polar mounted at last

[hpcoolahan]

Well i promised you some pics when i did it Radar , so here goes.

Just want the weather to clear up so i can align it now.:ahh!:

Clear Skies
Pat

PS. if your wondering about the tape on the fork arm , its holding some weights for ballance.
Will set it up properly soon.

[Radar]

Awesome mate. Love your setup.

How much time you spend in there on an average week?

Slumber / Dome Party At Hpcoolahan's House!

[hpcoolahan]

Unfortunately work plays a big part in me limiting it to weekends,, or the occasional night during the week , but not to late.
did a quick polar align last night and the autostar said it "was within 5' of the pole".
But that took 3 hrs because of all the patchy cloud cover going over,, grrrrr thank god i had a dvd player in the obs to relieve the frustration.

prob wont get out tonight, to much cloud tonight again.

Heres the only astronomical pic so far from the new camera, taken last week in the early morning before work.


And our usual stormy weather

Clear skies
Pat

[Radar]

Yeah looks like you have some tropical storm clouds theree mate. Ever thought of getting an all sky camera?

Ray

[hpcoolahan]

Would be interesting , but id have to mount it on my roof.

Be interesting to watch the storms roll in , and the milky way going overhead.


Clear Skies
Pat


lurking lurking lurking

lol

[beren]

:thumbsupmate: Top set-up Pat, the convenience of the OB must be great....the focusing unit looks interesting and is that a Temp gauge on the rear of the scope?

[hpcoolahan]

hey Beren,

Yeah the conveniance is great, and the focuser is a meade unit , gives me computer focusing for more convenience when imaging.

The temp gague is for my home made dew heater, has external sensor in the unit, and another in near the corector plate so i can monitor the temp differential and keep it to within 1deg of ambient to keep the dew away, but not cause heat currents for the imaging.
Dont use it much now in the observatory , dont get much dew in the dome.

Clear Skies
Pat

[Radar]

Would be interesting , but id have to mount it on my roof.


Roof would be the best place for it. If you can get a fish eye lens for it, even better. I think if you live in a tropical storm area then one of these all sky cameras could catpure some great storms rolling in.

I can imagine the missus response though, you want to watch some cumulonimbus cloud roll in on the big screen, wife wants to watch Law and Order, who's gonna win?

Ray

[hpcoolahan]

ummmm , that would be the wife that wins.:yesplease:

Pat

[Tenacious Del]

great setup mate. would love one of those. :thumbsupmate:

[wakaleo]

Yes, it is indeed a good looking setup Pat. Can we look forward to seeing some more images soon (weather permitting!)?

Jim

[hpcoolahan]

You must be psychic, just posted some :Chessy_Smile:

Pat

[Red Giant]

I can only wish to have one of these. Big Boys Toys! :smile: