Latest Joves...

[Kokatha man]

Hi SGL folks - I haven't posted for a long while & tbh we haven't managed very much imaging this year for a number of reason so far...equipment hassles but mainly clouds...clouds & more clouds!

We had to resort to the venerable ASI224MC last week where the seeing was pretty decent - here's an image from that morning (26th March) as well as a 24-frame reversing animation using WinJupos to interpolate additional frames to complement the number of captures we actually took by making additional frames from adjacent captures...

We also lashed out & bought a Stellarvue 10x60 finder scope & mounted it on a SkyWatcher  adjustable alt/az guidescape mount which is secured via a dovetail bar & clamp to an extra "rail" I constructed from 3mm thick folded aluminium -this device to come in useful for hunting down Neptune more easily later in the year.

Lastly I converted an old aluminium pier with detachable legs to accept the EQ8 head with a plate I made from a piece of scrap plate aluminium - the ability to break this all down into 4 very light & small pieces (3 legs & the pier column) means it is much simpler & far lighter/easy to take with us & assemble...the 3 self-levelling adjustable height feet I purchased for the legs makes levelling the entire setup much simpler, it's a veritable breeze now & weighs so much less than the very heavy stock steel EQ8 tripod!   

Hopefully the animated gif won't need clicking on to start its motion!

 

 

[Kokatha man]

...another pikky showing the Stellarvue finder a bit better - I can slide its dovetail bar & the finder back & forth in its clamp for fine Dec balance btw!

This finder has focusing for both the ep (interchangeable) as well as the variable-illuminated X-hairs - the extra grunt of a 60mm objective is quite palpable & the finely illuminated X-hairs with adjustable brightness are a real boon after the old stock GSO 8x50 finder I used beforehand with a red LED dangling in front of it for illumination!   I can adjust the prism angle to suit any position that I or the scope is in also!

[Pete Presland]

An excellent image and GIF, some really nice there despite those clouds.

[SIDO]

Very nice imagry and the gif is awesome, a very nice setup too...Impressive...

[Kokatha man]

Thanks fellas!

[Stargazer33]

Lovely image and amazing animation!

[Startinez]

Amazing imaging. What is the telescope please?

[Kokatha man]

4 hours ago, Startinez said:

Amazing imaging. What is the telescope please?

Thanks fellas - the scope details are in the first image posted bro  - a C14!  

[Startinez]

8 hours ago, Kokatha man said:

Thanks fellas - the scope details are in the first image posted bro  - a C14!  

Thank you. I guess that shows just how inexperienced I am that I didn't know that was a telescope model!

[orion25]

Awesome gif! Excellent work, Kman! Work that C14! 

Cheers,

Reggie

[Kokatha man]

Thanks bro! We sure do push that C14 Reggie...thought lashing out & spending a few bucks as well as doing the DIY stuff made things easier!