[tempestwizz (Brian)]

After a couple of years of frustration with various arrangements, I feel I am finally getting close to a system that will be useful.
Eta Carina is not a very imaginative target I admit, but you have to start somewhere! I am still learning to drive my latest setup.

I have built an observatory with roll-off roof in suburban Canberra. Inside there is a concrete pier with quite an amount of iron inside. The base of the pier is in about a cubic metre of (hand mixed) concrete..... I was having trouble with the original tripod moving around, and achieving/maintaining polar alignment.

I have given up on a Meade LX90 drive on home-improved wedge, and replaced it with a Takahashi EM200 Temma.

The Meade OTA has been replaced (temporarily at least) with a Televue Genesis 500mm F5 refractor. For guiding, I have a Luke Bellami side-by-side mounting arrangement and an Orion ED80 fitted with a DSI Pro camera.
The guiding software is PHD, and it seems to work reasonably well.

The imaging camera is a Canon 20Da at 800 ASA.

I am using a Moonlite focuser with 9:1 reduction drive and focus lock on the Televue. I can now focus reasonably well!

For this, and most of my images, I am using an Astronomik UHC filter to clear up Canberra skies.


For the attached image, I have used 20 by three minute exposures. Flats and darks. Processed in Iris and PS.

Comments welcome.