What have you been up to lately?

[turboscrew]

Finger oven, so to speak? :wink:

That is actually a good way to describe it Juha

If you called it a "finger sauna" it would be a big seller in Finland... (go on Juha, you know you want one! )

[pakarinen]

:asleep: I'm pleased to report that I have completed my first nap on my deck for 2022.

[Thefatkitty]

Bit of a foggy day out my way. I took this outside of Fergus, Ontario at 12:20PM today. Normally a road where I can see for miles. Gotta love temperature inversions...

All the best,

[ewomack]

I've been hanging out with my plague doctor, in hopes that he'll keep away today's nasty maladies... you can't blame me for trying, I guess...

[davesellars]

Adjusted the collimation on my dob since the spider vanes were way off (not sure how I've missed that before...). Should be able to test tonight properly.

Also started reading a couple of days ago "Starlight Nights:The Adventures of a Star-Gazer" by Leslie C. Peltier.

Oh, just purchased a dew shield for the dob as well - hopefully this will keep the dew at bay from the secondary a bit longer than it does currently if it's particularly dewy. Also, it should help contrast a bit better from external light sources entering the tube!

[turboscrew]

I planned to have an hour's nap. Woke up 3.5 hours later. Maybe I haven't slept enough during the week...
Now sauna is warming. Light drizzle, so no stargazing tonight. Tomorrow it's probably clear(er), and maybe I get to check for cone error.

[SkyHiker]

I planned to have an hour's nap. Woke up 3.5 hours later. Maybe I haven't slept enough during the week...
Now sauna is warming. Light drizzle, so no stargazing tonight. Tomorrow it's probably clear(er), and maybe I get to check for cone error.

You can check for cone error during the daytime too, just visually not with camera-based software. Adjust Alt so you can see a remote target, then adjust DEC while rotating around RA such that the point of rotation is centered on a vertical line through the FOV, then check how far off the point of rotation is from the center. First at little magnification then at higher. If you want to be super accurate, use a crosshair eyepiece 9 mm or so, or hook up a camera and see if looking at it on the computer yields more accuracy.

[turboscrew]

I planned to have an hour's nap. Woke up 3.5 hours later. Maybe I haven't slept enough during the week...
Now sauna is warming. Light drizzle, so no stargazing tonight. Tomorrow it's probably clear(er), and maybe I get to check for cone error.

You can check for cone error during the daytime too, just visually not with camera-based software. Adjust Alt so you can see a remote target, then adjust DEC while rotating around RA such that the point of rotation is centered on a vertical line through the FOV, then check how far off the point of rotation is from the center. First at little magnification then at higher. If you want to be super accurate, use a crosshair eyepiece 9 mm or so, or hook up a camera and see if looking at it on the computer yields more accuracy.

That's the catch: I don't have that much visibility. All terrestrial targets are too close. With CC I can't get even all my eyepieces to focus.

[OzEclipse]

Currently running my Nightscapes and Star Trails Astrophotography Course
https://www.photoaccess.org.au/learn/cl ... tartrails/

The timely appearance of the latest highly contagious COVID variant, COVID Omicron sub-variant BA.2, plus rising fuel prices, inflation, wars has had its effect on enrolment levels. Examining available spaces on other competing courses, it looks like the competition has zero enrolments. We are running this course for just 4 people. With only 4 people, I can give each participant their own bedroom when they come to stay for the field night which is part of my COVID safe procedure:-

1. Participants don't come if they are sick.

2. Participants complete a high sensitivity Rapid Antigen Test upon arrival.

3. Wear N95 masks while in common areas inside the house.

4. Meals, drinks and most socialising are served/conducted outdoors on the front deck.
The front deck has the great view and with guests distanced across multiple tables.

5. Participants travel to/from field locations in their own cars. All field work is outdoors.

Two zoom sessions completed during the week just passed mainly dealing with planning, location scouting, sky movements, weather prediction and personal safety. Two sessions next week cover with equipment, capture techniques & noise in DSLR's, then the group comes out here for an overnight stay and field night at new moon on Saturday April 2nd, weather permitting.

