Peteren
21-06-2010, 01:23 PM
I started this post last Monday afternoon (Queens birthday holiday) but halfway through writing it my not so old ticker tried to give up the ghost. After a week in hospital and an ablation procedure I’m slowly getting back to normal and will have another go at saying hello.
So hello all from Peter in sunny but freezing cold Whyalla SA.
I have been looking for some time for something that will challenge my mind in the evenings after work without the formality of any sort of studying and having an amateur interest in photography as well as most things space / science fiction it seems I find myself bitten by the astrophotography bug.
After some weeks of net research and a visit to the Stockport observatory, where I spent a couple of hours speaking to a very knowledgeable bloke whose name I sadly cannot remember, I have found myself to be the new owner of a Skywatcher BD250 reflector on an EQ6 pro mount with 25 & 8mm eyepieces as well as a 2X barlow.
The first impression of this equipment was S***T it’s huge! have I gone too big too soon? But after setting it all up for the first time in the shed it didn’t seem quite so intimidating after all.
Some work that night getting a very rough polar alignment saw my first view of Saturn and several moons which has spurred me on to get things set up properly.
Progress so far has seen a semi permanent mount location in the lawn using 600mm long 1” pipes driven in flush to the ground for the mount to locate into, a reasonable polar alignment, the modification of an old webcam to fit onto the barlow and the purchase of a Canon 550D with T mount.
A laser collimator has the scope collimated and several good viewing nights have resulted in further good views of Saturn, M5 and M104.
Some attempts at imaging with the webcam has highlighted that I do not have enough focal length for planetary work and stills of M5 & M104 show that I still have a very long way to go with those as well.
A technical glitch has surfaced with the barlow (2”), it will not seat fully into the 2” eyepiece adapter on the focuser due to the component on the focuser having an internal diameter that is 1mm smaller than the 2” barlow.
This stops the camera from coming to focus as there is not enough in travel on the focuser with the barlow stuck out so far. I have managed a temporary fix by removing the lens from the barlow and screwing it directly onto the T mount tube for the camera. This works but I think I’m losing some focal length by bringing the barlow lens closer to the CCD on the camera.
Any ideas on how to fix this without buying a new focuser ?
I have looked at getting the component machined out but the wall thickness is already virtually nothing and any machining will probably cause it to break.
So all in all things are coming together and hopefully the current cloud will clear so I can get some images of the moon over the next week.
I am really enjoying reading through the various post’s, projects and articles on this forum and am finding it an excellent resource. Thanks to all those involved in keeping this site together.
Cheers all
Peter
So hello all from Peter in sunny but freezing cold Whyalla SA.
I have been looking for some time for something that will challenge my mind in the evenings after work without the formality of any sort of studying and having an amateur interest in photography as well as most things space / science fiction it seems I find myself bitten by the astrophotography bug.
After some weeks of net research and a visit to the Stockport observatory, where I spent a couple of hours speaking to a very knowledgeable bloke whose name I sadly cannot remember, I have found myself to be the new owner of a Skywatcher BD250 reflector on an EQ6 pro mount with 25 & 8mm eyepieces as well as a 2X barlow.
The first impression of this equipment was S***T it’s huge! have I gone too big too soon? But after setting it all up for the first time in the shed it didn’t seem quite so intimidating after all.
Some work that night getting a very rough polar alignment saw my first view of Saturn and several moons which has spurred me on to get things set up properly.
Progress so far has seen a semi permanent mount location in the lawn using 600mm long 1” pipes driven in flush to the ground for the mount to locate into, a reasonable polar alignment, the modification of an old webcam to fit onto the barlow and the purchase of a Canon 550D with T mount.
A laser collimator has the scope collimated and several good viewing nights have resulted in further good views of Saturn, M5 and M104.
Some attempts at imaging with the webcam has highlighted that I do not have enough focal length for planetary work and stills of M5 & M104 show that I still have a very long way to go with those as well.
A technical glitch has surfaced with the barlow (2”), it will not seat fully into the 2” eyepiece adapter on the focuser due to the component on the focuser having an internal diameter that is 1mm smaller than the 2” barlow.
This stops the camera from coming to focus as there is not enough in travel on the focuser with the barlow stuck out so far. I have managed a temporary fix by removing the lens from the barlow and screwing it directly onto the T mount tube for the camera. This works but I think I’m losing some focal length by bringing the barlow lens closer to the CCD on the camera.
Any ideas on how to fix this without buying a new focuser ?
I have looked at getting the component machined out but the wall thickness is already virtually nothing and any machining will probably cause it to break.
So all in all things are coming together and hopefully the current cloud will clear so I can get some images of the moon over the next week.
I am really enjoying reading through the various post’s, projects and articles on this forum and am finding it an excellent resource. Thanks to all those involved in keeping this site together.
Cheers all
Peter