ASIGN II is back on track.

[Ric]

The only way to top Baz's Obs is for me to buy Mt Palomar and put it in the paddock. :rofl:

[multiweb]

Holy s||t. This is awesome! :eyepop:

[ChrisM]

Baz, that's a 5 star result from your sterling efforts. It all looks very spacious. Well done.

Chris

[strongmanmike]

Hey Baz, just showed my wife your man cave, she was blown away. We are currently scouting for a rural property in the outer Canberra region to buy (currently only renting) so wanted to show her something I might build when the time comes :D :lol:...perhaps not quite like yours really but the sentiment is good :P

Mike

[troypiggo]

When I see your obs, all I can't get this image out of my head...

[Ric]

Nice one Troy. :lol: :thumbsup:

[bloodhound31]

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to share this journey over the last couple of years with the IIS community and indeed, the world.

Thanks to all of you for your input, encouragement and yes Troy, your witty illustration.... ;)

God bless the lot of ya in this motley mob!

Baz.

[PantherAddict]

Love your work Baz!! I'm Nth Side (Harrison) and would love to have a closer look sometime :) Where abouts are you?

[bloodhound31]

Hi Joe. PM me mate.

Baz.

[bloodhound31]

I think this build thread is ready to draw to a close.

If anyone wants to see the ASIGN Observatory II segment on Better Homes and Gardens, it's on the home page (http://www.asignobservatoryii.com/) of my website along with a couple of other flash looking man-caves.

[bloodhound31]

I'm now well into the swing of using it regularly for astrophotography and have already had two groups through.

1. Up on the observation deck at ASIGN Observatory II, processing the data collected through the telescope over the past few nights.

2. Downstairs, putting the finishing touches on the astrophotograph from the previous night.

[strongmanmike]

:lol: man, great pictures Baz, gave me a big grin :thumbsup:

MIke

[bloodhound31]

Bless ya Mike! :thumbsup:

[Ric]

I like that shot with the scope Baz.

"Hows the serenity up there" ;)

[bloodhound31]

Mate, when I come out of the sound-insulated building in the morning, the world is so darned loud!

[bloodhound31]

Finally! Two years of building - 12 hours of rooting around with video editing programs of which I have no clue how to use - and It's done!

I give you the complete construction of ASIGN Observatory II with a spine-tingling soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JUhNFDsrWk

[multiweb]

Well that was pretty cool Baz. Nicely done. :thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

That's just sublime work there, what a great obs you've made. Very impressive and great looking!

[bloodhound31]

Thanks guys. It was a ton of frustration and fun all at once.

Baz.

[lacad01]

A great record of the hard slog, nice work :thumbsup:

[ChrisM]

Well done on all counts Baz. You should be very proud of your efforts.
I'll come to check it out one day....
Chris

[bloodhound31]

Come for a visit blokes!

Baz.

[lazjen]

An excellent result, it looks great. Well done. :thumbsup:

[bloodhound31]

WOOT! With the sale of all the photography gear, the EQ8 has now been bought and installed! The new RC12 Carbon fibre truss telescope arrives late Jan to mid Feb.

[Ric]

Sound like an awesome setup.

It should be perfect in the Obs.

[bloodhound31]

I think I'll be pretty happy with that for a long time Ric.

Baz.

[Kunama]

Looks the goods Baz. At least I know who to blame for the haze, clouds and poor seeing at the moment !!!!!:mad2::mad2:

(though to be fair I'll accept a little of the blame this week ..... being Finnish we had our Christmas today and Santa was very good to me :D )

[bloodhound31]

New acquisition at the heart of ASIGN Observatory II.

[rcheshire]

Wonderful Barry. Lost for superlatives... Amazing what's possible in the right hands.

[bloodhound31]

Bless ya mate!

Can you believe this? I sold all my pro photography gear to buy all this, then I had to get a pro photographer in to take these photos for my website and Facebook group.... go figure...

[rcheshire]

:lol: Are you completely without a camera?

[bloodhound31]

Up until last night. I decided to spend the money I had set aside for a MMOAG on a Canon 650D with a kit lens and tripod.

Arrived yesterday in the mail so I have a camera again, but only for fun now, not for hire. ;)

Baz.

[rcheshire]

Gotta have a camera.

