I managed first light with my "new" video platform tonight. WOW! What a set up I've made for myself. I am so impressed with it.
The first thing that impressed me was how quickly vibrations died using this timber wedge.
Then there's the capability of my 80mm f/5 refractor. What a great little machine it is. With the GSTAR-EX colour camera, the images it produces are just gorgeous. Omega Centauri is a blaze of resolved stars. Eta Carina has a lovely soft pinkish/orange hue to it with incredible dark nebula definition. I could even make out details in the Keyhole too. M42 was stunning with the Fish Mouth easy to define and the soft extensions of the fanning out nebulosity. I also pinned three galaxies, Sombrero, M83 and Centaurus A. These were faint, but identifiable.
The LX6 mount is just lovely to use. Totally silent and it didn't skip a beat. I didn't do a drift alignment, but I was very pleased with the rough and ready alignment I did with a compass. The objects showed very little drift after an extended preriod of tracking - good enough for video.
Another amazing thing about this project is that it cost me a total of $3 for the three bolts and washers I needed to fasten the mount to the wedge! The mount I was given (many thanks again Barry!), the scopes & tripod I already had, and the plywood was surplus from other jobs. Best three bucks I've spent,
I'm totally stoked with this rig!
All that's left to do is set it up with my 114 scope.
I had the kids paint the wedge, and I just love their unabashed liberal use of colour and movement in their work! It didn't take much encouragement from me to get them going, and I just love their work. A little bit of varnishing is all that's left to do.
I hope this little project helps inspire you to have a go too.