First PA with SharpCap

[Greenman]

Due to the location of my house I have not previously been able to do this. I have a tiered back garden with three levels. This afternoon I cautiously positioned my AVX on the top level with the front leg balanced on the retaining wall and the others on strategically positioned bricks, levelled it and used Astro locator to set it as close to true north as I could. Now to wait for darkness.

I was a bit apprehensive as SharpCap has been a bit flaky for me, but the latest update seems to have cured that. I played around a bit getting used to the polar alignment function, and finally I got an excellent PA. Performed a two star alignment with 3 calibration stars and then switched to ASI Studio, found a fairly rich star field with the live stacking app. I switched to deep sky and set up a small sequence of ten 60 second shots.

Coffee called me back to the house for a while. Packed away and toddled off to process what I had. First observation, yep I need darks and flats, lights alone aren’t enough now. Second observation I had pin point stars and the 0.8 Altair FF/FR gave me good star shapes across the field. I was pretty pleased getting one minute exposures with no trailing unguided on my AVX.

No outstanding images, but that nice warm feeling of moving in the right direction. Now got make a more permanent good standing for the scope. I found balancing on a retaining wall in the dark packing the scope away an interesting experience, but I think acrobatics aren’t really me.

[MistrBadgr]

Sounds like you had a good night. I can relate to the balancing act in the dark not really being "you." I did the same with a 14-1/4 inch f/6.7 Newtonian, leaning out from an eight foot ladder to get to the eyepiece in the dark. All of a sudden, I asked myself, "If I fall over, on top of the scope and equatorial mount, is it going to be worth it for the view?" The answer was, "NO!"

[Graeme1858]

Sounds like a good experimental session Tony.

Also sounds like you need a good solid brick built patio on your top tier!

Moving in the right direction really is a nice warm feeling

Regards

Graeme

[Greenman]

Sounds like a good experimental session Tony.

Also sounds like you need a good solid brick built patio on your top tier!

Moving in the right direction really is a nice warm feeling

Regards

Graeme

I went the first step towards that today long session of moving plants and getting the paving out of the lawn (and replacing the divots). Fundamentals done brick path and hard standing next weekend - weather permitting

[Greenman]

Sounds like you had a good night. I can relate to the balancing act in the dark not really being "you." I did the same with a 14-1/4 inch f/6.7 Newtonian, leaning out from an eight foot ladder to get to the eyepiece in the dark. All of a sudden, I asked myself, "If I fall over, on top of the scope and equatorial mount, is it going to be worth it for the view?" The answer was, "NO!"

Sounds a sensible one, I made some changes to the tier today, if was my premiere and also last balancing act