20100913 Sun

High transparency today, I would rate it 7-8/10 but there're cloud moving around so you need some patience to do imaging. Seeing not bad at 5/10, so it's a good day for solar imaging indeed.

Full disc acquired with a focal reducer, close up by using a 2x barlows. All taken with my Solarmax 40 with BF10, Tele Vue Ranger with NGF-CM, tracked by iOptron Cube, captured with a Lumenera LU070M.

1445 (GMT+8):-


1449 (GMT+8):-

20100906 Sun

Finally got time to spend on the Sun! Actually, I'm still buried in my work but I decided to leave them alone for ten minutes. Setting up my iOptron Cube required minimal amount of time, and snap my Ranger on the hacked side, put on the filter, press GOTO and fine tune the position, it's done.

Seeing no good at 3/10 due to the wind, and transparency is very poor at 2/10 at best. The sky is white basically, but the sunshine is still strong. Put my Lumenera LU070M in the focuser and fine tune the focus with the NGF-CM, everything is ready. Adjust the exposure and the filaments comes into view. Fine tune the Tmax and then also fine tune the focus, ready to capture!

There's nothing big to do a closeup, so I only did a single AVI with the focal reducer in place in order to get the full disc. Started Registax before I park the telescope and put everything back in place. It's just 10 minutes!!!

Today, I also did a visual observation with my Nagler 13mm Type 6. I also called my wife in to have look, she couldn't see the filaments at first but she can after looking at my processed image. You know, Registax finished so fast!

Items still for sales

Price for local Hong Kong transaction:-

1. APM 1.25" Herschel Wedge with heat sink, 1.25" B+W ND3 and polarizing filter (must be used together with the wedge), all for $1800. (SOLD)

2. Orion 100ED f/9 OTA with rings at 7lb only + Unistar Light mount with 3/8" interface at 2lb, both for $3999. Very portable actually. (SOLD)















3. Lumenera LU070M with DIY Peltier cooler, $3000. Last one that I'm trying to sell, I will keep the other one. (SOLD)




4. Astrotrac with original polarscope, original box and paper work, $4200 only, it's over $5000 new. I only try it for a couple of times at home, not suitable for my original plan, virtually new. (SOLD)

5. Shoestring Astronomy FCUSB: USB focusing controller compatible with JMI focusers, etc. $500 HKD, virtually new.

20100815 Sun

Get back home, see the sun, pulled out my setup. The iOptron works now but I had little time to test it. It's cloudy and I never got a clear sky, so I didn't even open the window of the air-conditioned room, hey, it's lie 34 degree Celcius outside!

Just a record, very poor image indeed. Registax couldn't really process this video with moving cloud. avistack does not like 12-bit video it seems.



AR1093 and AR1099 just before their departure.

Testing the Astrotrac on the moon with 100ED

Back home and saw the moon hanging low in the sky, I got the chance to try out the Astrotrac with my Orion 100ED. I secured all the joints but when I put my 100ED OTA on it (without the lens), the 3/8" screw just slips. With just a simple screw to fix the 410 head, I found that it cannot hold the heavy weight at all.

The verdict is out, I shall keep my TG-SP II since the apparently more capacity of the Astrotrac does not work in my case. At the same time, I shall also further lower the price of my Orion 100ED f/9 since I ain't going to get a mount enough to use it. In the mean time, I will keep the Orion 100ED f/9 first so that I might be able to do some visual scanning with my Unistar Lighter. But the Astrotrac is going to be sold. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad with it, it just couldn't fit my original intended purpose.

Perseids 2010

I did nothing basically, just setup my camera, pull my curtain to cover the camera from indoor lighting. Start the timer release, and let it go for 3 hours. The weather report said that it could rain so I kept my window closed, so I was taking picture through the dirty window glass. And worst yet, the reflection from outdoor lighting even washed out some more contrast, dimmer meteor could render invisible.

Under my heavily light polluted sky, I was forced to stay at 35s exposure each at f/3.5 ISO 400. I did capture some stars and aereplane trails, but there's nothing else. Maybe south-west is not a good direction afterall?

