It's here

[jjjnettie]

My new mount has arrived. :love::cool::D A shiny new HEQ5Pro.:)
Now, which plug goes where?
Better sort things out so I can be up and running tonight cause it looks like it may be getting a little dusty again tomorrow.

[Quark]

Congratulations Jeanette,

Heaps of dust on the way though, so if its clear tonight, make the most of it.

Regards
Trevor

[starlooker]

Have fun. :)

[renormalised]

Pics...where are the pics??!!:P:P:D:D

[Liz]

yeah jjj !!! Clear skies for tonight :)

[[1ponders]]

You lucky girl, you. :D

Congratulation Jeanette!! :cool: Wooo Hooo!!

[Esseth]

She doesn't have time to take pics, she is too busy setting it up and playing with it lol

[jjjnettie]

Exactly Alan.:D

I won't be guiding tonight if I don't get a serial to usb adaptor though. Looks like a quick trip to the big smoke RIGHT NOW before the stores close.

[sheeny]

Oh new toys! Enjoy JJJ!

Al.

[spacezebra]

Congrats JJJ!

Cheers Petra d.

[h0ughy]

wow now you need to get lessons from grand master Paul - master of drift alignments. congrats

[cookie8]

JJJ 's new toy has arrived.Yeah..... but DO NOT leave it outside overnight. Dust might be on the way....again....noooooo, just finished cleaning up.DOH!!

[Kevnool]

Congats on your purchase JJJ.
May you have clear skies.
Cheers Kev.

[Outbackmanyep]

Good onya JJJ,
New mounts bring dust storms, OTA's bring rain! hehe

Enjoy!!!

[jjjnettie]

I've had a couple of lessons from The Ponderosa, just need to practice now. It's going to be a dream using a scope without backlash. Alex is coming over tomorrow to push me in the right direction for guiding.
Hopefully I'll sort it all out fairly quick.

[matt]

Enjoy:D

I hope it brings you 'heapsa' joy.

[marki]

They are a nice mount JJJ, I have one I use for visual observing and it does a great job. Alex has shown they are not too shabby as an imaging mount either. Have fun:thumbsup:

Mark

[andrew2008]

:D Congrats jjj

And as a owner of one myself since wednesday i must say i'm very keen to see what sort of images you can get. Your stuff with the TOT is of a level i only dream of reaching.

[marki]

Andrew, have a look at some of AlexN pics in the deep sky forum. He is using one to very good effect at the moment.

Mark

[Davros]

Evening Jeanette
yah for the new toy, oopps serious astro equipment :D I put down the deposit on mine today, pick it up on Monday all going to plan. Question though, what are you using for power if your not running it on mains?

[Matt Wastell]

Congrats Jeanette - new toys are great fun (a little frustrating at times too!). Looking forward to your feedback!:D

[jjjnettie]

I ordered a Powertech DC Regulated Power Supply at the same time. Also bought a double adaptor to go with it. Nothing worse than buying a new toy, I mean a new serious piece of Astro equipment and not be able to use it straight away. Just need that serial to usb adaptor now.
I'm drift aligning as I write.

[mozzie]

well have to blame you know for the dust coming oh how its changed from the rain:lol::lol: enjoy you deserve it
mozzie

PS JJJ BROUGHT THE DUST!!!!!!

[jjjnettie]

At least I'm getting first light before it hits.

[BerrieK]

Y - A - Y for you Jeanette!

Congratulations on the arrival of your new baby :thumbsup:, hopefully it was an easy delivery!!

I was lucky enough to be spoilt and get one of these beauties for my birthday from my hubbie and kids. It really is more than I need but, although I havn't had much opportunity to use it of late I just love it...hope you get as much enjoyment from yours. I'm sure that it will be well used and cared for. Oh and thanks for the dust :D

Kerrie

[dpastern]

Congrats Jeanette :) Have fun with that new mount :-)

Dave

[RobF]

Have fun Jeanette!
I Luv my heq5....:love::love:

I'm setting up tonight too, for first time since AF. If only I could remember where all these wires go :question:

[Baddad]

Hi jjj, :)

Congratulations on the new toy. I had a peek at the long range rain forecast. 9 to 12 Oct rain expected. Just after this dust settles. That was not forecast until a few days ago.

How do you justify that???

You get a new toy and we all have to tolerate dust then rain.:lol:

Cheers Marty

[jjjnettie]

Bring on the rain, we really really need it.

