Prepare for rain, SEQ!

[codemonkey (Lee)]

It seems to me that each acquisition results in 2+ weeks of poor weather and bad luck, so I'm afraid all of us in the SEQ region better stock up on reading material, as we're not going to be under clear skies for a while... I've gone on quite the shopping spree:

• NEQ6 Pro (secondhand)
• QHY5L-II Mono
• Losmandy dovetail
• OAG
• Filter wheel
• RGB filters

[LewisM]

Nah, that's not enough to ellicit a Noah's Ark Incident... you'd need a TOA150 and an EM500 at a minimum, more likely an AstroPhysics Honders on an AP3600GTO...

[codemonkey (Lee)]

Hah, those would end in divorce as well as wide-spread flooding. All the same, better ready those umbrellas.

[Amaranthus (Barry)]

What OAG did you go for?

[codemonkey (Lee)]

I went with the Orion Deluxe OAG because I've got a refractor so I figure I should hopefully have enough back focus and thus could avoid the thin models which seem to get mixed reviews but be quite important on newts.

Ideally I would have gone with the Celestron which seemed to have very good reviews, but it was quite expensive and I'm hoping this will do the job at a miserly price. Time will tell whether that was a smart move or not, but to be honest my gut right now says I'll end up buying something better...

[Amaranthus (Barry)]

I got the TOAG - after a lot of frustration with getting focus, it is working brilliantly (round stars in 20min subs, yay!). Will post more soon about it. I'm imaging with a 'frac too, but need the thin version to keep the spacing right with my FF/FR

[Baddad (Marty)]

Lee!!!!

Have you no consideration for your fellow observers?
Just to update what your buying so many toys has done:

My rain gauge is overflowing. (I forgot to empty it but that's not the issue)
I estimate from the tanks we have had 50 mm so far.

Its cold and wet and you sit smug with ya' new toys. You just wait: Revenge will be sweet. Once I win lotto you are number one on my list. Your local area will get at least double the rain. Humph!!!

This rain is a god send. Our tanks were almost empty and every 10 mm we get 3000Lt in the tanks. No thanks to Lee LOL.

Enjoy ya toys Lee.

[codemonkey (Lee)]

Originally Posted by Amaranthus

I got the TOAG - after a lot of frustration with getting focus, it is working brilliantly (round stars in 20min subs, yay!). Will post more soon about it. I'm imaging with a 'frac too, but need the thin version to keep the spacing right with my FF/FR

20min subs! Awesome!

I'm now in the process of getting an RC so I think I'm going to wish that I got a thin OAG afterall lol. Oh well.

Getting the Orion OAG into focus wasn't actually too bad; the tricky part was getting the guide cam to sit square in the OAG... it's pretty painful to attach something with a 1.25" nosepiece to those instead of a T.

Originally Posted by Baddad

Lee!!!!

Have you no consideration for your fellow observers?
Just to update what your buying so many toys has done:

My rain gauge is overflowing. (I forgot to empty it but that's not the issue)
I estimate from the tanks we have had 50 mm so far.

Its cold and wet and you sit smug with ya' new toys. You just wait: Revenge will be sweet. Once I win lotto you are number one on my list. Your local area will get at least double the rain. Humph!!!

This rain is a god send. Our tanks were almost empty and every 10 mm we get 3000Lt in the tanks. No thanks to Lee LOL.

Enjoy ya toys Lee.

What can I say? I'm a horrible person! Having said that, we could really do with more rain here. I was hoping the dam would be filled but the recent rains barely made a change.

[Amaranthus (Barry)]

The TOAG has a T-thread so is nice and secure. But it has no helical focuser, which is where the focus pain comes in (first time, until all measurements are confirmed, at least!)

[hotspur (Chris)]

Hope the rain is worth our while,our 'new moon' astronomy night for this weekend has been cancelled,because of the weather-had good numbers planning to come.Thankfully new moon is on Wednesday,so the following weekend,still a chance.

My dedicated astronomy camera is due to arrive in next day or so,looking forward to use it.