This morning, I examined all the frames but found nothing. Local folks reported a few meteors and one of them said it was the worst Perseids that he has ever seen.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=194199&id=700747262&l=b6a53a3bde

An alternative way to mount the Astrotrac

Just found an alternative way to mount the Astrotrac on the Takahashi mini-wedge originally for the TG-SP II. This wedge is too small such that the Astrotrac might hit the tripod legs. To solve this problem, I've mounted a small quick release platform between the tripod and that mini-wedge, and the wedge was effectively raisen and thus the Astrotrac will not hit the tripod legs.

A very good side effect is that, that quick release platform enables me to rotate the wedge with respect to the tripod. That means I can fine tune the polar alignment in azimuth!

If I stay in Hong Kong, I've no need to buy another wedge or another ball head as a result of this newly found configuration. I can use this combination on the planets because the 410 head can be used for fine adjustment even with my Orion 100ED, and it is also good for the sun or the moon.

If I were to travel, my prime target will be wider field imaging, and in such case, I will only need to buy a simple ball head. And the 410 head will be reserved for polar alignment.

--

A side note: The Astrotrac is really light by itself. However, you need two more tripod heads (e.g. two 410) for proper operation, and thus, the weight is tripled! Therefore, it's indeed similar with a TG-SP II.

Of course, the Astrotrac has more capacity. And if you do photography along with your trip, all you need is one more tripod head plus the Astrotrac. Therefore, it's not bad afterall.

--

To do: I shall try out the Astrotrac + Orion 100ED on planets, moon and the sun with a Herschel Wedge, if it works, I shall definitely keep the Astrotrac and sell the TG-SP II. Otherwise, I shall conduct a few more tests.

Trial setup of the Astrotrac

The Takahashi wedge (originally for Sky Patrol):



A Tele Vue Ranger attached:-



Tripod: Gitzo G106
Wedge: Takahashi (TG-SP II)
Head: Manfrotto 410

I found that the whole setup is pretty close to the window frame, that's good for me since it might indicate that I can use it for indoor imaging. If that's the case, it can replace both my TG-SP II as my portable setup, and my iOptron SmartStar-GPS for indoor imaging. I need to have some real sunshine to confirm this.

Tracking was very stable as I can detect from the eyepiece, at least noticeably better than that of the iOptron. The whole thing is very stable indeed. The first thing which I missed is a hand controller like the TG-SP II, but of course, I can do it manually with the 410 head which should be at least as good. For higher power imaging or observation work of the sun, moon and the planets, I'm sure electronic slewing is much more preferred.

The whole setup is a little bit lighter than that of the TG-SP II, but the difference is not big.

Brief impression of the AstroTrac

I would say it's very attractive, it's compact and light weight.

However, when compared with the Takahashi TG-SP II, I would say the Takahashi should last longer. The parts are better made, the electronics are simpler and it should last longer. The Astrotrac is a bit too long, and the parts are not very thick, and it could deform over time?

Featurewise, the polarscope of the Astrotrac is better. It comes with an illuminator and it's bigger and more accurate. The Takahashi is too small and very hard to use when placed side by side. The Astrotrac has an autoguider port while the Takahashi has none.

Having said that the Astrotrac can hold more weight and it's lighter. There is no counter weight for the Astrotrac and you can hardly forget anything when packing up for the trip.

I should try the Astrotrac shortly, and see which one I should keep in the long run.

20100802 to 0803

I just hand a chance to stay in a local resort for a night with my family.

The sky was not dark afterall as we were still within Hong Kong but I knew that we would have a large balcony, so I packed my TG-SP II inside the suitcase. Yes, it's very light weight and compact so that it would not affect my kids' stuff. Otherwise, I would not have brought it along.

When I was about the setup the whole thing, I found that I missed the dovetail at home! So, I really couldn't mount my DSLR on the mount finally.

Guess what, this accident reminded me that I really didn't use my TG-SP II enough. I would still miss some bits and pieces at home...

Cube problem solved!

I bought a RJ11 6P4C cable from a local store at $10 (i.e. around 1.3 USD), I've prepared to modify the pin layout cutting one end off, re-arranging the cables and by crimping another RJ11 there.

To my surprise, the cable has identical layout with the iOptron cable! Therefore, no hacking has to be done.

And on plugging in, everything work flawlessly, no more problem! Yeah! I saved a lot of money and a lot of trouble! Solar imaging could be resumed shortly.

--

Symptom:

The "GPS ON" sign on the LCD display disappeared, and the mount changed itself to EQ mode and cannot be changed back to alt-az mode. There will be an error message saying that the controller cannot communicate with the DEC motor.

Cause:

Faulty hand controller cable.

Solution:

Pictures are much better for the illustration. First of all, examine the original cable which looks like this. Check the color of the cables inside the jacks of both side. You will see that they are in the following sequence as shown. Both sides are identical in layout and by using a multimeter, you will know that there are just four parallel cables inside without any cross-over, we can it a straight cable technically.



The jack is just similar to those for telephone. However, some telephone system has cross over cables, that means, the pin layout of the jacks are not the same. We will need to find those which has two identical layout on both jacks.



Luckily, I found such a cable locally from a store at a very low price, less than 1/10th of the original one. Of course, it you cannot find such a cable, you can always hack one by yourself. Simply buy any telephone cable, cut one ends off, and buy a new RJ11 jack and re-arrange the pin layout with a crimpler tool.

After replacing the cable, my Cube works again flawlessly.

Going for Astrotrac TT320X-AG?

I begin to wonder if it could be a good move to me, and before that, I'll be selling my Takahashi TG-SP II. The TT320X-AG is lighter in weight but it can probably track even my Orion 100ED f/9 since it has more capacity, so I can do planet imaging again. It has autoguiding port for future expansion, and it's also good enough for indoor tracking of the sun. My existing Manfrotto 410 head should be great for polar alignment of it.

The downside is probably the power requirement. The TG-SP II can be powered even from the USB port, and it can even work on 4 AA rechargeable. However, the Astrotrack would need 12V which means more battery.

I shall see, and at the time being, if you're interested in my TG-SP II, let me know. I've the basic mount plus an extra brass counter weight for it, a power cable which draws power from USB port, a battery box and also a German made Vixen style dovetail saddle. An advertisement has been placed in astromart, wish me good luck on the sales.

20100719 Moon

My Cube was still waiting for repairing, so the TG-SP II was in use. Tele Vue Ranger, Lumenera LU070M, close up with 2x barlows.

I found that without selecting 12-bit, Registax V5 is unable to process the AVI, but Registax V4 can. It answers the question why some of the older AVIs are not accepted by Registax V5.

2219 (GMT+8):-


2224, closeup (GMT+8):-


2229, closeup (GMT+8):-

My Cube

A few days ago, I found that it switched itself to EQ mode and the GPS sign was off. And after powering it up for sometime, it will report that it cannot communicate with the dec motor. Seems it's failed?

I tried to replace its firmware but the problem persisted. Later with the help of a local folk, I managed to get the newer firmware but it does not help either. When I tried to contact the technical support of iOptron, they offered me a repairing service at $70 USD, factoring in the shipping cost for me to send it to them, it's more than half of a new controller! Oops...

Okay, I plugged in the controller again and then it works suddenly. Everything appear to be normal. I switched it off and on, it's not working again with the same set of symptoms. Apparently, something is getting loose?

Therefore, I shall try to find a replacement cable for it. It's just a straight RJ11 cable with four pins (i.e. RJ14 to be exact), and I was told that it's different from our home phone cable, so I should verify by using a multimeter before going on.

Wish me good luck!

--

I'll try to make replacement cable myself... Guess what, the tools and the raw cables are cheaper than the stocked cable. I guess it's most probably a cable issue since the problem happens something and disappear sometimes, and therefore, it's reasonable to be a result of poor contact.

20100714 Wide field indoor testing

Didn't go out tonight, since I don't think there would be much difference. I placed the mount on the other side of the window to gain access to M6 and M7... Just a test shot:



M6 on top and M7 near the bottom... very short exposure like 5s at ISO 800 since the polar alignment is very bad, and I couldn't improve it by much since the space is very limit on this side of the window. I even can't do the composition through the view finder.

Anyway, it's more like testing of the equipment, that Canon 100mm f/2.0 wide open.

