A man with a Plan.

[ncjunk]

I am looking forward to tonight as it looks like it is clear and calm and I have just finished loading ACP with the images I want to take tonight.

So heres the list:-

;

; --------------------------------------------

; This plan was generated by ACP Planner 3.1.3

; --------------------------------------------

;

; For: Neil

; Targets: 7

; Start Imaging: 08-Jan-2010 21:31:54 (local)

; Total Time: 09:29:45

; === Target b 33 ===

;

#waituntil 1, 08-Jan-2010 20:31:54 ; UTC (21:31:54 local)

#count 15

#interval 300

#binning 1

b 33

;

; === Target m 81 ===

;

#waituntil 1, 08-Jan-2010 22:07:19 ; UTC (23:07:19 local)

#count 8

#interval 300

#binning 1

m 81

;

; === Target m 108 ===

;

#waituntil 1, 08-Jan-2010 22:59:29 ; UTC (23:59:29 local)

#count 16

#interval 300

#binning 1

m 108

;

; === Target ngc 3628 ===

;

#waituntil 1, 09-Jan-2010 00:41:39 ; UTC (01:41:39 local)

#count 15

#interval 300

#binning 1

ngc 3628

;

; === Target m 51 ===

;

#waituntil 1, 09-Jan-2010 02:17:34 ; UTC (03:17:34 local)

#count 10

#interval 300

#binning 1

m 51

;

; === Target m 64 ===

;

#waituntil 1, 09-Jan-2010 03:22:14 ; UTC (04:22:14 local)

#count 15

#interval 300

#binning 1

m 64

;

; === Target M101 ===

;

#waituntil 1, 09-Jan-2010 04:58:09 ; UTC (05:58:09 local)

#count 10

#interval 300

#binning 1

M101

;

; -----------

; END OF PLAN

; -----------

;

I can´t wait and I am looking forward to catching M64 as I have not seen that one yet.

It´s always nice to wake up in the morning not sure if everything has worked, been stolen or rained upon

2 clear nights in a row...I am feeling faint.

[Psychobilly]

Good luck Neil...

I still pour over the S&T Pocket Sky Atlas and Stellarium or the Sky to do my "planning" ... I'll give the Free software a go....

Billy...

[ncjunk]

My planning involves looking through CdC for anything I like the look of. The ACP planner is just to put it in the correct format to run in ACP.

I don´t have time to play tonight so it is a case of setting it all going and hope.

I may have a quick play if my boy wakes me in the middle of the night....always a good excuse..get him to sleep and then check on the progress!

[Psychobilly]

looks like TheSky6 can do it all for me seeing as I dont have all the fancy CCD gizmos...

[ncjunk]

oh I have some great fancy software but I can´t seem to pin down why my RA plot keeps jumping every minute or so. its buggering up my images.

I have tightened the focuser and I slightly unbalanced the mount to try to put a slight load on it...

I am a bit lost at the moment. I will sit in the shed tomorrow staring blankly at the mount and randomly tightening things.

I am beginning to dream about the RA graph in my nightmares..

[Psychobilly]

I have been as well but largely seem to have got mine sorted... Well at least in RA and almost there in DEC... need to Acetone off the ALT clutch though as someone in the factory got rather carried away with the threadlock so its been "glued" to the shaft...

[ncjunk]

I am thinking of taking the RA apart and having a look just to see if that is a problem and regreasing it...even if that isn´t causing it, it is still worth doing.

Still, the M81 subs tonight are going well (RA seems ok at that position in the sky)

going to get 20 x 300s subs.

[Euan]

Sounds great Neil

I'm right into the whole automation thing (it's what I do for a job), although I've made a bit of my u-turn with my own kit. It was all running the other night and got covered in unexpected snow. I just use plate solving and auto-focusing now but still do a lot of manual things and check on it every so often

I suppose proper weather monitoring is the answer, it's not cheap though!

[ncjunk]

Yep, I am getting there slowly. I am an Automation Engineer as well but from the pharmaceutical side of things. So I tend to work with UFDF skids, purified water systems, fermenters...manly things that heat, presurise or filter.

I tend to be at the software end so I start getting confused when I have to do something mechanical (I understand how the work its just my hands don´t work properly!)

[Psychobilly]

My plans turned to "Lentil soup" about 10 pm... Throwing away way too many subs so called it a night...

[ncjunk]

I started with B33 and a cloud passed by and the guiding threw a wobbly...so then started on M 81 and went to bed.

Got up at 2:30 and found that the camera link had gone so had to disconnect and reconnect the usb cable and de-ice the scope :-D

then started an M64 run (got 19 subs) and an M51 run (7subs and then the scopes iced again...but i was in bed)

The inside of the shed was completly iced up! I enjoyed it but am now in trouble for closing the shed roof before saying good morning to the guapa wife!

Doh!