AN OBSERVATORY FOR THE GARDEN

Not yet, but I do have a First Aid Kit!!

 

Well, either way, I do get to see Stars when in the Observatory!!

 

Has he locked himself in?

 

My fault entirely, Sheal, for the lack of posting I've been busy jumping from one thing to another

I've done that before, John, .......but not in an Observatory.

So, I've been in the Observatory whenever there's been a chance between the many cloudy nights. For the last two weeks the evening/early morning skies have had the Moon in it's waxing phase, Jupiter and it's Moons in all it's glory, and then over time Mars and Saturn with it's rings. Mars and Saturn are very low on the horizon at between 10 and 15 degrees and have only been at above tree height at after 1am. But over the weeks they have been very slowly gaining a little height a little earlier every night. But being at such a low observing height it's means I'm looking through more atmosphere than I would be if viewing them higher. So while I've had plenty of good views I've not had a really crisp image....but since Saturn is around 746 million miles and Mars is 249 million miles away I can't complain.

 

Sorry for the delay, Sheal, in replying. Yes, I'm slowly getting there, but what with the persistent cloudy weather and being extremely busy with all things I've not quite managed to my tripod aligned exactly with the Polaris Star so that the computer in the tripod mount can track a Star accurately for as long as I want. The trouble is that I have never seen the Polaris Star enough to be able to align with it. There is a solution called Drift Alignment which I, having the Telescope permanently in one position would only have to do once but could take half an hour to an hour to get right. If I was lugging the tripod and telescope on to the patio every night, having to set up them again, then I would have to do the drift alignment every time to get proper tracking. But other things astronomical have had a higher priority!!
Also due to the mechanical construction of the tracking [cogs etc] there is always an error that will interfere with the accuracy. There is a program inside the tracking called Periodic Error Correction where the computer can calculate over time the errors but you have to spend 10 to 15 minutes with one star and keep correcting it when it drifts away from the center of view. The computer then can calculate the error and amend it
Another way to ensure accurate tracking is to use another camera, called an Auto-guider, attached to the scope which fixes onto a star and then "talks" to the computer in the tripod mount to keep the scope on target...........more money!!!
For the last couple of nights I had clear skies so I've been able to view, at around 1130pm onwards Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and the Moon all in the same skies at the same time. As I said previously unfortunately both Mar and Saturn are low in the skies so viewing them means looking through a lot more atmosphere than is ideal because our always turbulent skies distort the views. But I'll take what I can get and will stay up to around 2 to 3 am to enjoy the viewing.
I'm looking at a new toy which is a camera that connects to the computer mount while attached to the Scope and is also connected to a computer and will give you real time live viewing on the screen. It's electronically assisted astronomy [EAA] and has the advantage of [a] the camera seeing far more than the human eye due to being more sensitive, being able to automatically take a series of images while live viewing and put them altogether to give a still image of really good, sharp, images. My cynical mind though is telling me that all this technology to "make things more simple and easier" ends up making things more complicated.

 

The outside cosmetic finishing touch to the Observatory......getting the name on it!!!.

 

Hi trogre, well, at the moment with regard to astro imaging, the skies have been so consistently cloudy throughout this year that I've not really been given the chance to do any serious attempts. I have the QHY8L one shot colour camera and the software program " Nebulosity", the latter being a great help to make things easier.......once you understand the program Also I've been struggling to get the Drift Alignment just right and, again, the weather's just not been co-operative in being able to get a sighting of a bright Star on the West Horizon in the evenings So at the moment I've had to content myself with doing dummy runs and practising using the whole system even though the skies have been full of cloud. So really all I need is a period of clearer skies and then I'll have a shot at it.

To be honest, trogre, I personally wouldn't use Polaris for anything else than aligning the mount to stop target tracking drift, but as I rarely see Polaris I have settled, as you know, for accurate drift alignment which, on a permanently sited mount, you only have to do once and never again. Polaris is very close to the NCP and not very bright so I use use Stars near the Meridian and, if I can, close to the Celestial Equator when doing a 2 or 3 Star alignment. I find the NEQ6 is more than accurate with a 2 Star alignment and still accurate a 1 one Star alignment...........so long as my Drift Alignment is accurate. Which is why I'm continuing to refine the Drift Alignment until it''s well over an hour until the tiniest drift error creeps in. So I would keep Polaris alignment only for accurate Azimuth and Declination alignment and go for whatever brighter Stars are available.

I haven't met any Astronomer who hasn't done the same thing in some time of observing It's so easy to do and, having learned my lesson from doing it myself
, I always try to keep the alignment stars fairly well apart while trying to keep in the area of the Meridian.

The 40mm Plossi is a useful eyepiece so you're right in keeping that. I find I use my 40mm Pentax XL, 32 Meade Super Plossi, 24mm Televue Panoptic , 13mm Nagler, 10.5mm Pentax XL, 9mm and 7mm Naglers the most. So, in other words I only use between 40mm and 7mm, with the most used range being 10mm to 24mm during the night. I think, like you, I want to cover between 13mm and 24mm and although I have a nice 20mm Plossi , so I'm thinking of either a 16mm Nagler, 17mm Delos. I would have gone for a Pentax but their range jumps from 14mm [too close to my 13mm Nagler] and 20mm [which I might get next year

Too true, but the trick is to decide what you "need" and what you "want" I succumbed to "want" a month ago and bought a T2 20 mm Nagler from across the Pond in an e-Bay auction quite cheaply.......although the tax and posted added nearly a half to the cost. It was a bit of a gamble as it was to say the least not in a mint condition and covered in water[?] spots. But it's a Cult eyepiece very rarely coming up for sale and I took the chance. I took it apart, gently, as far as I could and cleaned it up and apart from the paint work being worn and one or two scratches on the metal adapter it's fine. The optics are absolutely brilliant and I have no regrets. But it's a HUGE beastie and weighs in at around 2.5lbs!! but the NEQ6 handles it fine.

If you can get a Dew Shield/Heater for your scope it's a great combination, as for the rest........well, you always need to upgrade