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2 hours ago, Uplooker said:

Eh up lad thou needs t'be careful, au thir be trouble tat mill.

whadya mean similar twang

 

19 minutes ago, Soupy said:

What's thy talking abat, are t'lugoils decevin' meh?

Oh no a pair of Oirish Stalkers 

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Just a quick reminder peeps, the curry afterwards is the WADAS Christmas meal out. I will be booking seats for all WADAS members as long as you let me know you are coming by Monday. Anyone else who attends the talk is welcome to join us but please bear in mind that the booked seats are for WADAS members who have informed me and the restaurant may not have any spare seating.

 

looking forward to a great night out!

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@Vicky050373 - So it begins... mount stripped, guts removed. Handset’s firmware has been trashed. It powers up (lights come on, but so dim you can only tell if you remove it’s board - the rubber key pad is too thick to be able to tell), but doesn’t reach the bootloader, so basically the handset’s had it. The control board within the mount itself is also fried. A previous owner (prior to you) has had this in pieces before as all the internal screws (down to the ones holding the encoders to the motors) have had their heads chewed up by a ham-fisted ape.

On the upside, the 2 motors are perfect along with their encoder boards. Soooo, stay tuned to https://dirtyastro.com/  :D

The mount’s back together, tightened up the bolts so there’s no slop so should still be perfectly usable as a manual Alt-Az head. Will fetch it on thursday for you! Not started on the RDFs yet.

 

EDIT:  1x  RDF .... fixed!! Battery tension arm was overstrained, so battery wasn’t being clamped tightly against the [-] pad. Judicious bending with pliers was all it needed.

IMG_0332.jpgIMG_0333.jpg

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Cloud !! what Cloud!!!!!!!!!!,

Out for near 7 hour last night, Crystal Clear, Icy, Cold, Tracking sluggish due to  my not charging the Mount fully, no imaging, but smashing night on NGC's and Messiers, quite a bit of moisture about but not enough to spoil the views, Orion was high and very clear at about 12:30, great viewing on  M42 .

Another learning curve regarding charging gear up before a session !!. Shame it was a working day as Winscar would have been great I imagine.

Eric

Just before I packed up, I managed an image, (well part of the Orion Nebula,) I did not have the Focal Length correct, it was nearer 8.3 than 6.3, as it happens, the spacer rings to get me up to 105mm arrived from Sunny China today, so it will be good to have another go using my 6.3 FR & ( 3.3 FR on loan from Gain) at the recommended Focal Train rather 63mm I have been trying with.

eric 

ORION 281116.jpg

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@Marci wow! Can't believe you've got things sorted so quickly. I hope it enables you to get your scope modded. I will follow your thread with interest. I'm not sure if the lad who gave me the scope was even the first owner. He was a strange one, so goodness knows what he did with the scope. At least some of it was useful to you.

@2STAR by heck Eric, you're getting a bit good at this imaging malarkey! I've never seen M42 looking so huge!!! Is that just a single exposure? Great detail and colours there. I like it. I like it a lot :)

I got out for a while last night, and had a scout about visually for a while. However, early in the evening there was a lot of haze around and the sky was very washed out and orange over my way. Couldn't see many of the feinter objects. Had a go with the DSLR on M45 but the images weren't worth spending time processing and they've been relegated to the recycling bin. A total wash out. Decided to try to find galaxy NGC891 again which myself and Damian had viewed last time we were out at Winscar. Couldn't see it in the Equinox 80, although I knew I was bang in the right place. That thing is just too feint and small for an 80mm frac in light polluted skies. Not giving in, plus it wasn't even 8pm and the sky was looking better, I decided to get out the Atik CCD for a go at this little galaxy. Popped in the CCD, managed to eventually get focus and there it was on the chip! Yay! The guding was running very well, so I set it running to see what I could get. Here's my result which I am going to dedicate to Damian as he introduced me to this gorgeous little galaxy (which I still haven't managed to view though my own scope):

NGC891(C23) 28.11.2016
Using Atik 16IC-S monochrome CCD camera on Skywatcher Equinox 80 ED on HEQ5 Pro SynScan mount
A total of 5 x 5 minute and 9 x 10 minute light frames - no filters used
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop Elements 11
NGC891 (C23) is an edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda, and is estimated to be at a distance of 31 million light years.
it is a massive galaxy measuring about 110,000 light years in diameter and has a mass of about 150 billion suns. This beautiful galaxy is seen almost perfectly from it's side from our perspective.

 

NGC891 28.11.2016.jpg

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1 hour ago, Vicky050373 said:

@Marci wow! Can't believe you've got things sorted so quickly. I hope it enables you to get your scope modded. I will follow your thread with interest. I'm not sure if the lad who gave me the scope was even the first owner. He was a strange one, so goodness knows what he did with the scope. At least some of it was useful to you.

@2STAR by heck Eric, you're getting a bit good at this imaging malarkey! I've never seen M42 looking so huge!!! Is that just a single exposure? Great detail and colours there. I like it. I like it a lot :)

I got out for a while last night, and had a scout about visually for a while. However, early in the evening there was a lot of haze around and the sky was very washed out and orange over my way. Couldn't see many of the feinter objects. Had a go with the DSLR on M45 but the images weren't worth spending time processing and they've been relegated to the recycling bin. A total wash out. Decided to try to find galaxy NGC891 again which myself and Damian had viewed last time we were out at Winscar. Couldn't see it in the Equinox 80, although I knew I was bang in the right place. That thing is just too feint and small for an 80mm frac in light polluted skies. Not giving in, plus it wasn't even 8pm and the sky was looking better, I decided to get out the Atik CCD for a go at this little galaxy. Popped in the CCD, managed to eventually get focus and there it was on the chip! Yay! The guding was running very well, so I set it running to see what I could get. Here's my result which I am going to dedicate to Damian as he introduced me to this gorgeous little galaxy (which I still haven't managed to view though my own scope):

NGC891(C23) 28.11.2016
Using Atik 16IC-S monochrome CCD camera on Skywatcher Equinox 80 ED on HEQ5 Pro SynScan mount
A total of 5 x 5 minute and 9 x 10 minute light frames - no filters used
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop Elements 11
NGC891 (C23) is an edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda, and is estimated to be at a distance of 31 million light years.
it is a massive galaxy measuring about 110,000 light years in diameter and has a mass of about 150 billion suns. This beautiful galaxy is seen almost perfectly from it's side from our perspective.

 

NGC891 28.11.2016.jpg

Great image Vicky, it looks to me like your stars are also spot on, great side way on Galaxy shot 

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1 minute ago, 2STAR said:

Great image Vicky, it looks to me like your stars are also spot on, great side way on Galaxy shot 

Not sure about exposure Vicky as I sort of just rushed it a little due to the tracking problem,  but this is a Screen shot I saved , I took 5 screen shots and this was the best, no PS or anything, when I get the Focal imaging Train ok then I am really looking forward to what this camera can do, the software has been updated also to allow longer exposure.

The longest exposure I have used so far is 40 seconds !!!! for M27   

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Ah, thank goodness I didn't bring clouds as my new CCD camera, LRGB filters and other accessories arrived today. Lost the clear evening whilst I was getting the camera sorted and making sure it works ok, which it does. It looks like it is going to be a really nice camera and I can't wait to get imaging with it. Was too late tonight to get set up for an imaging session. Hate wasting a clear night, but I've got too much on this week to risk having another late night. Hope some of you have got out, and I really hope that Damian is having clear skies up on the Isle of Skye :)

image.jpg

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Some nice pictures on here, keep up the good work. Glad to see you've got the Atik 314L camera Vicky, it should provide decent images.

I've been angering the cloud Gods as well, I've fitted the EQ6 Wedge (MkIII latest version) to my mount.

Also, I'm now about halfway through fitting the Rowan Astronomy EQ6 Belt Mod kit - I hope it all goes back together!

 

EQ6_Wedge_MkIII.jpg

Belt_Mod.jpg

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