[[1ponders]]

You've got the ball rolling Jeanette but maybe if we make a concerted effort. If every IIS member in SE Qld bought $150 worth of Astronomy gear (averaged out of course ;) ) then we'd get just enough rain to settle the dust, top my tanks up (at 80% atm so not a real worry) and bring the ground up to field capacity again (a real worry atm). If you don't know what to buy or don't need anything, send me the money and I'll place an order for you for stuff i need. :D

[dpastern]

I think I might have had a hand in it as well Marty - I've ordered the Orion shorty 80mm guidescope kit from Bintel, as well as a TV 32mm plossl and Astronomik UHC-E filter. Blame it on Dave, everyone else does :P

Dave

[Baddad]

Hi Dave, :)

I think I might have had a hand in it as well Marty - I've ordered the Orion shorty 80mm guidescope kit from Bintel, as well as a TV 32mm plossl and Astronomik UHC-E filter. Blame it on Dave, everyone else does http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/tongue05.gif

That ordinarily would have caused a two day downpour on its own. The El Nino effect means we get dust instead. That is just too much to purchase at once.:lol:
I'll have words with jjj too when I meet with her next time.:lol:

Cheers Marty

[mithrandir]

You can probably blame Duncan and me too with our QHY8s. Ever since mine arrived it's been either dust or gale force winds or wind-chill or all three.

[Davros]

And throw in the HEQ5pro i am picking up on my way home this arvo. :D:thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Whoo hoo Mick.
So tell us, exactly how excited are you???

[dpastern]

muhahaha Andrew & Marty - we're all bad bad boys! Poor IIS members, having to put up with dust and rain and winds cos we lashed out ;-)

Dave

[DavidU]

Are you folks trying to screw up the weather with all that nice gear?:lol:

[pgc hunter]

mate, our weather has been screwed since those british clowns decided to colonise this most antarctic part of Australia, rather than the blissfully hot and sunny Pilbara coast... Too bad the Batavia ran aground.....

Thanks for nothing, John Batman :mad2: :mad2: :mad2: Atleast you could've followed James Cook and settled somehwere near that perpetually sunny and warm place they call Sydney :mad2: :rolleyes:

[AstralTraveller]

Well it's cool and cloudy today and was cold and windy yesterday. Sunny and warm?? Yes I think I remember that.

As for the 'blissful' Pilbara, I can only assume you have never been there. On Sundays we sometimes drove 80km to the De Gray River so we could find a tree big enough to sit under. And those 40++ temperatures did marvels for the seeing, stars could look like jelly fish naked eye. Then remember that that coast is the cyclone capital of Oz. In my experience the northern part of Oz is not much chop for astronomy.

[pgc hunter]

sounds like an odd one out in hot and sunny NSW. Here it's been far colder and windier over the last 3 solid days. The remaining hundreds have just been insipidly overcast. Sunny and Warm, I recall something like that last January.

I don't have to be there to love it. 1. The stars look liky jelly fishy to the naked eye 99 out of 100 nights in Melbourne, 2. Cyclones aren't common enough to worry over, and 3. here I'd have to drive 500km at least to find some clear sky 9 out of 10 weekends. (or days for that matter).

Port Hedland averages 210 clear days per year. Melbourne barely scrapes 50.

Check mate Iceland.

[AstralTraveller]

Have it your own way Sab. Perhaps this is what you need :lol::lol:.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=removalists+melbourne&fb=1&gl=au&hq=removalists&hnear=melbourne&view=text&ei=q1LASsO8LtGQkQWJwcA6&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1

[pgc hunter]

It's not my own way, it's fact
Look at this:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/IDCJDW2125.latest.shtml

compared to this:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/IDCJDW3050.latest.shtml

Anyone complaining about Sydney's weather of late needs a reality check. Try living in Melbourne - then you'll know what REAL cold and cloud is. Anyone sooking over Sydney's supposed "cold and cloud" ain't getting sympathy from this sufferer.

[iceman]

Sab, enough.
Not every thread is here for you to divert into your usual ranting about Melbourne weather.

Enough.

[AstralTraveller]

My apologies Mike. I shouldn't have taken the bait.

[iceman]

No problems, David.

Everyone likes to whinge about the weather every now and then (we choose a hobby that relies on the weather), but eventually too much is simply too much.

[DavidU]

I'll have to knock it off too.

