I have some mates coming up from Sydney this weekend, and another
mates 40th on Saturday. I might give the boys a look through the 16"
on Friday but I dont think the mirror will of cooled enough before o'l Luna
rises.
Still on for the 2nd or 3rd of October if anyone is keen.
On another note, over the weekend I pretty much completed the 16"
wiring up the Argo Navis stalk and making a light shroud. The only thing
left to do... apart from wait for the moon to go away. I'm going to have Gary
make up some custom encoder leads that will be built into the stalk and will
have a junction box at the bottom of it. So I can leave the Azi encoder
lead permanently installed. Alt encoder lead will be tied to the Alt tangent
arm so both can be removed for travel.
The scope itself is bottom heavy even with the AN hanging off the SC. So
I'm thinking of either adding an optical finder or move the mirror further
up the mirror box.
I gave the bearings a bit of car wax test and was impressed with the
results.
I'll put together a bit of a final photo pictorial post it in a few days. I'm
already thinking about the next one : )
Still on for the 2nd or 3rd of October if anyone is keen.
Ooooop's I actually meant 24th or 25th of October. But hey if you would
like to come out on the 2nd or 3rd, as mentioned before I'll have the boy's
and the youngest will be keeping me entertained. But Glen knows how to
use the Argo Navis, and by the time you boys will want to disappear I'll
be ready to sit in for the night. So your welcome out here next weekend.
Dang! not wanting to speak toooooooo sooooon! but it looks to be clearing
a lil out this way. Might have to give the new girl it's first whirl tonight : )))))))))) me hopes!!!!!!
Well I have too say I'm STOKED!!!! it has cleared so/so well a bit of
atmospherics going on. My friends from Sydney wont be here until tomorrow
morning now, so it's me and the girl having our first real play. And NO kids
Waaaahoooo!!!! sorry for that but the girl has been ready for a week or
two and this is basically first light. Everthing seems to be working ok power-
wise. I was quite surprised that collinmation just needed a slight tweak
after setting up the other night when I was testing the AN.
I'll post some pictures soon of tonights setup, boy am I excited!!!!! as big
Kev would say. The scope itself has turned out better than I expected
build-wise apart from the bottom heavyness but that can be easily fixed
and I will attend to the options over the weekend.
Anyways here a first pic of everything setup, the cabling for the AN looks
a lil messy but we're having that fixed shortly.
Oh yeah! the two bolt your see sitting in the SC are to help counter weight
the bottom end lol... well it works
regards,CS
Last edited by CoombellKid; 19-09-2008 at 06:16 PM.
Boy what a frst light , I was like a kid with a new toy... still trying to of
observe well after moon rise. Still trying to suss out the Argo Navis, which
seems quite intuitive. They was quite a list of objects covered and the
seeing around 6-7/10 and a 70 knot jetstream over head. The stand outs
were 47 Tuc, the Veil and it's stringy filaments, Grus tripplet
looking a lot more the just whisps or smudges:thumbsu p:, The Saturn neb
with appendage sneaking in, the Dumbbell how bright are those ears, the
Ring, and a myrid of NGC numbers I cant recall. Planets Neptune, Uranus
and Jupiter were also observed. The extra aperture really brings out the
colours in o'l Jup's equatorial belts but no GBS (Great Beige Spot).
It sure is nice to have it completed, the o'l car wax makes a lot of
difference, the action is like your 12" now... smooth as butter and
will prolly get better once the balance has been sorted.
Here's a couple more. And interesting fact about my scope. The SC fully
loaded with my 20mm t5 in the focuser weighs 4.244kg the same birth
weight of my son Jake, ok maybe only interesting to me.
Just got an email... seems my friends from Sydney wont be making it this
weekend (pikers), but I guess running a business can do that to you. So
I'm seriously thinking of pulling a sicky tonight to get out of my other mates
40th, you know there is that nasty flu going around up here especially
if the sky stays clear!
I don't know if I ever told you mate my action is largely due to a little help from mr sheen.. your scope sure looks nice rob.
yeah I got out for a little while it only cleared at dusk down on the
coast so I never got my scope outside and anywhere near cool until nearmoonrise .. Plus I have yet again torn off the wires to my fan by forgetting about it when I carry the mirror box in which dosn't help.
nabbed a few galaxies though around grus and sculpter.. the triplet ..
that other spiral close by ... silver coin ..ngc 55 ..etc ..I must admit I was watching the warriors dispose of easts in the NRL a bit to..I hope they do well as they are playing very watchable football atm .
I have to work this evening otherwise I wouldn't of minded catching up this weekend .. you get out last night glen ?
I'm using Kitten polishing wax, you could almost say it's puuuurfect
Well after downing a huge breaky of bacon, eggs, sassauges, mushrooms
and chips I'm knackered I also quickly dicided I'm staying in tonight. I've
got to get more of last night .
I think about as east as I got was the Grus tripplet... cant remember as
there was a touch of bourbon in my glass and prolly was helping
with the odd alignment prob with the AN at times tonight I'll give
it a shot with a clear head
You are all welcome here next Fri and/or Sat night.
Glen,
weather permitting....
If you haven't already organised anything, your more than welcome to come out
here tonight, and anybody else that wants to come. I'd bring the 16" over
to your place but I have no way of transporting it at present. Bummer your
working Graham... but can you drop the 16mm t5 off on your way to work
think it was about 30 -13 or something..spent a bit of time with the 16mm last night ..very crisp right out to the edge .. only 10 mm ER though so
you do have to get up close and personal with it .
That storm missed us, although I thought the scope might of got wet. But
it went around us and headed for you lol, pretty much cleared up here
except for a cloud band that starts in the W and heads NE and appears
to be heading north-ish.
I tried loading some comet data into the AN today just the brightest from
Heavens above to start tonight session off... if they're above the horizon
Well it didn't turn out too bad last night, I was out until 11:30pm...
the seeing wasn't the best especially towards the north, but definiely good
enough to see some spectacular sights. I'm loving the extra detail the 16" is
delivering, observed a heap of objects including N55, N104, N121, N246,
N247, N253, N288, N346, N362, N371, N6934, N7006, N7076, N7089, N1365,
N2070, N6302, N6822, N6818 N6960, N6992, N6995, N7009, M8, M20, M17,
M22, M28, M27, M30, M57, M72, M73, V Aql, saw a bunch more galaxies
scanning the area around N1365, can see both arms of N1365 which was
really nice in the 14mm XW, so was N253!!!
Only nabbed comet 6P/d'Arrest out of the comets I loaded into the AN,
mostly because I forgot to chase them lol. Too busy chasing other things
, I was like a kid with a new toy... still trying to of
, the Veil 
especially
which dosn't help.
I also quickly dicided I'm staying in tonight. I've
. 
