I started of by aligning to Polaris by eye and finder scope (more on this later) , pointing the AVX north using polar scope align pro on the AVX saddle and then manual moving the mount in
Now for a quick tour, I’m gong for galaxies, M31 spot on; a hazy large blob, why not Bode’s - once again seen with normal and even stronger with averted vision. OK, the first galaxy sightings off the list. Now to image Mars! Found Mars, centred moved from 25mm to 12mm centred, added 2x Barlow centred. Now for the ASI 224, hunt the thimble time, eventually located. Clear that the image was affected by heat turbulence but ran off a 640 by 480 video anyway. Waited a while, refound the planet and bumped off another capture. Mars still pretty small so ran a couple of 320 x 240 videos, then the clouds rolled in.
Packed away wondering about a
Process & process, detail lacks and Mars seems an odd shape. I know the images should be better... Read up, think. One word - Collimation I have never checked this, but the small planet, higher magnification, and yes the slight fuzziness I saw on Saturn was worse than on Jupiter. Have a look at examples, ran across a post with an 8SE and the improvement he got in planetary.
OK, this scope has not been collimated, ever as far as I know. I believe that this was used in a project for my company sometime before I joined in 2014. My ex-boss gave this to me just before he left the company as they were going to scrap it.
Night arrived an here I am armed with a screwdriver and an impending sense of doom as I approached the business end of my scope. Trial turn of the screw that needed adjustment, and nothing, just a bit stuck thinks I. Nope, this was not inclined to move, tried the second and third... Ah, this was not going to be straightforward. So, I get my garage keys, now my eyes are dark-adapted, so I feel alone the bench and find the tip of a suitably sharp chisel, damn! A bit further along I find the can of WD 40.
As I wander back to the scope I wonder about spraying WD 40 at the front of my scope. Nah, I can do this... And I could, a couple of seconds later the screws we're lubricated, and each one was moveable. So I return to the eyepiece to gaze at the Airey disk, I now notice the stars are all attractive little arrows in the sky. Ah, now I’m sure it is not collimated, perhaps the screws we're a bit more sensitive than I expected?
A bit worried I tried to correct my heavy-handedness. After 45 minutes things looked good.
Swing the scope to Mars, with - perfect disk focussed well with discernable features. Now to buy myself some Bob’s knobs!
In the meantime, a good offer on an Orion