Observing again

I've got my super nice mount, but no AC Adapter. I've got gear on the way, but it was clear tonight and not too cold. It's been since December w/o any observing and I wanted to just spend some time under the stars.

This image shows the Hyades (lower left) and Pleiads (upper right) both in Taurus. I spent some time admiring the Hyades and enjoying the view through the 70mm refractor. I don't normally like observing with anything less than my 10", but this was easy to grab and I didn't anticipate spending long out there (an hour at the most). Using a 40mm EP to get a wide view was optimum.

We often spend so much time hunting faint fuzzies that we forget how beautiful individual stars are. Sirius is a blue diamond floating in the sky that just gets brighter and brighter the longer you look at it. Below I looked at M41 and the stars in it were pin-prick sharp.

Regulus in Leo was another very nice star to observe tonight. I enjoyed myself and for a school night that's about as much as I can ask for. I'm sure my camera and AC adapter will herald the coming clouds. Hope not, since I've got a star party to attend Saturday. I promise not to bring any new equipment as long as I can go and enjoy the sky.

Snow, Rain, Clouds and a new mount

So I'm home from Louisiana with my newly acquired mount. It's an Atlas EQ-G and heavy enough to get the job done. I'm embarrassed to say that I've not been able to find an extra $40 to get the power adapter, so it's essentially an office statue extolling the virtues of engineering and astronomy. I had some success getting it connected to my shabby laptop and if I can get the power situation worked out I'll be in good shape to get some guidance out of it.



The seller had a few other items that I ended up needing and one was an 8mm Orion Stratus wide field eyepiece. I have to say it's pretty amazing to see Orion's Nebula using an EP like that. You have some difficulty seeing everything it has to offer without moving your eye around. It's truly a window into space :) I looked at the Nebula, Mizar (in the Big Dipper) and just casually looked around at various stars. I've not had much ambition lately, but getting new equipment and waiting the week for the clouds to blow off has made me more patient somehow.



If I had the ca$h to get the power adapter I might not be so patient :)

Resolve... to save

So I've been struggling with choices. I've sold (via the forums on cloudynights.net) several pieces of equipment and amassed a little over $1000 towards my ultimate goal of having an imaging setup. Playing w/ the DSI 2 (last post) has given me a taste of what imaging would be like and I like it (for the most part). The learning curve is steep to say the least, but I think with the right equipment I'll be able to get it figured out.

I spent a bunch of time considering smaller mounts and trying to talk myself into compromising (like the V6 instead of the Hemi) and it looks like this time I'm going all in and getting the big one. I'm looking at the Orion Atlas Goto Mount and even though I have to save up to get it I'm confident it'll be the last mount I need for a long, long time. It's 76 lbs fully assembled, so it's a beast and from the online reviews looks to be awesome for photography.

The other items I'll need are as follows:

- Deep Sky Imager (probably one of the PRO versions that has a mono camera and uses filters on a slide or wheel)
- Electronic Focuser (so I can get it aligned and completely control it remotely)
- Bahtinov Mask (a nice one instead of my cardboard one so I can get the focus nailed)
- Possibly a nicer focuser (I'm using the stock Crayford single speed that came with the scope and I bet a feather touch or two speed would be nice)
- Guide scope (I might repurpose the little 70mm we have for this job w/ some piggyback rings and a small imager)

So... probably $1000 more beyond the mount and I'll have a respectable imager, but it looks like between now and then I can play around with my big scope and maybe grab a Planetary Imager ($99) to do some small stuff with.

Either way I'm on the road to full on astrophotography and I'm trying not to buy any throwaway items. :)

* * * (Orion's Belt)

I did pull the big black 10" out last night and right before the clouds set in got some looking at Orion's Nebula. I forget how badass that scope is until I whip it out (uncollimated even) and it shines. I'm glad to have the aperture (and to be working out regularly so I can carry it around).

First attempt at photography

First try at imaging - ETX 90 with Meade DSI II


Tycho (sorry about the dust circles, but that's part of the learning curve).


First attempt at Orion's Nebula - At first I wasn't too impressed, but below is after I used photoshop to tweak the levels down a bit :)