17.10.2020 AR2776 in poor seeing conditions.

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Saturday 17th 10.00 50/46F calm, clear sky, with bright sunshine.

The first slew was amusing. ASCOM[AWR] had reversed the Dec drive direction overnight. So the telescopes ended up pointing 60° upwards!

No objective dew this morning. Perhaps thanks to the new lens cap?

Poor seeing to start with. Double checked focus at 200mm from the etalon and locked the focuser. Had to reduce to 1.6x GPC to get a sharper image.

10.48 first usable image. Though most of it is due to the magic of ImPPG!

11.00 Only now beginning to see detail on the monitor. Not having to push the processing so hard.

12.07 57/48F  Been struggling for sharpness for an hour. Seeing slightly improved. I need a focuser in front of the camera! 

1.6x GPC needs 233mm etalon to camera [focus] spacing.

This image had extra sharpening.

Blogger image spacing impossible!

This image had both extra sharpening and contrast.

 

 

12.20 first cloud has arrived from the north! Suddenly feeling cold.

 

 

15.15 A brief glimpse of sunshine. The "weather" has gone around to the west. A teaser! Tracking the sun and waiting for the next break. 

 

16.15 before sudden brightness.

 

 I have received some expert advice on things to try regarding optical alignment and obtaining even illumination/bandwidth across the image. Rotation of each of the numerous, optical elements is advised to find the best image. Each element is sightly tilted. So may well respond to rotation relative to each other.

First I  used the Cheshire eyepiece to align the new focuser using the screw adjustable, leveling base plate. The cross hairs remained central in the red, objective circle as I rotated the focuser. No need for a light. I just pointed the telescope at the sky. There was plenty of light coming through the D-ERF to see the crosshairs clearly silhouetted. I used a compression band, 2" to 1.25" adapter to try and ensure alignment in the focuser's draw tube.

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