17.07.2021

 *

 Saturday 17th Clear, bright, warm day. 

10.03 The seeing will not support more than the 1.6x GPC. Soft with thermal simmering. Difficult to find focus.

Despite my hopes for a cure, from the 1.25x etalon GPC, the lighting and on-band area is still not even across the entire frame. 

This one is using 800x800 and I spent a lot of time adjusting the PST etalon. The lower half of the frame has a different texture to the upper and is lighter. Suggesting it is on a different wavelength.
 

I have spent the morning repeatedly dismantling the etalon and rebuilding it. Changes in tightness achieved nothing useful. I removed the Baader 1.25x GPC, behind the etalon and refitted it. Playing with the settings in the software did not offer any improvement. The seeing remains thermally shaky and mushy!

On a positive note: The HitecAstro remote control for the DC focuser motor is working perfectly. I have it set to 50 [arrowed] and can jog the focus in and out in tiny steps with a light tap of the mouse in the upper boxes. 

Holding the cursor there will run the motor continuously. A further tap will stop the motor. Remote control means the telescope doesn't need to be touched. Trying to focus a shaky image on the monitor is hopeless. Particularly when the focuser is over six feet away from the monitor.

The user can purchase a second control box so that two motors can be controlled independently. Handy for twin OTAs on the same mounting. For this, it is important to purchase the correct control box.  You need a DC & a DC 2 [ringed.] Note that both are V2 models just to add to the confusion. A separate software driver for the DC 2 has to be downloaded from the HitecAstro website too.

Focuser position is repeatable but never intended to offer the precision of a stepper motor with matching timing pulleys and belts.

12.15 78F in the dome.  I have given up trying to image due to the dreadful seeing conditions. The dome has been turned to the north. To shade the contents while still allowing free air movement though the slit.

I so rarely turn the dome away from the 180° of the southern sky. It seems very odd to have overhanging oak trees only a few feet from the dome.

My wife grew all of these red oaks [Quercus rubra] from acorns. The once, tiny saplings seem to have doubled in height every couple of years since they were planted. I am allowed to trim branches which press against the dome but am denied full chainsaw approval.

The tallest oak is over twice the height of the dome now. Her willows [Salix "moonrocket"] have grown from pencil sized off-cuts, to three times that height!

 

*