[dpastern]

Now I feel guilty :( I just harmlessly joked about the weather (and new purchases). Sorry Mike :(

Dave

[Davros]

Very excited, it came home in the car with me this afternoon. Now i just have to figure out how to use it.:P

[dpastern]

Well I just got home with my bit of new kit and opened it (with my dad's help). *grins* happy lad I am.

Dave

[Baddad]

Hi David & jjj & Mick & Anyone else getting new toys, :)

It is working the weather forecast is showers on 4 & 5 Oct.
No more toys for a while. :lol: I don't wish to have another flood like in May. 396mm in two days. Some heavy showers is all we want then clear skies again. So be fair people. :lol: :D

Cheers Marty

[toryglen-boy]

Dear me JJJ, you must indeed be the first lady of IIS, i dont think i have ever seen so many emphatic replies over someone saying they have bought a piece of gear !!

:lol:

enjoy !!

:thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

:) I don't understand why, but it does make me feel very special. To get this sort of support, especially at this particular time... thanks everyone.

[dpastern]

Ah dang Marty - and I had it planned to get an Orion autoguider unit next pay...

Dave

[[1ponders]]

Ahh there's "imaging success against the odds" history there Duncan. Have a bit of search through Solar System and Deep Sky. ;)

[jjjnettie]

:lol: Talk about hard yards eh Paul.
That old panasonic cam corder out performed the LPI for solar system imaging.

[[1ponders]]

Yes, and look what gems it turned out as well. :thumbsup:

[DavidU]

Can you post some of those old images? I remember seeing them yonks ago.

[jjjnettie]

Talking about it makes me think I should give it another run.
While jup is still riding high in the sky.

[jjjnettie]

I'll have a look through my pictures, if I can find 'em I'll post them here.;)

[[1ponders]]

try this search result

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/search.php?searchid=1186421

[jjjnettie]

They're not of the highest quality, and the dbl shadow transit of Jupiter, the seeing was awful that night. But still, I was happy to catch it.
The old camera captured some nice detail.
I was using it, afocal, hand held. Tricky....:)

[BerrieK]

Had a look at the search results Paul posted. From the beginning jjj you were (and are) destined for great things.

Kerrie

[jjjnettie]

There's no hiding on this forum is there. :lol:
I thought all those threads would have been dead and buried by now.

All I can say is that ANYONE can do this. It's not hard to do.
You can put just about any video recording device/camcorder/compact camera/mobile phone up to an eyepiece and capture your own slice of heaven.
If I can do it, anyone can.;)
Thanks for looking.:)

[toryglen-boy]

I hear you fella, and i dont think anyone else is more worthy of the popularity


:)

[DavidU]

Thanks jjj ! Thats the ones.
I can't get Pauls link to work

[TrevorW]

Modern technology has opened the door, for everyone to try their hand at astrophotography, using anything from a simple web cam, costing less than $100 to dedicated CCD camera costing up to $20000

In the days of hypersensitised film etc this area of the hobby was restricted to those few diehards with time, money and experience, single exposures took several hours for one decent shot and no every frame was a success

When I first took up this hobby over 30 years ago there was no way I could have afforded too try my hand at imaging.

With the advent of reasonably priced digital cameras and the availability of free processing software, and the wealth of knowledge from the web the sky is the limit so too speak

[[1ponders]]

Now that's strange, it worked before. OK here's the search string.

Go to Advanced Search put in jjjnettie in Username and select Find Threads Started by User. Select Solar System in Search in Forum and then In Ascending Order for Sort Results By

[dpastern]

yes, but a lot of snooty nosed old hands who snub their noses at anything digital (or GOTO mounts for that matter) just for the sake of disliking anything new in terms of technology, really spoil it imho. In their view, if you aren't spending your hours glued to a guide piece, you ain't doing *real* astro imaging. Bollocks if you ask me ;-)

Dave

[jjjnettie]

Hey, you get that.
The die hards, clinging to the old ways.
I wonder what Barnard would think if he could see the way we image now.
Now he was a dedicated Astrophotographer.
How many hours did he spend each night, hand cranking and manually guiding that scope so it would track the skies for his exquisite photographs. Imagine in the middle of Winter, freezing mountain blizzards and bears scratching at the obs door! (and we complain about a few mozzies)
Then he'd spend the next day processing the plates.
Sleep for a couple of hours then he's off to do it all again.
I reckon he'd swap all that in a heart beat for a go-to scope and an FLI.
Or would he go the whole hog and do remote imaging. Get away from those bears. lol

[danielsun]

Great images there JJJ! Especially for the ol hand held set up!!!



Cheers Daniel.