[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Today the weather in Melbourne was perfect! A nice 21 degrees and sunny during the day. While keeping an eye on the sky on the way home and on my way to squash it was super clear. Came home at 8 and after I had a shower and freshened up I decided to setup the scope and test out the new equipment I got and to make sure everything is ready by mid November for Snake Valley.

Things to test
- Weigh and balance the mount to achieve three different types of setups. This includes visual, CCD with filter wheel and DSLR (did this the other day and weight is perfect!) and + or - guidescope
- Setup autoguider with QHY and use PHD2
- StarryNight connection with ASCOM over Bluetooth
- How to do a star alignment with StarryNight using ASCOM over Bluetooth
- Attempt to capture Saturn with the Flea3 (no filter wheel)

What I achieved
- The connection with StarryNight worked a treat. Detected the scope through EQMOD
- The polar alignment was out by a lot so after finally finding Saturn (forgot to align the finderscope with the OTA so had to do this manually which took 15 minutes) I then synced it in StarryNight. After that I aligned Rigel and performed another sync. Once that was complete I slewed back and forth between those two objects and Saturn pretty much stayed centered so was very happy with that result. It can be refined further when out in the field but for home it's more than enough
- QHY talks to PHD2 perfectly

What I still need to test
- How to autoguide! Never done it before so a total beginner at it. I need to read up on how to use PHD2 and also learn about taking darks, flats, etc.
- The gamepad worked well at the start of the night but then it lost connection and stopped working. Looks like it's a driver issue so will need to test that out.
- DSLR with BackyardEOS

Questions of some confusing things!
- When trying to capture Saturn with my Flea3 it didn't seem very clear. It seemed to be lacking detail. Also I had to put my gain and exposure up almost max to see it. I don't remember having to do this with my other cameras I have had in the past. Also it was in focus but could it be weather related?
- I tried using the Flea3 and a Barlow without my diagonal but I couldn't get an image to show. Do you need a diagonal to get an image with any camera?

The mount seemed OK but does feel a little off. I did order the HEQ5 Pro belt mod upgrade kit as the crunching of the gears puts me off! Also after all the reviews I have read everyone is saying it's a mod well worth doing.

The light cloud cover ended the session however I do need to get up early for work tomorrow! Other than the possums making noises (which scares the crap out of me at night) and some bats in the distance it was a nice night. Temperature is good, had a few mozzies bite me at the beginning but they have now gone.

Cheers,
Stefan.