Hi all,
Well, the first night is over.
Put finishing touches on assembly at around 6.30pm last night.
Small video here
http://www.precons.com/iis/gallery/T...pe%20small.wmv
Large (1mb) here
http://www.precons.com/iis/gallery/T...pe%20large.wmv
The assembly went well.
Carrying assembled unit all in one hit down the stairs.... ummmmm.... Wheres those scope buggys Mike? want my credit card details?
Loved looking at the sky, Thru the 6.5mm Jupiter looked the size of your nail on your little finger held at arms length. bands could be seen. Loved the moons, Didn't expect to see them and there they were. Even in the 40mm, they were there.
Took time to get used to everything being upside down, but you get the hang of it ie push left on scope to move right, push down on scope to move up.
Time came for sharing with the forum guys. Sadness ensued. Got out the toucam and removed the lens, connected the adapter. Removed the eyepiece and inserted the webcam and adapter into the scope. NOthing!!!!
Hours later, i tried again, but had been thinking on how to focus this setup. Had read about Mike and the Hartmann mask, but seemed a lot of work to do there and then and at night. So I simply focused on a street light aprox 200m away. Success, i got the image on the computer to focus.
Right, now where is mars?
aprox 2pm, there is mars. I must really recommend skyviewcafe.com - great for finding out what is happening and where, updated in real time as the earth rotates. Ok here we go, point scope with toucam at mars and see what comes up on computer,
small version :
http://www.precons.com/iis/gallery/2...ed%20small.wmv
large version:
http://www.precons.com/iis/gallery/2...ed%20large.wmv
As you can see, i can't get the focuser to go any further into the scope. There must be a way. I shall put it to the forum who may be using 2" crayford focusers and toucam with adapters (Mike????)
Promised the wife I was coming to bed at 2.30am, but one look at starcafe showed the moon was getting higher, but the clouds weren't letting her thru.
2.45am.... success, out cam the moon. I had put away the computer and toucam so i could go to bed, so out came mr 40mm and wow!!!, out went mr 40mm and in went 25mm ooooooooooh, and again with 12.5mm, bl**dy hell......clouds coming, quick get that 6.5mm in... holy sh&t that is awe inspiring. What a way to finish the night.
Asimov, I know i said i was having a great time but very calm, but that little 30sec observe of the moon between clouds sent my heart racing and a grin from ear to ear
I'm Hooked!!!!