I had fixed the focuser on my mount to line up with the 76mm Tasco-mirrored/Skywatcher-tubed mutant I had cut down to come to focus with a
Anyhoo, I left that mess outside while I cleaned off and shoveled out the car and truck in the -18C (0F). I need to do these things earlier in the day. After that bit of grumbling, I got my seating arrangement out of the shed.
And what exactly is that, you ask? Well, it ain't no Vestil, but hear me out: Milk crates are 11" (28cm) high. At least mine are. I also have a milk crate I cut in half (not pictured here). So, I can adjust my seating height in 5 1/2" (14cm) increments, and with three full crates, the half one, and my trusty bar stool top, it has worked for me with every scope from my 80mm
So until my back or butt can't handle it, it shall do
After I set that up, I looked through the hole for the polar scope for Polaris , slewed the scope and found M42 in the viewfinder, rotated the scope on its tube-ring so the camera would be straight up, and happily it showed up in the camera viewfinder as well. I turned on the camera, went to live mode, and saw one very dim star. Wow, this is gonna be fun.... I zoomed in to 10X, moved the focus area to the star, and adjusted the scopes focuser as best I could. I have to say the scope is solid on the mount; very little wobble, which helped immensely. I'm not patting myself on the back, but I usually do everything with a bit of overkill...
Once I was satisfied with the focus (yet not really), I found M42 again in the focuser. I sat down, hook the remote shutter in one hand, the
I did that 15 times, with exposures from 15 seconds down to five. I used my Canon T3 (1100D) at ISO 1600. Three shots came out, one at 14 seconds, one at 12, and one at seven. You can also see my
The focus is still off, and seeing as how it's a spherical mirror, it might never be that good; just thinking. And the collimation is still a bit off as well. The bright star in the lower middle should have three diffration spikes, and it does not. At least I think it should; there's three spider vanes; more like rods on these instead of four thin vanes like a quality scope
I'm also surprised at the wide field view. I expected it to be much narrower, seeing as how the scope is an
So here they are, at 14, 12, and 7 seconds from top to bottom. All I did was convert them to PNG and resize them to 50% in the Digital Photo Professional software from Canon. Unlike you
And that's it for me tonight. The battery on my camera was flashing, and it was starting to get hazy, though it is supposed to clear up when I'm asleep. Of course. I also need to be outside by 6:30 AM; there's a nice conjunction of the crescent Moon, Mars, and Antares; forming a triangle in the south east.
Sweet
Have a good night/day and clear skies!