Posts Made By: Stephen Fugardi

Even after my worse night ever (leaving my laptop power cord at work, breaking my C11 tripod leg, clouds covering the sky 5min before the full eclipse) I managed to rig up my finderscope on a camera tripod with my toucam and got some decent images. Shots taken every 30min starting at 8pm, 30sec at a time. 1/1500 sec at first, then 1/1000 during the partials, and 1/25 for the full eclipse. I had the brightness set to 50%, gamma/sat at 100% (to get max color, which didn't seem to work anyway...), gain at 20%. Best 100 of 150 for all shots, except for the full eclipse which was 20. Considering the massive clouds moving overhead starting at 10:15, I was lucky to get a small 10sec clearing.

With my C11 tripod out of commission, I am now highly motivated to finish my observatory (2 yrs so far). Right now it's only a buried 12" concrete pier, with a used 7' dome sitting in my backyard. I just can't see spending the $ on another cheapo tripod...

I will post a picture of the setup later tonight.

Regards,
Steve

Folks, I've been working on my observatory for almost 2 years now but having just broken by C11 tripod leg the night of the eclipse, I have been re-energized to say the least. Buying another cheapo tripod right now doesn't make sense for me. Anyway, I having been following all the great posts here and would appreciate any advice going forward.

I've got a used 7' homemade dome in decent condition (needs paint) waiting for walls. There's a 12" concrete pier with a used 4" steel pre-filled basketball poly down the middle. The foundation is approx 48" deep using around 36 or so bags of concrete. My plan is to top off the concrete with 4" of small gravel and pour an 8 foot DIA 4" concrete slab on top. I will pre-install 8" bolts (zinc painted with rustoleum) which will stick up thru the slab. I plan a PVC pipe under the slab to house the wiring. Walls will be 1" smaller in radius than the dome to allow a rubber rain guard to be mounted. Walls will be 2x3" approx 5' high with sheathing on the outside. 1/2" plywood will be cut in semicircles and glued/screwed together. The dome will rotate against skateboard wheels countersunk & mounted on the top circular plywood ring. I'd like to get the slab done before it gets cold.

Attached is a shot of the pier and dome

Regards,
Steve Fugardi

Folks, I downloaded the remote capture software for the family Canon A80 Powershot. Max exposure is only 15sec. I see adapters for $60 at Scopetronix. Has anyone tried this and is it worth it? I am looking for a beginners try at imaging (beyond my TouCam). Attached is a 15sec shot of Gemini off my back deck. Seems like it could work. 4Meg pixels. Maybe a poor mans' 20D...

Regards,
Steve

Folks, hooked up my Toucam to my finderscope mounted to camera tripod and shot Saturn just to see what would happen. I was about to try a 2.5x powermate just to see, but the clouds rolled in. Best 100 frames stacked in Registax. This may be the smallest Saturn ever posted...

Regards,
Steve

Folks,
I finally skinned the lower cylinder, including the "rounded" door which I spent way too much time on. The initial primer coat is on, with 1 more coming plus the final epoxy coat. Inside walls were "pre-primed" before being screwed in and will be painted flat black at the end.

I struggled with the underneath treating of the wood ring to prevent long term rot. My final setup was coating the under ring with boat resin, then cut/glued on 3/4" pink foam insulation to keep the wood off the concrete base. This should be good enough. Also, I am hoping that the pink insulation board will allow for variation in the concrete pad.

I am debating whether to epoxy paint the dome/cylinder in my garage or outside assuming CT can get a 2 day dry window... To roll it out to the backyard site, I plan to use 10x12 carpets, moving them back and forth keeping the cylinder off the driveway/yard.

Hopefully, this will be done soon since I haven't been able to use my scope since October...
Regards,
Steve

Folks, My first attempt to image DSOs was last night in between the passing clouds. Using my C11 with an afocal Canon A80 attached to a TV 55mm eyepiece. I could only get 1 decent shot in focus before it clouded over. 1x15sec, ISO400, f3.2, approx 20% zoom.

Regards,
Steve

Folks, C11 with afocal Canon A80 attached to a TV 55mm eyepiece. 3x15sec ISO400, f3.2, approx 20% zoom stacked in Registax. I will try DSLR focus next time out to help sharpen the image

Regards,
Steve

Folks, By midnight, I was almost ready to give up - then the clouds finally cleared. Here's my initial attempt at the dumbbell. C11 with an afocal Canon A80 attached to a TV 55mm eyepiece. 4x15sec, ISO400, f3.2, approx 20% zoom, stacked in Registax. This one needs at least 10-20 more shots added to get a real image! M27 is in there if you look carefully.

Using our family digital camera to image DSOs is not what I expected. Using the Canon RemoteCapture software enabled control thruough the computer, but there was NOTHING to focus on! Basically I centered the object in the eyepiece, then attached the camera, took a shot and checked the focus on the transferred image. Tweaked the focus until reasonable, then took 4 back to back shots. Trying to figure out DSLR focus is next.

Regards,
Steve

Folks, After getting my compustar computer back working again, I stayed out last night 6 hours under clear but hazy skies, viewing everything possible. I came close to cashing in, but then Mars shined right through the trees. One glimpse and I knew sleep wasn't happening. My first 2005 viewing of Mars looked huge compared to Neptune/Uranus an hour earlier. With a 2.5x powermate, Mars was so bright I could have used a filter, but I was so stiff I didn't think I could make the garage. At 2:45AM, Mars cleared the trees, and by 3:30AM the seeing improved enough to take my first shots of the red planet.

dia=12.1", F25 w/Toucam 840, 10fps, 1/33sec, bright=50, gam=0, sat=100, gain=40, best 600 of 900 taken, stacked with Registax2. Sky&Telescopes Mars profiler next to image as reference.

Can't wait for 20" size and a reasonable viewing time!
Regards,
Steve

Folks, My latest image is greatly improved from my first attempts on 8/11, but still quite blurry compared to recent posts. So far I have stopped using my diagonal when imaging, added an IR blocking filter, and have collimated my scope better. Last night while clear, required the evil use of the hair dryer to keep the dew in control.

C11 Toucam840, 1/33 sec, 0 gamma, 100 sat, brightness 45, gain 10, best 200 frames of 2318 captured at 10fps Registax2.

Any advice on processing is greatly welcome,
Regards,
Steve