E3-2 - It's Here!

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Took delivery of a second hand EQ3-2 and RA motor yesterday. Bolted it all together when I got home and everything seemed to be fine, the motor was whirring away happily. I plan to use it for widefield imaging, although further down the line I might think about a small scope.

In defiance of all known astro-purchasing laws it was a clear night, so I hauled it out to my dark site. While I was waiting for it to get dark I took out my camera tripod and did some lunar imaging with my old 450mm lens...

(About 80 frames stacked, fairly pleased with the result but I've probably over-sharpened it. Oddly, applying the wavelets caused it to break out in a turquoise rash on the left, which I haven't seen before. I've removed the worst of it by reducing saturation, don't suppose anyone has an idea what might have caused that?)

...and tested out another M42 lens, a 35mm f2.4.

A little before eleven I pointed the camera upwards and took a few test exposures, I was surprised by just how blue the sky still was.

At that point discretion got the better of me, with work the next day and setup, tear-down and travel time to think about. I'm a little disappointed with myself but it was probably the smart move, I should have several chances to test things out before I start using it properly in the Autumn. I'll almost certainly buy a polar scope for it, but I'll give drift alignment a try first and see what kind of exposure times I can get with my various lenses.

Looking forward to giving Andromeda a try at 50mm, and my 250mm might be good for open and globular clusters.

[Gonzo]

There is a thread somewhere in this forum about an EQ3-2 tear down and another one for some easy mods to improve it.

If you're using the original aluminium  tripod, sand in the legs does wonder.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Thanks, I probably don't need to do anything with it right now as I'm just using it to drive my camera, but that could be handy further down the line. I've had a couple test runs with it and it seems to be whirring away happily, the next step is a longer run on a moonless night.