#1  
Old 12-07-2008, 06:38 PM
AlexN's Avatar
AlexN
Tunnel Vision

AlexN is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Caboolture, Australia
Posts: 6,801
first glimpse using the EQ6pro + 8" Newt...

Tonight was the first time the 8" had been mounted on my EQ6 outside of the house... and whilst the sky only stayed clear for around 20 mins, I am happy to say that the EQ6 was worth every cent!!

after alignment, I wacked in the 30mm ep, grabbed the hand controller and went for something I had never seen before. Centaurus A. She whirred into action! once It stopped, I noticed the eye-piece location was... less than optimal. pointing almost directly upwards at around 6'2" off the deck... Hrmm... I went digging throug the garage, and found a wooden foot stool that I made in year 8 at school (and hadnt used in the 9 years since.) It has finally proved usefull... giving me 1ft extra height, I peered into the eyepiece with much anticipation, and there it was... Cent A wasn't dead center, but it was pretty close... I cant rave on about the view, as to be honest, I could only really make out the halo slightly with the darker lane going through the center... A first for me.

I then went to my most favored object to observe, Jupiter.. a quick look through the 30mm ep just to see where abouts it was.. I centered it using the hand controller, then switched out the 30mm for my 10mm + 2x barlow. Seeing wasnt the best as Jupiter was only at 27°. But what gripped me was the fact that I could simply stand there and observe without continiously nudging the ota... just stood there, and peered at Jupiter for 4 minutes or so and let the EQ6 do its thing....

For me.. that was about the highlight of my astronomy to date... (not counting the first time I saw Jupiter or Saturn..) Just observing with nothing on my mind but the subject.. no 'oop... time to the nudge 'a' roo' just stand there and gaze!

Fantastic!

Just for a check, I put in my ToUcam + extention + 3x barlow to see how long jupiter stayed on the chip for... with the dob, i get 5.8 seconds. with the EQ6, 5 or 6 minutes seems closer.. (although at 27° it looked more like a bowl of red jelly than jupiter)

Clouds rolled in thick and fast, so I promptly parked the scope, took the laptop/OTA/Battery/controller etc. back inside where any possible rain cant get to my precious gear.... put a heavy duty sailors spray jacket over the mount head (covers right from the dovetail adapter down over the top of the tripod including counterweights) and then slipped a plastic garbage bag over the top for extra protection... Hopefully this cloud moves off so I can have some more fun later.

Thats enough out of me..
Alex.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 12-07-2008, 06:43 PM
madtuna's Avatar
madtuna (Steve)
an overactive imagination

madtuna is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Erlistoun WA
Posts: 592
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 12-07-2008, 10:26 PM
Matty P's Avatar
Matty P (Matt)
Star Struck

Matty P is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Canberra
Posts: 2,797
Thats great news Alex, you must be buzzing! It must have been pretty annoying having to pack early though but it sounds like you have got everything working.

Anywho, I'm hoping that you get some good clear skies soon to get some images of the Big Boy with a tracking mount. Just be ready for it.

Keep us posted.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 12-07-2008, 10:45 PM
AlexN's Avatar
AlexN
Tunnel Vision

AlexN is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Caboolture, Australia
Posts: 6,801
I set it back up again about an hour ago.. got 7 or 8 120 second AVI's.. 7.21Gb worth..

Bout to have a look at them on the desktop... see how i went..

Pics in the morning/later this evening sometime.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 12-07-2008, 11:11 PM
Matty P's Avatar
Matty P (Matt)
Star Struck

Matty P is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Canberra
Posts: 2,797
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN View Post
I set it back up again about an hour ago.. got 7 or 8 120 second AVI's.. 7.21Gb worth..

Bout to have a look at them on the desktop... see how i went..

Pics in the morning/later this evening sometime.
I can't wait see the final result.

How was the seeing conditions?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 12-07-2008, 11:26 PM
AlexN's Avatar
AlexN
Tunnel Vision

AlexN is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Caboolture, Australia
Posts: 6,801
not too bad between clouds

First one is about to be posted... onion ringed to the max though.. no idea why??
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 13-07-2008, 11:18 AM
leinad's Avatar
leinad (Dan)
Registered User

leinad is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Perth, WA
Posts: 1,307
Hehe.. sounds exactly like the first night I had with my EQ6.
Check out the Ghost of Jupiter. NGC3242.. love the GOTO !

Unfortunately its been crap weather for weeks.
Setup briefly last night; and couldn't believe how long it had been since last setup when I had to change the date.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 13-07-2008, 10:44 PM
Screwdriverone's Avatar
Screwdriverone (Chris)
I have detailed files....

Screwdriverone is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Kellyville Ridge, NSW Australia
Posts: 3,306
Hee hee hee, sounds like you had a ball Alex.

Must admit, after nudge a nudge nudge with AlexK13's 8 inch Dob at WSAAG last time, it was a pleasure to mosey on back to my piddly little 5 inch scope and watch M104 for about 15 mins hands free with the Eq2 motor doing its thing.

Certainly not Goto or $1500 bucks of metal monster, but a pleasant change from "on your knees nudge-a-scope"

Gear up the Joops!!!

Cheers

Chris
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 13-07-2008, 10:46 PM
Jen's Avatar
Jen
Moving to Pandora

Jen is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Swan Hill
Posts: 7,095
Hi Alex sounds like you had a great nite cheers
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 05:10 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement