intro By way of an intro

[Asellus]

A bit of an introduction.

I'm based on the east coast in Scotland & had been doing visual astronomy for 20+ years - mostly an Orion Optics 300mm f5.4 Dob. I stopped for a while (logbook says October 2008), but just over a year ago dug out the telescope to show some friends on Twitch some views of the moon. My eyesight is not quite what it used to be and so now I've mostly switched from visual to EEVA. I'm enjoying doing astronomy from the living room!

Current set-up is either the Orion Optics 300mm now on an EQ6R pro or an WO GT71 on the same mount. Using an uncooled ASI294mc for capture with a mix of ASI and Sharpcap software depending on the target. August to May I’ve mainly being doing deep-sky EEVA and lunar lucky imaging. Over summer when we don’t have any night to speak of, I’ve switched over to solar white-light, and H-alpha (Lunt LS60TH).

I’ve been streaming a lot of my sessions on Twitch for friends on there and it’s been very good motivation to keep going and get set up outside even if the conditions are not ideal - I think that was my original downfall. As with everyone I’m still learning lots as I go along and have found Stargazers lounge a really useful source of info over the years. A big thanks to you all for that! You may not realise it but you help out an awful lot of people who just lurk here - both new and old to the hobby.

I’ve not done a lot of deep-sky astro-imaging – I don’t think I have the patience or skill for that. Apart from their general beauty, I guess a lot of my interest is trying to get to know a bit of the science behind the objects. Hopefully I’ll be able to post something interesting in the solar/lunar/EEVA sections in the coming weeks.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Cornelius Varley
text colour removed

[banjaxed]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[fozzybear]

Hi welcome officially to SGL.

[Floater]

Welcome. Glad you said hello. 🙂

You’re obviously well on top of everything and showing a lot more actual application than I have recently. Must get that sorted!

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi and welcome. 

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL

[barbulo]

Welcome to SGL!

[Jimbo64]

Hi and welcome.

[Greymouser]

Hi and welcome to SGL. Out of idle curiosity, do you have it all set up permanently? Only I can imagine that being a pain to set up and tear down each night.

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL 

[bosun21]

Hi 👋 welcome to the lounge 

[Asellus]

16 hours ago, Greymouser said:

Hi and welcome to SGL. Out of idle curiosity, do you have it all set up permanently? Only I can imagine that being a pain to set up and tear down each night.

Thanks for the warm welcomes.

Not a permanent setup at all, everything in taken out to a sunken garden which gives good protection from the wind & what little local lighting there is. Takes about 45 mins - 1 hour to get up and running & 20-30 mins to get it all back indoors. That includes getting the stream up too. If it was just the mount/scope/cables would be 10 mins or so less. The longest single part is probably polar alignment, but using Sharpcap's plate solving for that isn't too bad. Once set up and focused everything is controlled from the living room through a 15m USB cable to a powered USB hub at the scope. I've basically got use to it so mostly am running on "automatic" now. In all honestly setting up streams for other things takes about the same time - so, though it might seem a long set-up/break-down, my mind doesn't see it that way. 🙂

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire  🙂