Some of my pictures from past years workshops

Some participant pictures below

Luminita Lunita

Paul Carpenter

Dylan Jones

[pakarinen]

Put a DIY az circle on my Zero. Supposed to clear overnight, so I hope to test it tomorrow morning.

[davesellars]

@OzEclipse ... Those are some spectacular landscapes with the Milky Way so intense.. Would love to see that for real some time in my life (before I get too old!!!)

[davesellars]

I had a decent session last night as it was beautifully clear although slightly limited due to 100% Moon. The adjustments I'd made seemed to make a difference - collimation was spot on and most importantly I could now reach focus with the 10mm Delos (as before it needed a couple of milimeters etc of outfocus).

[turboscrew]

Hauled my stuff out. Let's see if I can figure out the cone error tonight.

[davesellars]

Good luck Juha!

[turboscrew]

Good luck Juha!

I don't feel lucky. It looks like about 1.85° cone error has emerged somehow.

[Refractordude]

Finally have some fish in my nano reef aquarium. I have a Firefish and a Chromis. I had a Tomato Clown, but took it back to the LFS due to it being very aggressive. I have some lime color coralline algae growing, but I would rather have the purple.

[Ylem]

Finally have some fish in my nano reef aquarium. I have a Firefish and a Chromis. I had a Tomato Clown, but took it back to the LFS due to it being very aggressive. I have some lime color coralline algae growing, but I would rather have the purple.

Very nice

I think that's the first time I have seen saltwater fish in a smaller tank.

When my fresh water ones pass away I am going to turn my 20 into a reef.

[OzEclipse]

Good luck Juha!

I don't feel lucky. It looks like about 1.85° cone error has emerged somehow.

This is a long shot but can you reverse the tube in the cradle and try again? It could be that you had the tube pointing the other way before and two small 0.9° errors cancelled each other out. Then you turn the tube the other way and they add together?

It's worth a try.

Joe

[turboscrew]

Good luck Juha!

I don't feel lucky. It looks like about 1.85° cone error has emerged somehow.

This is a long shot but can you reverse the tube in the cradle and try again? It could be that you had the tube pointing the other way before and two small 0.9° errors cancelled each other out. Then you turn the tube the other way and they add together?

It's worth a try.

Joe

Well, when I swap between CEM120 and dobson, I have to take off the Losmandy dovetail and the radius blocks. I only have one set of tube rings. But 2 tube ring positions, 2 radius block positions and 2 radius block orientations per radius block make 16 combinations. Doable, but may take some time. Mainly due the tests.
The tube rings have always had the same orientation due to easier handling of the tightening screws.
Although, I think one should see, if the tube is off.
sin(0.9) * 1165 mm (tube length) = 18.3 mm. Put on the floor on the Losmandy dovetail, the other end of the tube should be almost 2 cm higher than the other.

[OzEclipse]

I don't feel lucky. It looks like about 1.85° cone error has emerged somehow.

This is a long shot but can you reverse the tube in the cradle and try again? It could be that you had the tube pointing the other way before and two small 0.9° errors cancelled each other out. Then you turn the tube the other way and they add together?

It's worth a try.

Joe

Well, when I swap between CEM120 and dobson, I have to take off the Losmandy dovetail and the radius blocks. I only have one set of tube rings. But 2 tube ring positions, 2 radius block positions and 2 radius block orientations per radius block make 16 combinations. Doable, but may take some time. Mainly due the tests.
The tube rings have always had the same orientation due to easier handling of the tightening screws.
Although, I think one should see, if the tube is off.
sin(0.9) * 1165 mm (tube length) = 18.3 mm. Put on the floor on the Losmandy dovetail, the other end of the tube should be almost 2 cm higher than the other.

sin(0.9) * distance between tube rings = amount of shim required. But 0.9 yeah seems waaaay to much for it to be direction reversal. Something else is going on.