Last nights bounty M51

[Chris]

lovely and clear last night, so I couldn't resist a crack at M51 182 x 15-30 seconds exposure plus darks. Ice on the scope and dew so Sneaked in at about 1:30am to pinch the wifes hairdrier and an extension lead, then buiseness as usual, tired now but worth it!

Chris

[SJJ]

Nice capture Chris, especially using relatively short exposures. Hope you put the hair drier back where you found it!

[Quatermass]

Nice job Chris I had my hair dryer out as well those cold frosty nights make a right mess of my hair

[Chris]

Thanks SJJ 30 seconds is the best I'm getting but at the price of having to chuck out about 50-60 percent due to periodic error. What part of Leicester are you from? I grew up their in the Wigston, Glen Parva area. p.s. Hairdriers still in the shed, I'd better go and get it!

Regards,

Chris

[Chris]

Hi Quatermass, nice one hehe:D did you have any luck last night?

Regards,

Chris

[Black Knight]

Nice job Chris I had my hair dryer out as well those cold frosty nights make a right mess of my hair

Lol! Nice shot Chris

[MartinB]

Nice work Chris. A hair dryer is a top piece of astro gear

[stan26]

Great effort chris! as you said in your previous thread M51 is quite small, so to get any structure is a result, especially with the kit we're using. Your method of aligning must have worked well.

I made myself an extended dew sheild for the ST102/guide scope from odd stuff i had around the house, Now I can image all night with out the need to hair dry you should be able to find something to fit the front of your little refractor, If your using formula milk for that little one of yours, what about the round tin's they come in...eh eh..

Stan

[Zul]

Looking good!

[Quatermass]

Hi Quatermass, nice one hehe:D did you have any luck last night?

Regards,

Chris

Yes my hair is all fluffy and styled nicely now

I also managed to get my Leo Triplets shot that I wanted but the tracking was being a right pig that night I wonder if the grease in the mount hardens up in the freezing weather?

[Quatermass]

[Chris]

Hahaha! Whats going on their! looks like the kind of hairdryer they would need for the VLT, Salvador Dali meets Astronomy

[Quatermass]

I could do with one of these blow the dew from my telescope double quick time!

Good news I have sold my caravan and Im very close to getting my guided sytem into action cant wait. I have a choice save up for the HEQ5 mount or get a cheaper dual axis kit for my EQ5 and mod it with the ST4 port still not decided yet. Looking closely at the gears on the HEQ5 and having taken my EQ5 part and cleaned all the gears they dont look like there's going to be a great deal of difference but as no one else seems to have modded the dual axis kit with an st4 port on the EQ5 its a chance I might have to take. Mind you Stans using the modded Dual axis kit and it works for him so Im thinking it will work for me and you as a cheaper alternative to getting upgraded to the EQ5.

[Chris]

Hey Quatermass, congrats on the sale:) and yeah, I'm totally with you on the mount dilemma (or even trilemma) for one I have been mighty impressed with what Stan has achieved on a tight budget, and it just goes to show what can be achieved with determination over money, and I know the hand set mod shouldn't be any different for us with our EQ5's. But on the over hand I'm thinking that I'm in imaging for the long haul and therefore would it be wiser to save for the best mount possible (HEQ5 is my realistic best - Paramount only if I win the Loto) if it takes 4-5 months of grabbing the overtime to do so? the philosophy being a house is only as strong as its foundations It's a bit dissapointing that they seem to have discontinued the EQ5 Syntrek, so I would have to get the SynScan which is getting on for the price of an EQ6 Syntrek! hmm maybe I should save for longer than 5 months:D The third option is a compromise i.e the EQ5 upgrade kit to convert to an EQ5 pro SynScan which would give improved stepper motors, periodic correction, and Goto, plus ST4 guide port, then guide using a 50mm finder plus webcam. hhmm any more thoughts??

Chris

[Quatermass]

Hi Chris

Mmm I kind of think the saving up option is the way to go I can see myself wanting to do this for a long time and the HEQ5 is the one I would be going for given the money situation if I added that to the LVI guider my freind passed on to me then I would have a great set up. On the other hand if the dual axis kit modded with the ST4 port worked well then I would be better off. When I took my EQ5 apart yesterday and took a good look at the gears and parts they are pretty cheaply made I reckon I would not call them precision instruments more mass produced if anything but they are pretty good all the same. I guess the only way to know for sure is to mod up the dual axis kit and try it out or save up a little longer and get the HEQ5, your telescope is smaller then my reflector and lighter no doubt so it may be fine with the modded dual axis motor kit. But if I'm honest I would rather have a nice new HEQ5 mount wouldn't you. Just got a gas and electric bill for 180 quid so may have to rob a bank. Lets keep a close eye on Stans progress and see how he gets on so far he has impressed us all with his DIY skills and money saving ideas for sure.

[Chris]

Wise words Quatermass, whats that saying "only fools rush in" this all deserves more thinking time

[Quatermass]

it does indeed the stars wont be going any where soon and I can wait. Stans method of drift alignment with the camera sounded cool might try thatmyself but didnt really understand the weight on your east side bit dyslexic brain not making sense of it. My weights are allways to the left of me and if I move them down a tad after my scope is balanced is that not putting weight on the side that is being pulled up??

