Just wait and see what Ken did

[leon]

Hi All

Just Briefly, tried out the 12" Scope that i recently bought from Ziggy (Tony) in WA.
All my concerns of how to drive it melted away, as it performed without a problem, and tracked perfectly.

Although the Moon was bright, we, Ken and Myself stayed out till 2am and observed many objects,

47 Tuc was exceptional, fantastic, plus heaps more.

Ken with his ED 80 and that little TouCam of his did magic, he is going to post later

Anyway thanks to all who gave me advice on the 12", and how to work it.

This is what it looks like now pearched on it's pier.

Cheers Leon

[h0ughy]

congrats and well done. my 12 will be going on life minus the fork mount and be mounted on an eq6 on a pier.

[leon]

Thanks Houghy,

Yea it all went very well, even suprised myself, by hell they are clever little machines. :P

cheers leon

[[1ponders]]

Glad to hear it's up and running like a dream Leon. They are a sweet system that's for sure.



Now where are these piccies that Ken took. I think you might have to get on the phone and harrass him a bit Leon :lol:

[janoskiss]

Come on Ken! Don't keep us in suspense for too long! :jump2:

[leon]

Just Rang him.... :shrug:

Leon

[Striker]

Come on Ken,

Its painful waiting...if I have to wait any longer I will have to look for something else to sell....lol

[ballaratdragons]

Hi all. Leons 12" works a charm and gives fantastic views :thumbsup:

All I can say about the pics I got with the ED80 is that they are 'Miracle' shots!

Why 'Miracle'? - Because I did NOTHING by the book :lol:

I arrived at Leons to help him with his Meade 12" and I just plopped my mount down sort of facing near South. And that's where it stayed!

I did no polar alignment, no drift alignment, no Latitude setting, I used the wobbly little EQ1, I used the little battery box to track, the Moon was washing everything out, and there was light pollution in every direction.

Even I am suprised at the results! They are the best I have ever got with the Toucam :)

Here are the results:

Pic 1: The colours of the Moon - Philips Toucam Program, 300 fames stacked.

Pic 2: 47 Tuc - 1 single 18 second frame in Desire.

Pic 3: Orion Neb (only about 20 degrees above the horizon! and down in Ballarats lights) 1 single 18 second frame in Desire.

[EzyStyles]

im dribbling on your setup leon. what a scope and great to hear that it is working well.

nice pics ken, esp the colours of the moon shot.

[[1ponders]]

:lol: You kill me Ken :lol:

Here we are spending hours trying to get our alignment right, get the autoguider happening, making sure the balance if spot on, making sure the mount is talking to the laptop, checking we've got enough battery power, checking that we've got the latest upgrades of everything and you come along with a ToUcam and an EQ1 mount and pop our balloon of delusions :lol:

Great shots :thumbsup:

[leon]

Thanks Eric, yea i drool over it to, just to look at it makes me all fuzzy :lol:

That's the way Ken did it. NO BULL :eyepop:

Cheers leon

[janoskiss]

I cannot believe that 47 Tuc shot, Ken! Didn't anyone tell you the Toucam is not suitable for deep sky! I guess they did but you're so stubborn and just won't listen. :eyepop:

[RB]

Fantastic shots Ken, sometimes the best shots are the ones where you do the least amount of preporation for.
Ken great to see your Meade up and running, they're amazing to watch aren't they?

[leon]

Bloody stubborn is right, wont give up untill he gets 3 million shots in, and then you have to throw him out the gate :lol: :lol: :lol:

It was a good night Ken :thumbsup:

Leon

[ballaratdragons]

Gee thanks Andrew, but I think you mean 'Leon'. :rofl:

Yep, I had a great night thanks Leon. I'm hard to get rid of when I'm capturing stuff :lol:

P.S. it wasn't 3 million shots!!! It was several thousand avi frames and about 350 long exposures :D :lol:

[h0ughy]

hey ken whats that blue star!! Nice job mate!!

[ballaratdragons]

Houghy,

that's Tucanae Hottus Pixelatus,

:P

[Striker]

Your producing some nice stuff Kenny the astrophotographer.

I like that Tuc 47.

[RB]

:doh: Yep I meant Leon...you guys look so much alike even your names look the same.....:lol:

[ballaratdragons]

Oh, by the way, I just remembered. Apart from Ballarats light pollution we were standing just outside the shed door and the shed light was on!!! :lol:

So, as you can imagine, we had NO dark adaption :doh:

[beren]

:) Top setup Leon and top pics Ken

[acropolite]

Nice results....and welcome to the dark side Ken & Leon....:P

[Striker]

They are the same..1 is the back and 1 is the front...I wont dare to say who the back is....lol

[ballaratdragons]

:rofl:



Yeah, the 47 tuc amazed me too, Tony the Toenail :lol:

[mickkk]

Ohhh yes, thats what I want to do. I dont understand how youve done it but those pics are what I have always wanted to make.

Im about $3000.00 short though.

Another one on the list for tattslotto!

[ballaratdragons]

Hi Mick.

You don't need $3000 to take astropics. It would help, but you can start out very basic.

$300 - $600 will get you a good dob, and you can just hold up a pocket camera to the eyepiece. That's how many of us started out.

Toucams, Neximage etc are under $500. All you need for them is a computer.

[shaneaust]

Hey Ken:

I know the below post is months old, but what did you mean by the "little battery box" that you used for tracking? What's a "Little Battery Box"??

Ta:

Mick

[ballaratdragons]

Hi Shane,

It's funny seeing an old thread bumped :lol:

The 'little battery box' is a small self-contained drive for EQ1 & EQ2 mounts.
It is a small plastic box with motor and 9 volt battery in it, and it just bolts onto the mount. The mounts come with the bolt already supplied for mounting.

You can get them from Bintel, Andrews, MyAstroShop, AOE, etc. Bintel have them for $49, dunno how much at the other shops.

Here is a pic of mine attached to the EQ1 :thumbsup:

[g__day]

With a pier set-up why not mount it as a equatorial by slanting the base of your pier like a permanent giant wedge?