An unexpected imaging occasion

[wimvb]

Yesterday had a gap in the clouds, quite unexpectedly. As clouds were supposed to close the gap by 10 pm, I used this occasion to test my new Raspberry Pi configuration (ubuntu mate, indi, phd). While sitting comfortably in my room, I controlled the rig from both PixInsight and Ekos/Kstars. Only polar drift alignment required outdoor action.

The gap didn't close untill well after midnight, when temperature had dropped to the low noise numbers. (-11 C, according to my guide camera). This is what I met when ready to take my gear indoors.

The diy dew shield/heater worked very well, no frost on the lens, the secondary mirror or the coma corrector. (The dew shield is black, not gray.)

Also nice to have verified that the mount works great outside its specified temperature range. The dslr is weather proofed, and survived flawlessly. But I did need thick gloves when carrying all that metal inside.

And seeing was too poor for any decent imaging.

[alexbb]

And what did you image? M81-M82?

[wimvb]

Ngc 2903, with the guidescope/camera. Since I used this session to test my setup, and seeing was poor, I didn't use the dslr. It was only a dead weight to get proper balance. But on the next occasion ( friday, saturday), I plan to collect more data on just those two objects.

I have a feeling that PHD is slightly better at guiding than lin_guider (better rms value), but lin_guider is more "push here, dummy" than PHD.

[gonzostar]

Hi

What is you make your dew shield out off? I am still waiting for a clear night February has being frustrating here! 

Dean

[wimvb]

It's made from a foam rubber sheet, 3 mm thick, bought in a local hobby store. Velcro strips along the edge for easy removal. On the inside, near the scope, is a homemade dew heater which is made from NiCr wire (4 windings) that is powered by a 12 V battery. Controller is an LED dimmer (12 V, 8 A but with a 5 A fuse).

The small black box with the blue connector (right tripod leg) is the Raspberry Pi that controls the scope/guider.