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk

[Chris]

Hey Quatermass, I think the general idea is that the scope shouldn't be balanced on the RA axis but weight biased towards the end which is going to be pulled up with tracking. My weight is often on the left like yourself in which case I think you need most of the weight towards the scope because if you weight is on the left you scope will be on the right so the scope is being pulled up with tracking. I think the whole thing is to keep tension on the gears to reduce periodic error. Having said this if anyone see's any mistake in what I'm saying please correct me because I'm not 100% confident.

I was out for about 3 hours last night trying out drift alligning, I think I've got the east west sorted but alt/az was very tricky I found, and even when I thought I was close on both axis I took a 40 second sub on a star and it was terrible! then the clouds rolled in. I've brought my mount in from the shed for a good service, I firstly found that even my reticle in my polar scope wasn't alligned properly, I've sorted it but took way too long as my reticle fell out at one stage I've got some Lithium based greese from B&Q which I think is the same stuff Stan used? I'll be giving the gearing a good going over with it and also I'll try and reduce some of the backlash it I can.

Have you been out with your scope this weekend?, I found the seeing a bit poor so I wasn't too dissapointed that I didn't get any imaging done..

[stan26]

That's the stuff Chris, Lithium based grease. Anything will be better than the horrible Chinese gunk that's applied from factory. That said I was consider a re-strip and lubing with a more fine based machine oil with my DEC axis. The reason for this is I was getting "stiction" in DEC. The stepper motors move the the mount in such small increments that the bearings actually stick between movement. This can be caused by the wrong viscocity lubricant, but in my case i was able the eliminate it by slackening of the nuts through the DEC axis, although this was a trade off for a bit of lateral slop.

I have also since discovered that the DEC drive setup on the EQ3-2 is useless as it is. I have now made a direct drive mod to get rid of the external gears and also reduced the backlash in the motors gearing. I reckon I have at least halved the backlash and although the motor now turns the worm shaft slower it in theory has more torque and results in smoother operation. I will probably put up this mod in the DIY section soon......

I'm guiding as I type this, The EQ3-2 has been going now for 1.5 hours and it hasn't missed a beat, guide star perfectly centered, 5min subs with round stars, and I have guided right through the meridian in fully auto mode (north + south adjustment) with no hicups.......

Stan.

[Quatermass]

Hi Chris and Stan

Im out now having a go at a the m96 group in leo. Lining them up is a right pain but not giving up yet. Taking the mount apart and cleaning it was far easier then sorting out the polar scope that took all day so you have my sympathys. I have a lot of questions regarding drift alignment with the camera method but it can wait till later. My dyslexic mind really struggles with directional instructions

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk

[Rob L]

Nice image, even more so with the short subs you're using.

I have now made a direct drive mod to get rid of the external gears and also reduced the backlash in the motors gearing I will probably put up this mod in the DIY section soon....

I'd love to see this! If you get a chance please do (no pressure )

[stan26]

Nice image, even more so with the short subs you're using.

I'd love to see this! If you get a chance please do (no pressure )

Soon as the cloud rolls in over suffolk I'll be on it.......

[Chris]

Hi Stan, I recken you should be working for Skywatcher, Direct drive for declination! I've not asked you what you do for a living? I recken you must be a mechanical Engineer/Machinist of some sort. Its also good to hear that the guiding is working out so well, jobs a gooden

I've given my mount a bit of a service, the RA gears weren't adjusted properly for starters the teeth were hardly touching each other, so I adjusted that to reduce some of the backlash and gave it all a light brushing of grease, The polar scope has better allignment now also. I had it out last night for several hours, I continued trying to drift allign for a couple of hours but wasn't getting on too well with it so resorted to just polar alligning then swinging the scope onto a bright star in the west and taking a minute sub and making small adjustments based on the direction of the star trail. Managed to get roundish stars on at least half of my 30 second subs, but still 15-20 seconds gives me a better compromise, I'm going to accept that 30 sec is the max for this mount unguided now I've put the work in to come to this conclusion Oh yes! I neraly forgot, I got the Dec motor working! so its now dual axis even so I Still might sell it for an upgrade HEQ5 at some point, I might put my mount on Astrobuyandsell and look out for a used HEQ5 syntrek.

[Chris]

Hi Quatermass, I hope the m96 imaging went well did your service make any difference?

[Quatermass]

Hi Chris yes it made a big difference, the grease they use is thick and kakky I took it off and replaced it with grease used for maring outboards not so thick and horrible and makes the whole mount easier to move. That thick stuff on there must have really got stuck when it the temp were below freezing. M96 went ok the inside of my camera got a bit dew infested though as I had taken it in to down load the last lot of images. Must remember not to take it in doors and leave it out to adjust next time. There are tons of galaxy's around leo never knew there were so many amazing.

Got the money for the upgrade now so going to go for the dual axis kit and st4 mod like stan had done will be interesting to see how it goes and compare dont you think.