Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Hello, from Central California, USA

John999r

By John999r
in Welcome

Recommended Posts

John999r

John999r

Posted
Posted

I saw that toebell introduced himself, residing in Santa Cruz, Ca.  Santa Cruz was a summer time beach place to go while in HS and beyond when I lived south of San Francisco and San Jose.  My Dad lived there for years and I have a brother in law and old friends living there, great place.  I live just outside the state capitol of Sacramento in the central valley, about polar opposite of the weather in Santa Cruz, about 3.5 hours distant. However, I live within 45 minutes of dark sky locations since I'm at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and only 20 minutes from Vic Maris's Stellarvue facility.  A neat place to visit once in a while to check out the quality goods and pick up used accessories for a good price.

I moved to our current home in 06 because I could no longer negotiate stairs in our two story home as a result of a very bad motorcycle accident in late 05.  Unfortunately I wasn't interested enough in astronomy at the time, otherwise I never would have bought our current house because the backyard is very small and knowing people, some of my neighbors planted fast growing trees right up against the fence line and now they are 20' tall and block a sizable portion of the sky.  At one time (a short time) I had good views of the east and south, but like many of us in this hobby I'm also contending with heavy light pollution from the city of Sacramento and surrounding areas.  At this time I'm engaged with the city where I live regarding lighting standards, which there are none and have spoken to representatives of the IDA for guidance.  I'll see how far that goes if you know what I mean.

Again, like many others I've always had an interest in astronomy and science in general when one day I decided to buy a telescope after I happened across the Orion Nebula with a pair of small binoculars.   At the time I had no idea what that fuzzy smudge was, all I knew at the time it was something of interest so that started a borderline obsession two years ago.  I bought a beautiful Orion by Vixen 102 refractor off Craigslist, in fact the owner lived outside of Santa Cruz.   I didn't know how good that scope was until I had a chance to look through it and read about it later.  My interest grew and so did my collection of astronomy related items and another milestone was reached when one night I took some images holding my point and shoot camera over the eyepiece.  That led to buying a PST and using the same method for imaging the sun and my biggest decision was the day I decided to pursue astro imaging. 

Since I'm no computer head, I had extra duty with the learning curve.  Its been the most involved and time consuming activity that I have ever been involved in, frustration was the name of the game, but with each new experience and discovery was the incentive to keep plugging away at it.  At one point I hit a roadblock until I bought an iOptron ZEQ25 mount, this opened the door where in one night I was able to autoguide with PHD and use DSS as well.  

My goal is to practice the fundamentals, especially accurate polar alignments and become comfortable with the pre-imaging routines, at that time I will then download CS6 and get into post processing beyond DSS and utilities.  Actually, I have to admit my images I have done so far are coming out surprisingly well using only what DSS and DPP in the Canon utilities menu.  I think it helps that I take equal number of dark frames and as needed flats and bias frames too.   

My current set up is a Canon 60Da with a 20Da back up.  My imaging scope is a AT106APO triplet and I also like using my C80ED doublet. I like using the C80 because it's lighter and doesn't push the mount's payload limit like the AT106 does, but I can still get 8 to 10 minute subs with it and thats enough for the bad light dome I'm under.  The C80ED gives me more consistent 10 minute subs, but I must say that depends on how well my polar alignment is.  The scope works much better now that I upgraded the focuser to a Moonlite. For polar aligning,  I only use the illuminated polar scope on the ZEQ25, its fast and accurate, unlike the experiences I had with my CGEM's polar scope.  I'm in the process now of achieving a polar alignment using the hand controller and mount, but I haven't had much success with this previously.  Kind of difficult to find a target star in the southern sky around here.  Anything less than an ideal star and the azi adjustment knobs don't work for you.  I want to learn this process because I plan on heading up to some black sky locations this summer and want to extend my long exposure times out as far as I can go.  

I do some visual observing and I use my CPC1100 for that, it does a great job, but I have a difficult time carrying it out because I have a couple of damaged body parts and a missing hamstring muscle from the accident.  I want to try imaging with it on a limited basis later on, maybe planetary video since I have two DMK cameras.  I went a little sideways with DSLR cameras, prior to buying a 20Da to start things off, the highest tech camera that I owned was the point and shoot.  After the 20Da I bought a T3 thinking to mod it, but ran into a good deal on a new/used 60Da that I couldn't resist.  So far the camera is working out really well and made easier to operate by using BackyardEOS.  For solar viewing and imaging I use the fantastic PST, but I've had the urge to upgrade the aperture there and at the same time I would love to get my hands on the new iOptron CEM60 mount too.  Dang decisions!

Anyway, that is my life history and I'm looking forward to checking in to learn more about this fascinating hobby and also to pose dumb questions on my part!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 29
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.