20131028 Sun (and an accidental finding)

Plenty of sunshine today but we have cloud scattered around, visual observation is okay but imaging is an nightmare, I've to wait until clear moments.  Seeing, however, does not change and remain bad.  I would rate transparency at 6/10 and seeing at 3/10.

Imaging without barlows is easy, since moving cloud would be averaged out, taken at 1550 (GMT+8):-

With 5x powermate, AR1884 and 1885, taken at 1602 (GMT+8):-

With 5x powermate, AR1873 and 1875, taken at 1604 (GMT+8):-

All taken with my only telescope, Ranger with Baader 3.8 and a generic green filter, Lumenera LU070M, around 1/100s exposure with very low gain.

And I found the DIY DEC body manual slow control knob of my Mark-X could be used with a broken microwave oven switch!

 And I guess it will spend more of its life with the microwave oven than under the starry sky!

Garage sales continues

Package deal: $399 HKD takes them all! 


Individual items price reduced, all reasonable offer will be entertained, just don't want to waste all these stuff.

Canon EOS to 1.25" nosepiece adapter, bought from ScopeStuff, ask for $200 HKD, connect your Canon DSLR with a telescope with 1.25" focuser.

SkyAtlas 2000.0 Deluxe Version, ask for $200:-

And the inside, a pen is placed along side to see the size, it's really a good visual reference!

Another custom machined 2" to 1.25" adapter, it's pretty heavy and could be good for balancing light weight 1.25" eyepiece and heavier 2" eyepiece. With two locking screws for added security.  Ask for $50 HKD.

Originally for my Gitzo G1415 when I lost one of the spikes on the legs, so I still have two remain. I've sold my G1415 and now they're sitting idle... very hard to find in Hong Kong and even the distributor refused to order them for me. Ask for $100 HKD.

Free stuff when purchase all:

One of those screw type cases was sent as free gift already, so two eyepiece boxes and a simple tripod is still available as bundled free gift:

20131020 Venus

Thank you indeed, since you're still reading this.

I've given up most of my hobby by selling most of my stuff to support my life as a full time pastor.  I will not give it up, however.

After a whole day of services, I woke up after an involuntary afternoon nap and to my surprise, I saw a bright object outside.  I verified it to be Venus with my Zopo mobile phone.

I pulled out my Ranger, set it up on my Mark-X, with rough polar alignment, tracking at 2400mm (480mm with 5x Powermate) is simple.  Insert the Lumenera Lu070M, centering and focusing is hard but not impossible.  Manual focusing with the aged helical is a hard exercise.  Centering the object with eyepiece and replace with the Lumenera is not easy either.

Anyway, I got it...  fast shutter plus high gain to freeze seeing:

Taken at 1838 (GMT+8), I enjoy capturing this featureless venus with its beautiful phase.  I've viewed through the 4mm eyepiece for sure.

BTW, I've sold my Canon 100-400mm a few days ago. I will miss it forever, just like my H-alpha filter set.