Is this the MMOAG? http://www.astrodon.com/products/hardware/monstermoag_off-axis_guider/

[bloodhound31]

Yeah that's it. It can wait.

Baz.

[bloodhound31]

ASIGN Observatory II on the front page of The Canberra Times today.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/technology/sci-tech/canberra-stargazer-brings-astronomy-to-the-young-20140214-32rt2.html

[hobbit]

how many media appearance is that now? 4? 5?

[bloodhound31]

I think so... I have another TV crew coming this week. :D

[Kunama]

I had the pleasure of visiting Baz at ASIGN II again with MattT last night to see the finished project and what a project it is. The new RC and EQ8 sit well in the dome.
We were lucky to have good clear skies for a change for some closeup views of Jupiter and some Lunar craters. The observatory is set to host its first youth groups in the near future. Well done Barry.

[Rac]

Very cool. I'll be interested in how that scope turns out for imaging.

[ChrisM]

Well done Baz - just caught up with your new toys. Great pics too BTW. and likewise, looking forward to seeing some results.
Chris

[bloodhound31]

^^^ Thanks campers.

After 30 hours of cutting, drilling, bolting and painting, ASIGN Observatory II is now sporting a very stylish pergola and banister over the front entrance.

And a little screen grab of Johanna Griggs from the Better Homes and Gardens team with me on the observation deck.

[Ric]

Very nice Baz. :thumbsup:

[bloodhound31]

Thanks Ric.

[bloodhound31]

1. It's been couple of nights of rapid progression at ASIGN Observatory II. First night I got collimation of the mirrors sorted out.

2, 3 &4. Last night I had a fellow astronomer visit and help me through configuring of all the software that runs the telescope and cameras. Here's a few shots of the setup.

5 and finally, here's the first image (60 second single exposure) out of the new telescope through the deep space imager. It should be noted that there was nearly a full moon up and the mist filled the sky with poo. I can't wait to get a clear moonless night on some distant galaxies!

[strongmanmike]

Looks and appears to be performing great Baz :thumbsup:

Mike

[bloodhound31]

I'm pretty impressed with it now Mike. It's taken a lot of hard work to get this far. I have Logan to thank much for his time and effort coming to the observatory for hands-on help. Tex and Cathy as well.

More testing of the new optics. I still have lots of room for tweaking the focus, but I am still fighting a sky full of moonlight and moisture/smoke. Too many people in our bush capital still using wood fires for heating.

The first picture is a single sub of M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy of ten minutes, guided using the SBIG ST-i guide camera on Orion delux OAG and Orion Starshoot (V1) as the main imager.

The second image is a single five minute sub of the Carina nebula.

Normally I would take twenty or thirty subs for stacking along with dark, flat and offset/bias frames under much better dark-sky conditions, so I'm pretty excited to see this level of detail, brightness and colour at the bottom of the pile.

Focus and collimation both need work, but that will come in time.

[coldknights]

Good to see Barry you have it all up and running !
Pics look good and will only get better in time with more practice you will be up there with the big boys in Astrophotography .
Good luck !
Cathy &Tex:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Well a photo speaks a 1000 words :thumbsup:

Mike

[Nikolas]

Justb saw an ad for Manspace on GO channel, is your observatory on this week?

[bloodhound31]

Yep. Tomorrow night (Monday) 7:30pm.

[Nikolas]

Just saw it, great little blurb!

[bloodhound31]

Thanks mate. A bit longer than the Better Homes and Gardens segment - maybe one day I'll get a whole show... ;)

Baz.

[sheeny]

Nice one, Baz. I just saw it on Manspace.

:thumbsup:

Al.

[strongmanmike]

Just watched it on the Manspace web site but your clip had no sound, the others did..? so not sure what's going on there? The visuals looked good though, very cool looking new scope too ;)

Mike

[bloodhound31]

Thanks Mike. It seems to be working now.

MANSPACE aired my observatory last night. They did a great job, apart for the part where they called me John....and a genius... and said I put the telescope together myself... that might be open to interpretation. LOL!

It features first up, about a minute and a half into the show. http://www.jump-in.com.au/show/manspace/episodes/season-1/episode-7/episode-7/#autoplay

[strongmanmike]

Yep working now, great segment, you must be very chuffed with not one but now two appearances on National TV, especially after the amount of time and effort that went into your manspace well done :thumbsup:

Mike