It was a subdued Canada day here yesterday. A few fireworks went off at night in the local parks, but nothing like years before. Just as well as it was hot and humid again. Still, I was bored, and it was clear enough out... By that I mean blue-whitish skies turning to a brownish-grey at twilight. Still, at 9:30PM the Moon was coming up in the east over the roof. I went and got my C80-HD from the basement and my CG4 from the shed.
Had a 5 minute look, but the glare was getting to be a bit much. So I put my Canon T2i (550D) in the focuser of the C80 and took some pics. I really didn't expect anything, as it was still twilight here, and coupled with the haze... Not looking good. I took a few at ISO 200 and 1/320th sec; that was just a good waste of shutter time. Then I upped the ISO to 800, and set the exposure to 1/1000 sec. Took 10 shots at those settings.
Went downstairs to see what I ended up with. The 1/320 sec exposures definitely showed the moisture in the air; the Moon slightly changed shape from one frame to the next. Just for fun I tried stacking them. The result was pretty sharp, and filled with vertical lines
Well, I wasn't hoping for much if anything.Then I tried the ones at 1/1000 sec exposure time. Ran all ten frames through PIPP, then stacked the best 6 of that in AS3.
In five years I have rarely if ever gotten a stack this good with so little, especially considering my seeing conditions. I ran it through Registax ever so slightly, more for some fine definition than anything. I still can't believe this is only 6 frames shot in the twilight with heat, humidity, and hazy skies.
By then 'ol Luna was behind the neighbours tree in the south. I sat inside until my other half went to bed at just after 11:30. After that, I went back out to see if the weather had improved. No, it really hadn't... The Moon had almost cleared the neighbours tree. As I was looking at this, I had an idea.
Before my last camera (my T3) bit the biscuit, I had noticed I had three 76mm (3") reflectors. One is a Towa with a nice wooden mount in perfect shape, dates from the early 80's. The other is a Tasco 3T, which is just a rebrand of my Towa, without the nice mount. The third is a Sky-Watcher I picked up with a few other scopes for $10 at a garage sale. The mirror in the Sky-Watcher also had a fair sized chip in it.
I had the idea to cut down the tube on the Sky-Watcher so it could come to focus with a
I made a mount for the scope to fit on my CG4 using four metal brackets from a wooden table "skirt" that I welded together. A door hinge and a "Fatkitty" latching system, and the tube mounts on my CG4 and can easily be rotated. It's also nicely balanced on the mount, which surprised me that it would. Sometimes I just get lucky...
It has a spherical mirror, and the three "spider-vanes" that hold the secondary are more like rebar than thin vanes. Between those and the secondary, I can't imagine the primary getting much light. Well, I was curious to see how good the focus was, and the Moon is a good target for that.
I took 30 shots at ISO 800; 15 at 1/250 sec, and 15 at 1/320th. Bit more exposure time needed with the reflector it seems. I then took 15 shots of the Moon with my C80-HD at ISO 800 and 1/640th sec for comparison. Brought everything in and went downstairs once again. Ahhh, so cool down here....
After I processed and stacked 7 of the 1/250 sec images from the unholy marriage of a Sky-Watcher tube and some Tasco/Towa mirrors, I sat back in mild disbelief. I thought it would be grainy and soft on the edges.....
Not too shabby all considering:
And for comparison, the stack from the C80-HD, of which 12 frames made it through the stacking process:
Well, I was quite happy with the Skywatcher/Tasco. My intent is to manually track with it on my CG4, which I already did once with promising results. This gave me an opportunity to "mark" the focuser for future reference, and the focus seems good, so I know I built and collimated it right
Cheaper than an Now all I need is my cheerful outlook (barf), coupled with some clear, non-humid & hazy skies!
Hope your forecast is clear and all the best,
