[adman (Adam)]

I was going to go out to Ron's at Cambroon on Saturday night, but the weather was not looking good. By late afternoon it looked like a good call not to go - but the night was not a complete loss.

Earlier on Saturday I bought a QHY5 from another IIS member (thanks Mike) and was able to get it home and working with PHD. I also converted some small scope rings I had into guide rings, and attached a very dodgy refractor (lets call it a Celestron F/12 plastochromatic) alongside the newt as a guidescope until I can afford a proper one.

I also picked up a T-ring for my canon 10D and found out when I got home that I could screw this straight to the 1.25" EP adapter on my scope - so I got the 10D attached and nicely balanced too.

I was about to call it a night when I went outside for a last look - and found a sizeable chunk of crystal clear sky hanging over my place. I quickly whipped the scope outside and after a very rough polar alignment thought I would try to get some unguided shots through the newt to check whether I could get focus. No time to plan what to shoot - just point and click.

When I got back inside I found that I had clipped the side of Eta Carina. So here it is the first image through my 8" newt. Nothing special, only a 20 second single sub - and the alignment was rough enough that even this short exposure showed appreciable star trails. But I am strangely pleased with this image.

Can't wait to get the guidecam locked on a star and take some 'real' images.

Adam