Posts Made By: Stephen Fugardi

Chris, fantastic shots! The best transit animation I have seen. Thanks for posting

Regards,
Steve

Chase, awesome detail! Watch that back, time to break out the ice. Thanks for the post

Regards,
Steve

Chris, absolutely incredible surface detail! thanks for posting that beauty

Regards,
Steve

My first actual look at the elusive planet, glowing now at -0.5 magnitude in the morning sky 6.6" in size, 62% phase. Avi taken 90min after Mercury rose in poor seeing, through bare trees which is about the only time it is visible from my site. Using my C11 and Toucam at 1/50sec, BW mode, 10fps, 50% br, 0% gam, 100% sat, 20% gain, best 26 frames of 2000 stacked in Registax. At the end of the session, Mercury was no longer visible to the naked eye. If I was more patient, it would have completely cleared the trees within 2 more hours, but I really needed a cup of hot coffee...

Regards,
Steve

Miguel, great shot at its best elongation! On Dec 8th, Mercury will pass very close to Jupiter around mid-day. If it's clear, I will take the day off and try to capture it. Thanks for posting!

Regards,
Steve

Ed, beautiful Saturn - especially in below average seeing! Thanks for posting it

Regards,
Steve

Anthony, gorgeous shot! Excellent detail especially under your seeing conditions. Thanks for posting it

Regards,
Steve

Rick, good luck with your observatory building project! As far as pier heights, you should assemble your scope with its tripod and determine the best viewing height for you. In my case, my C11 tripod broke so I wasn't sure of the exact height and went with the standard 42". The 42 is "above" the floor and "below" the bolts that stick out the top. My true height is actually 45" to the top of the aluminum plate that sits on top of the pier plate. Being 5'9", I still use a step ladder when viewing the horizon. When setting your top plate in the concrete, I would recommend placing 3 short pieces of 2x4s to provide an even 1.5" gap. Use the pier plate with bolts attached and top nuts attached and flush exactly as you would have it later. I did not do this and ended up with only a 1" gap which was very difficult to tighten/level the plate from underneath. Also, I stuck a half cut basketball pole down the middle of my pier for added strength which was probably overkill but happen to find one on the side of the road. My pier goes down 42" in the ground, and I hand mixed 35bags of concrete which killed my back. I would recommend a truck delivery which will run approximately the same cost. Also, pack the concrete into the tube thoroughly to remove air bubbles and set up 2x4 supports to keep it from tipping.

Have fun building!

Regards,
Steve

Using the Home Depot light required a faster web cam shutter speed to achieve approx the same brightness at f25. Both shots taken at 10fps for 15sec, processed identically with Registax4. You can see from the attached comparison that the light is at least as good as the sky flat. If you have a lot of dust, maybe this can help you.

Regards,
Steve

PS: For $600 Celestron has quoted me on recoating, shipping not included. Anyone know of people successful in cleaning/recoating?

Steve, congradulations on an excellent image with near perfect conditions! Good seeing seems almost impossible these days... What Toucam settings did you use to capture Saturn with? Thanks for posting

Regards,
Steve