by Richard Crisp
The biggest improvement is in the cell support structure (simpler and cheaper to make and lighter too) and the addition of a motorized secondary mirror focuser.
I had a few start up issues to sort out but after a couple of hours was able to take a short test shot of the Trapezium area
Then I moved over to the Rosette but discovered I had some guiding issues. I fixed those and then settled on the Owl Nebula and took three more short test shots (10 minutes each) before deciding the wind was too strong to do any serious work.
The seeing got worse as the night got later. Initially the seeing wasn't terrible, perhaps 3 arc-second stars in my focus shots but by 10-11pm it was in the 5 arc-sec range for me.
I am eager for a night of good seeing so I can really shake down these two new scopes. the first one is for a friend in Hawaii if you recall. This one is for me.
http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/mk1sn2_page.htm
Posted on sf-bay-tac Feb 05, 2006 16:09:03 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Feb 27, 2006 19:45:06 PT