Uranus and moons; Titania, Umbriel, Oberon & Ariel

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by AlexN

it arrived yesterday. unfortunately for me it balances ok without anything on it, it will not balance however with camera/dew shield/heater band etc etc.. I need another counterweight...

I think I'll just use the old 8" tonight.. I'll go somewhere monday and get another counterweight.

I picked up a 5kg cw from Ron (Sirius Optics at Underwood) at the Qld Astrofest as it happened to fit my EM200 mount, although I think it was an EQ6 cw. They may have stock so it might be worth giving the shop a call.

Cheers

Dennis

[AlexN]

Yeah, I'll give them and York Optical a go... Should be around the $55 - $60 mark yeah?

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by AlexN

Yeah, I'll give them and York Optical a go... Should be around the $55 - $60 mark yeah?

That sounds about right and yes, York may have stock too so you should be able to pick one up, which is good news.

How much weight do you think you need to balance the C11 when it is fully accessorised and loaded with finder scope, focuser, camera, side-by-side plate, rings, guide scope, etc?

For the C9.25, I need 20kgs (4 x 5kgs).

Cheers

Dennis

[AlexN]

I don't know with the whole setup.. I would imagine 4 counterweights should do it... my guide scope + guide cam + QHY8 + C11 weighs just on 14kgs... The side by side bar and guide ring setup wouldnt weigh 1kg i dont think.... Should be right... we'll have to wait and see i guess

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by matt

I'm considering having a go at this tonight, Dennis.

Although it's quite windy today, and the seeing's going to be horrid. It probably doesn't matter too much about the seeing, since I'm not trying to capture very fine planetary surface detail as is the case with Jupiter.

I wonder what length exposure I'd need to set using the C9.25, DMK 21AF04 and 3x barlow??? Would it be wise to use some kind of filter (IR)?? Hmmm.

It'll be a night of experimentation.

Hey Matt

I’ve just come inside after looking at both Uranus and Neptune at the F12 prime focus of the Mewlon 180 with the DMK31AF04.AS. I was having to shoot between 5 and 10 second exposures, Gain around 850 and Gamma at 12 just to (barely) record any of the moons. I couldn’t even contemplate putting a PowerMate or Barlow in the optical train to increase the magnification! Neptune's Triton was the easiest of the moons.

It seems that with the 7” aperture of the Mewlon, it’s either the ST7E CCD or no moons! How did you get on with the increased aperture of the C9.25?

Cheers

Dennis

[matt]

Hi Dennis.

I decided to give last night a miss. It was still very windy here at 8.30pm, so there seemed little point in setting up.

A challenge for another night, for me

[Dennis]

Hi Matt

Yes, it was a bit of a shocker wasn’t it, with the very gusty conditions all day long. The more violent gusts seemed to have abated by around 10:00pm, so I went outside and just had a bit of a play around with a new focusing mask that I had built, so no serious imaging done here.

Cheers

Dennis