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What did you do to your Astro Gear today?

ChrisLX200

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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Collimated my scope (again!), will be testing it again in a bit with some flats. Shame its going to be cloudy tonight!

Nice cradle, hadnt thought of that. I was going to get a mount specifically for storing or working on the telescope - but the cradle looks far cheaper.

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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NIce. Good idea, too. I must do likewise. A vee block version would make it multi scope.

I finally got round to stripping down a very sorry looking TeleVue Telepod I bought second hand about five years ago. It was marvellously ratty and had been abused on all sides. However, taking it apart and putting it back together means it now only looks ratty, which I don't really care about. It works absolutely like a new one, smooth but firm, and it's now sitting outside carrying the second hand Pronto I bought around the same time. (Someone had found that the blackening on the inside of the drawtube had worn off so they'd put a roll of emery paper inside, course surface providing the 'flocking!' It was tolerably dark (though not perfect) so I flocked a sheet of transparecy, rolled it up and popped it in. I don't like mixing optics and grinding grits!! This is an effective solution and the whole lot, Pronto, Telepod, TeleVue tripod and 32mm TV Plossl cost me about £350, which I think is rather acceptable. I like it for seeing the entire Veil, the entire Rosette, and swathes of Milky Way. It's also the house birding and wildlife rig though the wildest thing I've seen today is the dog...

Olly

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twintin

twintin

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i set up the laptop and an extra monitor in the obs. Through a long usb to a belkin hub velcrod to the mount. So now have the HEQ5, ps3 controller, spc900 and the EOS450 all playing nicely together (although the ps3 controller was a royal pain to get working) through various programs. Just need to test on stars now and then have a bash at the dark art that is guiding!

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ChrisLX200

ChrisLX200

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On Monday (hopefully) the basic bits for a new obs PC should turn up, it will be Win7 64-bit so I have the hassle of installing all the drivers/software etc again (assuming I can get the damn thing working of course). I figure that will keep me busy over a few cloudy nights...

Olly: That's a bargain price for a Pronto! I paid twice that.

Cradle idea is because I use something similar for a rifle and find it useful for similar reasons - easy access :)

ChrisH

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happy-kat

happy-kat

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Got my scope extended and using a white pen marked the position to drop the trusses to reach focus with my DSLR.

Next I was going to fully wind back the colimating screws because I think I have been adjusting it the same direction to the point that one has no more turn left and I think the drafracting spikes I am getting are at a guess is pinched optics.

But I went for a bike ride in the sun instead, whoops.

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JamesF

JamesF

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Had a crack at a white light full solar disc this morning, then as it's been such a beautiful day ignored all the kit (except for doing the processing) in favour of spending the day out in the fresh air.

I may do a bit more work on my planetary capture application this evening, but I also want to sort out a decent spacer for the T2 connector for my filter wheel.  It catches on the wheel when fully screwed in and I'm currently using two discs of card as a spacer which isn't really ideal.  Alternatively, having spent so much time today out in the Sun, I may just have a few glasses of wine and fall asleep :D

James

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pete_l

pete_l

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I gave my primary mirror a dam' good sanding down to get rid of a couple of thumb prints that had got there. If I can find my lump hammer, I plan to recollimate it later.

I was going to fine-tune the focuser, but I lent someone my angle grinder.

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JamesF

JamesF

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I gave my primary mirror a dam' good sanding down to get rid of a couple of thumb prints that had got there. If I can find my lump hammer, I plan to recollimate it later.

I was going to fine-tune the focuser, but I lent someone my angle grinder.

I hope they sell brillo pads in Spain, otherwise you'll have nothing to clean your eyepieces with.

James

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Druid

Druid

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I figured out how to fix an issue I'd noticed with my Altair Astro Sabre mount while trying to run it with a C11 and TV-101 dual-mounted the previous night. 

I'd noticed a bit of play in the longer arm, to which my precious Televue was attached, so abandoned the experiment. 

Digging around on the web today, found a post by Nick from Altair over on Cloudy Nights explaining in passing how to adjust any play out of the arms. 

So hopefully sorted. Just need some astronomy weather now to try it out again. 

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RobertI

RobertI

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Finally mounted the Zenithstar 66 on the C8 with a view trying some guided imaging of smaller DSOs. Discovered that all the weights I own are not enough to counterbalance the new set up, and in have quite a few weights. Cobbled together a side by side setup to see if this was any better - managed to get balance but so many other axes to balance, not sure I would get on with this out in the field (or out in a field in my case). Thinking about biting the bullet and getting an OAG. Head greater success repotting some plants.

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Baffa

Baffa

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Got my ASI 120 MC the other day and tonight I thought I was gonna need some hours to get it to work as I want it. It turns out though the installation was easy and everything worked pretty much right away. So, it's cloudy outside, camera is working, what to do except browsing ebay for some bits and pieces, like USB 3.0 hubs and other things that might be handy... My poor poor wallet hates cloud as much as I do...

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pete_l

pete_l

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I hope they sell brillo pads in Spain, otherwise you'll have nothing to clean your eyepieces with.

James

Clean the EPs?

The shops do sell this stuff called Aqua Fuerte which is like distilled water - apart from the 10% hydrochloric acid they add. Personally I prefer a mixture of washing up liquid and petrol, dried off with a blast from the blowlamp.

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Marki

Marki

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Fitted my new 8" extension pillar to my AZEQ-6 GT. Should now keep the focusser end of my long refractors from hitting the tripod, and also save me from having to kneel down when observing to towards the zenith.

Was a bit of an effort getting the Istar Perseus 150mm F10 mounted on top of this rig, though... .

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