Hi all,
thanks for all the positive comments re 'Newbie from NZ' (and cheers Gary and Rob).
Last night I tried to get my 16" Meade SF Newt more properly polar alligned. I haven't done it for about 3 years and knew it needed improvement. It's such a heavy scope/mount that I had ignored the problem. However, after my 'frog's legs' day I made a devise to finely adjust the mount up or down in relation to the SCP. Using K3CCD software and a webcam I realised that the mount was pointing about 1 degree above the SCP. Before the modification there was a drift of an eastern equatorial star of 110" of arc in 5 minutes. After the 'attack' this is now 3" in five minutes...
I decided to try a test image in the full Moon and shot Omega Centauri. It is attached (Gary and Rob, I dare not send it to NZ Astronomers after our Omage Cen verses 47 Tuc debate!). I think I overprocessed it a bit too much (see March 2005 S&T (US) page 130 - Matt BenDaniel's quote)...
<Old timer, eh? Glad you made it to the boards!
<Now start posting and making yourself useful, soldier! [/B]
Cheers.
John Drummond
Gisborne, New Zealand
E 178* 03', S 38* 40'
email:
john_drummond@xtra.co.nz
website:
http://www.possumobservatory.co.nz 