great view and can now tick this one of
    M47
    Messier 67 (M67, NGC 2682) easily found tonight star hopping from alpha cancri,this is a lot small than the behive but still as good and was easy to spota lot more yellow and blueish dots tonight in this one tahn befor 25mm let me have a detaled look around thisi would say the mag was about 4/5 the clouds did not spoil this at all another one for me to tick off
    M42
    The Orion Nebula Messier 42 (M42, NGC 1976) Anoher look at his and tried to draw again beause i had a great view tonight i`ll stik the real crude drawing up but its a first pop a this a was gonna try the sp990 tonight but did not want to spend to much time out side so hence the drawing
    thanks pat
    clear skies always
  24. todd8137

    ANOTHER NIGHT OF 1st

    By todd8137,

    ANOTHER NIGHT OF 1st
    Well what a great night i have which started around 18:30, -1.5c and no wind clear skies .MO1 (the scope) had been out side for a good hour and was ready to go .my first thing of the night was
    Andromedae galaxy
    which until tonight i have never seen the telrad came into its own again and saved me this was better than expected because a was not expecting to see much had the 20mm ep and ding there it was a big grey smudge at last there she was, i looked at this for ages just looking in and around the grey smudge before me. what a sight this was great it blew me away and i will come back to this time and time again for any one who says its just a smudge then that's crazy
    Cassiopeia
    This beautiful constellation at the edge of the Milky Way has definitely the shape of a "W" and tonight was no exception, M52 can be found quite easily by extending the line from Alpha over Beta Cassiopeia by 6 1/2 degrees to the NW to 5th mag 4 Cassiopeiae; M52 is roughly 1 degree south and slightly west of this star. and what a great open cluster this was 32mm ep first then the 25mm it was a great sight and a first for me next came ngc663,654 .double clusters ngc 869,884 very big lots of stars and not just white yellows and what looked like light blue.just to the right of Caph is 2 great ones ngc 7790and 7788 they are both full and lots of brightly clumped stars
    i then had triangulum galaxy in and ,no joy there not not a thing ngc 752 was easy and a do like that one a did try for crab neb but can never seem to see this m34 was easy a always take a spin in and around this one,Auriga was next M36,37,38 east to find that telrad sure earns its keep so does the compass and spirit level .
    whilst looking to night half froze and spinning still from Andromeda galaxy i always look at each thing with a range of eps and like to try them all and note down which gave me the best view for reference next time.
    i also looked at Jupiter tonight and it was the first time i have seen this in great detail at least 4 bands could be seen a tried the light blue filter because it was real bright 3 bands were seen with this,i next put the moon filter in that killed it only the lower thick band could be seen .
    tonight was a great night for me and have got a few more things under my belt and am starting to feel a lot more confident finding them this is the best thousand pound have ever spent also on the market for a refractor as well i am gonna find a star party some were because a nee to see a few things my back garden will not let me on wards and upwards
    "CLEAR SKIES ALWAYS "
  25. todd8137

    Saturn

    By todd8137,

    Hi one and all ,let me first start by thanking "astro baby" for her great guide on collimation which i did and the scope was of by miles and is now tip top and tonights viewing was all the better for it ,so a big thanks to her .
    now Saturn who wee baby my eyes nearly popped out my head the ear to ear smile was hurting my face i had the 32mm eye piece in and soon changed to the 12mm, which gave me a great view all the moons were there it was magical my hands touched the scope and it felt electric a shooting star shot past my view and the rings were perfect the angle was so good that i thought my god is this real
    i looked left and saw dione.enceldu, and tethys they were there mimas wasreal close bottom left amd rhea was up and to the right am sure a saw some thing else near rhea but could not be sure if that was just a back ground star.
    let me tell ya this if ya have never seen saturn befor like me its just unreal to see this makes the heart beat faster and gives you a scale on just how small we are here on earth,and makes the feeling inside of just how small we are on are blue little ball to sum this up a wish a could travel into space and just fly close to saturn just the once,but i will be more than happy to look at it through my white baby every chance a get(white baby be in the scope ,whos name is MO1)
    what a night wipeeeeeeeee
    unreal
    clear skies always
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