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WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

stonemonkeylives

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2STAR

2STAR

Posted
Posted

If its the same weather wise Thursday anyone going to Winscar plz let me know, cheers

Eric

ps: Great tonight, fluked good alignment lol, great viewing of Jupiter & moons, Orion Neb (my best ever view) lots of doubles (forgot to note then down!!), and the wifi on the evo was surprisingly well behaved and lived up to expectations at last,  forgot all about the many cloudy nights, worth the wait.

 

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astrotyke

astrotyke

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, 2STAR said:

If its the same weather wise Thursday anyone going to Winscar plz let me know, cheers

Eric

ps: Great tonight, fluked good alignment lol, great viewing of Jupiter & moons, Orion Neb (my best ever view) lots of doubles (forgot to note then down!!), and the wifi on the evo was surprisingly well behaved and lived up to expectations at last,  forgot all about the many cloudy nights, worth the wait.

 

 

Sounds like a result then Eric, id have gone to winscarr tonight but ive been out all day with the family and I was too tired lol, think im getting old lol

 

Glad you got a good session out with your scope and that it behaved its self. My sons tablet gave me greif with the wifi on mine, and I belive its an issue with just that android tablet, it works fine with my phone

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rockystar

rockystar

Posted
Posted

I got rained on, and the clouds only went away about 5 minutes ago when I was putting everything back in the garage, damn EQ time taking mount - now if only I had a dob....

Anyway, I took the inside time to have a look at the collimation, but I might have messed it up again. How does this look?

56bbca6f35361_WP_20160210_23_03_18_Pro_L

 

 

 

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Soupy

Soupy

Posted
Posted

Just climbing into bed, 3.15!

great night up at Gains, first light with the planetary camera. Good to blow the cobwebs off!

excellent image Vicky. Well done!

lee not sure on the collimation as I can only see one retaining clip!

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Vicky050373

Vicky050373

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, rockystar said:

I got rained on, and the clouds only went away about 5 minutes ago when I was putting everything back in the garage, damn EQ time taking mount - now if only I had a dob....

Anyway, I took the inside time to have a look at the collimation, but I might have messed it up again. How does this look?

56bbca6f35361_WP_20160210_23_03_18_Pro_L

 

 

 

Hi Lee, we are having a general chat/social/sharing type meeting next Thursday 18th. If you can make it and bring your scope, I'm sure there will be someone there who can help you :)

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Soupy

Soupy

Posted
Posted

It's all pretty straight forward Lee. Concentrate on getting the secondary in the right place first,  then the primary. Dont rush it. I'm sure someone can go over it with you next time me meet up whether that's at the next meeting or out observing. 

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Ryan P

Ryan P

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Looks like everyone had a great night! Me an Lee got out into the garden for a few hours for a good bit of observing. I took some video of Jupiter with the zwo so ill see how that processes later. The atmospheric conditions weren't the best but im hopeful.

here are a couple of pics of my new eyepiece extensions. 1.25" and 2" respectively. Complete with brass thumbscrews.

@rockystar If I make it to the meeting next week I'll give you hand collimating your scope.

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

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rockystar

rockystar

Posted
Posted

Cheers [@Ryan P] I'll try and make it next week.

@soupy pretty sure the secondary is ok, as someone has already done that for me (does that one go out of collimation once set?). I've borrowed a laser collimator so I'm going to give it another go tonight, and then check it with the Cheshire, and then have it all confirmed next week.

Is there an ideal starting place when collimating? i.e. screw all the screws in then work your way out, or just start from where it is? I'm just worried about screwing out too far and the mirror falling off!

Looking like tomorrow night might be clear, so I'd like to get in a half decent place tonight. And I'd like to sell it in a reasonably well collimated state.

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nicks90

nicks90

Posted
Posted

if you have a laser collimator - then it should be fairly straight forward.

plop the laser in and see where the dot strikes on the primary mirror. It should bit absolutely perfectly in the middle. If it doesnt, then the secondary is off. Loosen / tighten the screws holding the secondary in position until the laser its the centre of the primary mirror.

Now look at the target on the collimator. You are aiming to get the laser beam to hit itself in the middle down the hole! Adjust the primary mirror screws until the beam disappears in the middle. 

 

recheck the laser is still hitting the spot in the middle of the primary (if it was way out of collimation, you may find its drifted outside of the centre ring). if needed, you may have to tweak the secondary again and then tweak the primary.

End state should be the secondary looks 'round' in your focus tube and with the laser collimator in the focuser - the red spot should be exactly in the middle of the primary mirror center spot and the beam disappears down the centre of the collimators target.

Job done. Honestly takes about 5 minutes.

Nick

 

PS. dont get too [removed word] about it. Unless you are imaging and want hubble style results, then near enough is more than good enough for visual astronomy under our light polluted skies!

I cant tell the difference in the view between the laser hitting exactly in the middle of the target ring on the primary and it hitting the edge of the target ring (perhaps 3mm off centre). Same with the return beam hitting the edge of the target hole instead of going straight down the middle.

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Ryan P

Ryan P

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, rockystar said:

I might have just worked it out, and I can see why it was removed ;-)

Is it worth me buying a laser collimator? There is one for sale in the classifieds at the moment. I've current only got a Cheshire.

I've just bought one of these on Damiens recommendation and I can now collimate my scope in about 2 minutes. Im not sure what the cheap ones are like? I've heard the lazers aren't true so kinda defeats the object. I can collimate my scope bang on with the Cheshire. It just takes a lot longer.

 

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/hotech-collimation-tools/hotech-sca-laser-collimator.html

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Mark62

Mark62

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Ryan P said:

Looks like everyone had a great night! Me an Lee got out into the garden for a few hours for a good bit of observing. I took some video of Jupiter with the zwo so ill see how that processes later. The atmospheric conditions weren't the best but im hopeful.

here are a couple of pics of my new eyepiece extensions. 1.25" and 2" respectively. Complete with brass thumbscrews.

@rockystar If I make it to the meeting next week I'll give you hand collimating your scope.

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

Looks like Damian could get some clear sky's also. Hope it's the start of some clear nights. Hopefully it will stay clear for a while 

i hope you've made plenty to go around ?

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