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Wednesday: 34-40F. Clear but with rather a lot of cloud. If that makes any sense. Venus very bright in SE with the fine crescent Moon dragging along behind and lower. Going over for a quick peek as the sky brightens. Or not. Much more cloud crossing now and the sky is too bright to make it worth the effort. So I went for my morning walk. I spotted brilliant Venus even against a light, turquoise sky with the rising sun in my eyes.
A contact has kindly suggested using a camera and screen to aid collimation. The idea is to watch the changes in the tiny reflections from the objective lens on the nearby screen. As I turn the collimation screws at the other end of the telescope. It being such a song and dance going back and forth from one end of an 8' tube to the other with the big pier right in the middle.
A bit of online research shows that even a cheap webcam will do. If I had one. My Sony cameras stopped working after a Windows update. I could set up my tablet in a handy spot or even the laptop. More on this later when I have something useful to report. Now I'm wondering if an action camera can see through a Cheshire peephole. We shall soon see.
I couldn't get my laptop nor my tablet to recognise the Sony AS15 action camera. So I persevered with collimation without the help of a camera. The thick cross-wires proved to be a hindrance as the reflections neared the center of the lens. However, I succeeded within the limitations of my equipment. The Cheshire is very floppy in every 1.25" fitting I own. The viewing circle can be rocked well over an inch, or more, relative to the objective lens it is supposed to be aligning!
I enjoyed a brief view of the sun between clouds and saw a pair of spots close together. Which I then confirmed in H-alpha in the 6". I tried a range of eyepieces and the binoviewer in between the clouds. I can use the binoviewer without a GPC 'direct' but not in a star diagonal. 'Straight through' is perfectly comfortable in winter but not so when the sun is much higher in the sky.
The house ridge eventually put an end to the fun after suffering a "half eclipse" in the afternoon. I was very pleased at the improvements to image quality. The sun is not an easy target when so low in the sky. Stellarium says the Sun never got above 12 degrees today.
As it became dark I dragged the laptop back out to the observatory to have another go at Goto slewing. Cartes-Du-Ciel seemed very confused and soon stopped slewing over long distances altogether. I went into the AWR Factory menu and managed to reverse both motors under Ustep>RA>Dir and Dec>Dir. After that C-Du-C managed more sensible slews. I homed in on Polaris after long slews and Synced after an Easterly horizon Sync. I probably ought to add fine, screw driven adjustments in Azimuth. No time to try Stellarium/Scope today.
There is a certain magic about a large telescope moving ponderously across the sky to find the next object automatically. Then to settle over the target with small motor movements to leave a circle over the object on the screen ready to be rewarded with a sync after its warning beep. It's all a far cry from watching a breathless David Peterborough hogging the BBC screen in black and white!
A bit of online research shows that even a cheap webcam will do. If I had one. My Sony cameras stopped working after a Windows update. I could set up my tablet in a handy spot or even the laptop. More on this later when I have something useful to report. Now I'm wondering if an action camera can see through a Cheshire peephole. We shall soon see.
I couldn't get my laptop nor my tablet to recognise the Sony AS15 action camera. So I persevered with collimation without the help of a camera. The thick cross-wires proved to be a hindrance as the reflections neared the center of the lens. However, I succeeded within the limitations of my equipment. The Cheshire is very floppy in every 1.25" fitting I own. The viewing circle can be rocked well over an inch, or more, relative to the objective lens it is supposed to be aligning!
I enjoyed a brief view of the sun between clouds and saw a pair of spots close together. Which I then confirmed in H-alpha in the 6". I tried a range of eyepieces and the binoviewer in between the clouds. I can use the binoviewer without a GPC 'direct' but not in a star diagonal. 'Straight through' is perfectly comfortable in winter but not so when the sun is much higher in the sky.
The house ridge eventually put an end to the fun after suffering a "half eclipse" in the afternoon. I was very pleased at the improvements to image quality. The sun is not an easy target when so low in the sky. Stellarium says the Sun never got above 12 degrees today.
As it became dark I dragged the laptop back out to the observatory to have another go at Goto slewing. Cartes-Du-Ciel seemed very confused and soon stopped slewing over long distances altogether. I went into the AWR Factory menu and managed to reverse both motors under Ustep>RA>Dir and Dec>Dir. After that C-Du-C managed more sensible slews. I homed in on Polaris after long slews and Synced after an Easterly horizon Sync. I probably ought to add fine, screw driven adjustments in Azimuth. No time to try Stellarium/Scope today.
There is a certain magic about a large telescope moving ponderously across the sky to find the next object automatically. Then to settle over the target with small motor movements to leave a circle over the object on the screen ready to be rewarded with a sync after its warning beep. It's all a far cry from watching a breathless David Peterborough hogging the BBC screen in black and white!
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