Astro Ponderings during yet another East Coast Low

[glend (Glen)]

How do you satisfy that 'Astro Itch' when it is bucketing down outside (yet again)? Do your thoughts turn to buying new gear? Or selling what you have? Reprocessing old image files? Cleaning mirrors, objectives, etc? Looking for a property where it does not rain? Dreaming of that trip to Atacama?

I sold a scope this week and worked on tuning my mount, in hopes that i may actually get to use it in the future - not this month of course as the weather is a write off.

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Or when neighbours build a tall building that blocks the little sky you had?

I certainly seriously think of moving to a better location. Not selling my gear for sure - I know in a nearish future I will get to use it more often. So I bought a nice telescope instead :-)

I found reprocessing old data boring, so started a postgrad course in astronomy. Enjoying it immensely so far and I feel it will allow me to appreciate our hobby/passion even more.

[xelasnave]

Thinking of selling and starting all over and look forward to setting up yet another observatory. Keep it very simple... No more upgrades just use my simple set up, stop thinking of 20inch etc. But its on hold until I can gethome.
Alex

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Looking for a new challenge in life????
What about considering spectroscopy?
Doesn't require that much initial investment (Star Analyser grating) use your existing mount/ telescope/ camera and you're ready to start.
The processing requirements are pretty basic but interesting enough to fire up those brain cells.

""Astronomical Spectroscopy - The final frontier - To boldly go where few amateurs have go before.....""

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Ken's suggestion is really good. Unfortunately I did not have a chance to use my SA200 since I bought it a few weeks ago.

[xelasnave]

I have had this wild idea to mount five 80mm on a suitable mount with different filters, still using dslrs to keep it simple.
Alex

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I have had this wild idea to mount five 80mm on a suitable mount with different filters, still using dslrs to keep it simple.
Alex

I have been thinking along the same lines :-) For me it would be 3 small and fast telescopes with different filters and 3 relatively inexpensive cooled mono astro cameras (like ZWO 1600) riding on one good mount.

But I'm afraid that issues associated with astrophotography are proportional to the square of the number of telescopes one uses, so I'm afraid such setups would be far from simple...

[glend (Glen)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I have had this wild idea to mount five 80mm on a suitable mount with different filters, still using dslrs to keep it simple.
Alex

And it shall be called "The Beholder"! Beholder is a multi-eyed creature from Dungeons and Dragons.
One giant filter wheel to serve them all!

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

There's always radio astronomy. Unaffected by rain or clouds.
[URL="http://www.primalucelabs.com/radioastronomy"]
Your welcome to send the rain down here as we haven't had a good drop in over a month.

[rrussell1962]

I collimate indoors and scribble SAO numbers into Sissy Haas's double star book to make it easier to use. I contemplate stripping down my Vixen GPD to work out exactly why the RA axis is still slightly stiff. Not much of a life really.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Slawomir

I have been thinking along the same lines :-) For me it would be 3 small and fast telescopes with different filters and 3 relatively inexpensive cooled mono astro cameras (like ZWO 1600) riding on one good mount.

But I'm afraid that issues associated with astrophotography are proportional to the square of the number of telescopes one uses, so I'm afraid such setups would be far from simple...

If doable you could maximise the little decent capturing time.

The beholder yes.. yes so lets get started.
Alex

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by rrussell1962

I collimate indoors and scribble SAO numbers into Sissy Haas's double star book to make it easier to use. I contemplate stripping down my Vixen GPD to work out exactly why the RA axis is still slightly stiff. Not much of a life really.

Send it here Richard - I did my new-to-me GPD recently in both axes, and it is smooth as silk. Just remember when you loosen the castle nut to replace the grub screw TIGHTLY, otherwise it will start tightening itself over time and become stiff again.

I lost one of the delrin/teflon shims when final reassembling (insert head slap emoticon), so I'll have to wait to try it out when a replacement comes in.

[Boozlefoot]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I have had this wild idea to mount five 80mm on a suitable mount with different filters, still using dslrs to keep it simple.
Alex

Alex,
This could well be the answer kittenshark has been seeking to satisfy those UFO chasers!

Cheers, Rod

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by Slawomir

I have been thinking along the same lines :-) For me it would be 3 small and fast telescopes with different filters and 3 relatively inexpensive cooled mono astro cameras (like ZWO 1600) riding on one good mount.

But I'm afraid that issues associated with astrophotography are proportional to the square of the number of telescopes one uses, so I'm afraid such setups would be far from simple...

You could use 1 telescope with a specially made splitter prism that splits the light off into 5 cameras with LRGB-Ha filters on each

Of course, balancing it on the mount could be fun :p

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Originally Posted by LewisM

You could use 1 telescope with a specially made splitter prism that splits the light off into 5 cameras with LRGB-Ha filters on each

Of course, balancing it on the mount could be fun :p

Problem with that is that I would need to either somehow efficiently separate light into its HaRGB components, or have tiny corrected imaging circles for each camera. I like the idea of using a prism to separate light into the three primary colours though; why block most of the incoming light with each RGB filter?

Or I could just use an OSC camera.

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Boozlefoot

Alex,
This could well be the answer kittenshark has been seeking to satisfy those UFO chasers!

Cheers, Rod

And the first credible photos of a ufo being alien visitors are taken by someone using this set up. The various filters reveal them at last.
Alex

[xelasnave]

Its wet here.
Alex

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

And the first credible photos of a ufo being alien visitors are taken by someone using this set up. The various filters reveal them at last.
Alex

But, alas, it turns out to be mis-alignment of the scopes.

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Alex,
You're describing the Caltech dragonfly array

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~ycao/B&ETalks/vandokkum_bne.pdf

Joe

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by OzEclipse

Alex,
You're describing the Caltech dragonfly array

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~ycao/B&ETalks/vandokkum_bne.pdf

Joe

Thanks Joe
I like when you get an idea that sounds strange and you find it has been done.
Alex