one monkey typing

I got my scope out for the first time in I don't even know how long. Years. There was a printout from 2005 in the eyepiece case, though I THINK it hasn't been that long.

My equipment needs attention. The chair I built many years ago, the prop strut on the back has come unglued. I'd actually like to build something a little better, I have some ideas though I'm going to see what's on the market first. I'd like something like a drummer's throne but hydraulic, and it should have more adjustment than that. With a 10" I don't need the range I did with the 15" scope. It'd be nice if there was some way to hold a sketch pad as well.

I also need better eyepiece holders, the Orion has one 2" hole and 4 or 5 1.25" ones - I'd prefer about 4 or more 2" holes, I'll put every 1.25" eyepiece into a 2" adapter and just leave it there.

I should remove the computer from the scope, I'm not at all interested in using it.

The rubber rings fell apart and came off the focus knobs but I don't care about that.

The scope was out of collimation but I pretty much fixed that before starting.

I REALLY REALLY need to build an eq platform for my scope. SO irritating having to manually track while I'm trying to sketch. I want to do a 3D printed parts set, using OpenSCAD, making it parametric so you can just type in your latitude and platform size and it'll print out a parts kit for you. Also need a quick and dirty stepper driver, probably base it on one of the tiny Arduinos, maybe even the Digispark (they're $2 each).

I should buy another copy of Turn Left - the one I have is the one with all 4 signatures on it (Guy, Dan Davis, Todd and Mary Lynn) so I probably shouldn't take it out in the dew very much.

I didn't do a ton, mainly just initial shakeout of the equipment. I did a few sketches. Started with a log page with a couple of sketch spots, but then printed some pages with just 3 sketch areas per page and a small notes area, after I remembered I'd rather sketch than write notes. I' posting them at this album on Google Photos.

Good news, the inexpensive $14 dovetail mount I bought from Orion fits the scope (after a trip to town to buy the proper screws and a little drilling and thread-chasing in one of the holes, and some time at the bench grinder to turn the 1" screw to a 7/8" screw). So I don't have to buy the $90 worth of parts Losmandy wanted to do the same thing. They are correct, this bar wouldn't have fit the original scope, but the used tube that I bought had new holes drilled in it that exactly fit this bar.

And, the $12 power cable I got from Orion also works fine, and was a lot cheaper than the $25 cable from Celestron which AFAICT is the same thing. Though this scope has slots for a whole raftload of AA batteries, you really want to run this off a 12V external battery or a car socket; it destroys a set of AA alkalines in about 2 hours, and won't run off NiMHs due to the low voltage. Since I have a 12V jumper pack anyway, problem solved.

So here it is. Now I just need a clear and non-freezing day to make sure the thing works OK. I mean, it powers up and moves around, but I can't align it or test it without seeing the stars.


( closeup of the dovetail bar )

After paying bills this morning, I ordered the last major Astronomy bit - a base and tripod for the telescope tube that showed up last night. I got it from a place I'd never shopped before, Optics Planet, over in the Chicago area. I'm normally pretty careful about lowest price, but the video on their website led me to believe that they seemed like a legit company.

They had it in stock in their warehouse and had the lowest price and free shipping, they confirmed stock on the phone and I had a tracking number via email within an hour.

This will let me put all the pieces together next week, to make sure everything works with plenty of time to fiddle or get additional parts before it gets warm enough that I'm likely to want to use the thing much.

I found out a week or so ago that you can buy just the tripod and computer base for the NexStar series without the optical assembly for $450 shipped. So I've been keeping an eye on the used market for optical tubes. Last night a very good looking 8" optical tube with the 2" diagonal that was on my "must buy" list anyway (and costs $125 alone) came up for $400 shipped. I do need to buy a dovetail bracket to mate the two together, so all together the scope, mount and bracket will be in the $910 range, but since these normally go for $1200 (and that's a historic low, 2 years ago they were selling for $1550 or so) plus $125 for the diagonal, I decided to go for it, given the $400 savings.

I'll probably hold off on getting the tripod and base for a little while, but I'll probably have the whole thing active by mid-spring.

So, it having been about 10 years since I was actually in the market for a new telescope, and I haven't subscribed to any of the major astronomy magazines for about 6 years, I've been re-familiarizing myself with the market.
( rambling of limited interest )

I have a deposit on the telescope. I wound up letting it go for $2000, which is below parts cost, but I guess in the end I used it for 10 years and lost about $400, so I can't complain a lot. I do have to drive to Toledo at some point and deliver it and get the remainder of the cash for it.

This afternoon I shipped out my last couple of eyepieces and the laser collimator.

The only thing left is a somewhat bedraggled old eyepiece case and a cheap collimation tool, a couple of planispheres, a couple of maps and the two-volume "Night Sky Observer's Guide" which I am so impressed by that I haven't been able to let it go yet. I probably should though. If I get another telescope it will be small and that book set is mainly good for 8 inch and up scopes.

Yeah, I guess I may as well list it tonight. It'll just sit there otherwise.

In the next year, I'd like to:
- Observe some minor planets. I've never done this before. Pallas and Pluto would be good. I don't think Ceres is observable from where I am in the next year.
- Finish the Messier list - there are a few stragglers.
- Sketch more of the Messier list - I doubt I'll finish the list anytime soon but I could get farther.
- Make an effort on the Herschel 400 list. I think I'm stalled at around 100 objects. I need to move all my observing logs into SkyTools 3 in order to figure out what to do next.

The sky is relatively clear tonight, so in prep for having the new camera at Berzerker, I took a few long exposure frames. An 8 minute exposure was just silly, the sky was completely white, and the corner of the frame with the garage in it looked like a badly overexposed image taken in daylight.

I tried to do some star trails, but even at 2 minutes the sky glow was getting bad so I won't be able to do any good star trails from this location (unless I get a lucky break and the power goes out over a wide area and the skies are clear at the same time - this unfortunately rarely happens - power failures are usually associated with cloudy skies).

So anyway, here's a 10 second exposure at ISO 1600, f/4.5. First, a 300% crop of Alcor/Mizar - yes, I can see some elongation of Mizar indicating the close double, and even a bit of a blob between the two and to one side, closer to Alcor, which is Sidus. Pretty impressive considering I took a wild, half-blind attempt at manual focusing by pointing at a neighbor's porch light. These are with the 18-55 kit lens, btw.



Here's the full frame. Click on it to go to the album for a larger version.

First time in TWO YEARS I've had a telescope out.

I wound up using the little Astroscan. It's not bad for what it is, but 1/12 the light gathering of my "normal" 15" scope, it's really hard to get excited about it. Also it's a very wide angle scope, and even with a 5mm eyepiece, I can't get much magnification out of it. And my eyepieces are mostly so large and heavy that it's hard to use the scope with them; it just nosedives.

observing report here

Rotten pictures, but oh well. Here's a collage (so cliché). Obviously the exposure is different on the last frame.