First attempt at imaging with SPC900

[Stargazer51N]

So I finally managed to combine clear skies, not having to go to work in the morning and plucking up the courage to try my SPC900 for the first time

I set up my N150 reflector on its EQ mount and polar aligned it (1st time I'd made any attempt at using the polar scope). I left it to cool down while I assembled the necessary equipment, wires, etc. Had a hunt for comet Garradd with my 15x70's while I was waiting for Jupiter to rise above the house - no luck there.

Jupiter appeared and I pointed the scope at it and turned on the drive. Lovely sight in my planetary 7mm. I studied it visually for a while to see how good my alignment was and found that it was staying pretty well centre of the FOV.

Time to swap to the webcam. All I could see on the screen was the spider supporting my secondary no matter what I did with the focus. I added a 2x Barlow and managed to get near focus. I spent the next 10 minutes struggling to find a focus that I was happy(ish) with and decided to go fo a capture. Just as I was about to press the button Jupiter marched out sharply to the right!! What happened there I thought? Set it all up again and the same thing happened. Was puzzled for a while and then noticed that the lock screw on my drive gear was fouling on the axis lock lever - a ha! Set it all up again and grabbed a 3 minute AVI.

Conclusions ....

1) Focusing manually with a rack and pinion is VERY hard.

2) Imaging requires a lot of patience.

3) Perseverance pays off.

I'm glad to have got an image - now I've got to be patient with Registax. Hats off to all the imagers that have posted some amazing shots on SGL