Three nights of observing in a row. Tonight I’ll be going for all those objects in Hidden Treasures that had FOV’s larger than the RC @ f/5.3. Conditions at 21.21 UT are getting worse. Lots of high thin cloud rolling in. Session Data Date: 13/11/2024 Time: 18:10 – 21:55 UT Seeing: I. Excellent Transparency: III. Clear with slight haze Temp: 7 C, Air Pressure: 1036mb Humidity: 90% Dew Point: 6 C Wind Speed: 4mph…
EAA Observing Session 13, November
Session Data Date: 13/11/2024 Time: 14:59 – 15:29 UT Seeing: I. Excellent Transparency: IV. Poor with heavy haze Temp: 9 C, Air Pressure: 1036mb Humidity: 87% Dew Point: 7C Wind Speed: 6 mph Scope: TMB 80 f/6 Camera: ZWO ASI 183MM , SBIG G filter. No Darks or Flats taken.
EAA Observing Session: 12, November
Two nights of observing in a row. Now testing Sharpcap’s Multi Star FWHM focusing routine. Works just like the others when it comes to the contrast method but the curve is now inverted. The Lunar images were taken with a mixture of Livestack in Sharpcap as well as video .ser files. Even then, I’m still only downloading about 2 frames a second. This is far too slow so I may have to move my…
EAA Observing Session: 11, November
Trying out Sharpcap’s Platesolving features which one you get the hand of the way of working it, works really well. I like that it fills the name of the target you have platesolved to and that name gets added to the file structure on your drive, so when it comes to writing up the observing log, all the files are in their respective folders. Still not wildly happy with the focus routine. It’s not…
Scope Life
or What 13 years in a drafty observatory does to your telescope. The answer to this is not good. The two previous iterations of the my observatory were drafty. They were both designed to allow lots of air movement inside to discourage mould, but the problem was that we are on top of a moorland hull, rain and mist got driven inside it when it was windy. The gaps in the decking floor and…
EAA Observing Session: 27, October
The Sun Session Data Date: 27/9/2024 Time: 11:19 – 12:59 UT Seeing: I. Excellent Transparency: III. Clear with slight haze. Temp: 12 C, Air Pressure: 1025mb Humidity: 78% Dew Point: 8C Wind Speed: 3mph Scope: TMB 80 f/6 Camera: ZWO ASI 183MM , SBIG G filter. No Darks or Flats taken. Currently testing ASCOM Alpaca allowing me to control the mount using a Astroplanner that is installed on my main machine in the office,…