Paul Haese
16-08-2009, 06:38 PM
Well; seeing was absolutely terrible last night. Adelaide had storms but Clayton was clear until about 1130. So I tried my luck with a couple of DSO's
The Lagoon was just a test to see if I have the collimation right. I suspect that the collimation is still not 100% but getting closer after the baffle modification. I focused the telescope twice with a Bahtinov mask and focus did not change, I could see the stars moving rapidly just with the live view.
Lagoon (http://paulhaese.net/lagoonsectioned.html)
With sculptor galaxy rising later in the evening I thought I would give this a try after taking one image of the Helix and seeing how bad the image was near the horizon. I should have not bothered. The seeing up to 40 degrees from the horizon was shocking and the image shows it. Still one must try, it might be several weeks before I can try another DSO. One good thing though is that this image scale is huge.
NGC253 (http://paulhaese.net/NGC253closeup.html)
Overall I am happy with the guiding, as I have changed the settings in PHD to reflect the seeing component. I now have the adjustments occurring once the star moves 1.15. This might in fact be contributing to the blurring of the image and I would welcome any comments about what is happening.
Mike S, you are correct about these mounts being bullet proof in high winds. Love the solid EM400.:D
comments welcome.
The Lagoon was just a test to see if I have the collimation right. I suspect that the collimation is still not 100% but getting closer after the baffle modification. I focused the telescope twice with a Bahtinov mask and focus did not change, I could see the stars moving rapidly just with the live view.
Lagoon (http://paulhaese.net/lagoonsectioned.html)
With sculptor galaxy rising later in the evening I thought I would give this a try after taking one image of the Helix and seeing how bad the image was near the horizon. I should have not bothered. The seeing up to 40 degrees from the horizon was shocking and the image shows it. Still one must try, it might be several weeks before I can try another DSO. One good thing though is that this image scale is huge.
NGC253 (http://paulhaese.net/NGC253closeup.html)
Overall I am happy with the guiding, as I have changed the settings in PHD to reflect the seeing component. I now have the adjustments occurring once the star moves 1.15. This might in fact be contributing to the blurring of the image and I would welcome any comments about what is happening.
Mike S, you are correct about these mounts being bullet proof in high winds. Love the solid EM400.:D
comments welcome.