A typhoon is coming, and I've taken a few more shots, pending processing (stacking).

Preparation for urban wide field imaging

Guess what, I even want to try imaging in the urban center... see what I can get?

But before I can try, I will need to try out the combinations of equipments first. With my newly acquired TG-SP II polarscope, polar alignment could be done faster.

First of all, I need to determine how many counter weight that I will need to use, and without much surprise, this little mount can take my Canon 450D plus a 100mm f/2 or a 50mm f/1.8 without any counter weight. It is because the RA motor was placed strategically to serve as a counter weight.

Therefore, the whole setup is really extremely portable. All I need is a small tripod, the mount without counter weight, a battery box plus the hand controller. I'll also need the timer release so that I can do exposure longer than 30 seconds. Of course, maybe 30 seconds would be too much under such a sky! I shall test run tonight in an indoor setting.

Indoor Test

Finally setup everything, and without Polaris, I can only roughly align the mount by using a compass. By using ISO 400 and f/2, 10s exposure will nearly saturate the whole frame. Star remains pinpoint, and there's no purple fringing... Canon 100mm f2.0 seems to be a good lens indeed.

By stopping it to f4.0 and exposure at 30s at ISO 100, I'm trying to test the tracking accuracy of the mount. Star remains pinpoint! Seems like my rough alignment is not that bad afterall.

Then I centered at Antares and let it go for 20s at f/2.0 ISO 200, M4 was clearly seen. If the sky is darker, I'm sure that it's going to be fun! If the sky is still alright tomorrow night, I shall go out in a nearby open area, I just wish that I can do 30s at f/2.0 and ISO 400 or even 800, I don't need the timer release indeed.



See the hint of M4 in the above shot.

Just sold and shipped my last ToUCam Pro

I became more serious in astronomy with a small ToUCam Pro, and in all these years, I had owned over five ToUCam Pro, and I've modified them to black and white, raw mode support, etc.

Upon selling my bigger scopes, and also by going to DMK and later Lumenera, I had not much point in keeping a ToUCam Pro. My last backup camera was just sold and shipped.

It's still an excellent camera by any measure, especially given its price, however, my focus has been changed to more portable gear. For solar imaging, a black white camera is a must, and therefore, I no longer need any ToUCam Pro.

I've even used a ToUCam Pro with a Asus router so that I can do remote monitoring to my home, but then this was also replaced by an IPCamera.

It's all now history!

Visual scanning at home

No time to really observe, just pulled out my Canon 10x30 IS and open my home window to scan around. Scorpius is hanging outside the window, excellent transparency really help to reduce the problem of light pollution.

M6 and M7 are easily seen with such a small aperture, stars are well resolved thanks to the IS. M4 is again impossible under bright sky, I've tried M4 from my home with a C8 but still failed, so there's no chance virtually with a pair of 30mm binoculars.

It's refreshing enough for me, especially during the busy days.

20100701 Sun

Cooled Lumenera, strange registax 5 incompatibility so fall back to registax 4, forgot to use that tmax motorizing addon.

With reducer, 1425 (GMT+8):-


With 2x, 1434 (GMT+8):-


With 2x, 1436 (GMT+8):-


Poor shots.

Motorizing Tmax

Not bad it seems!



Let's see how it was made, drill three holes to mount the small motor:-
Put on a toy car wheel, drive by friction:-
The solarmax was mounted via a big square hole (circular is better but also much harder to cut), to engage the motor, rotate the solarmax within its hole.
There is no sun around, so I just put it on top of a plastic case to test:-

The prototype which I made last time:

http://osastrolog.blogspot.com/2009/05/small-dc-geared-motors.html

DIY enclosure for Lumenera LU070M

The title says it all. The first one is connected to the Peltier cooler, of course, it's not good enough to seal from all condensation, but it's good enough to have it cool down. Separate power supply socket.



Another one is just a simple box, good for day time purpose for solar imaging, to stay away from direct sun light.

No more sun even after 3:00pm

Yesterday, I needed to go out before 2:00pm and therefore, I have no access for the sun.

Today, I can return home at around 3:00pm, but then the sun was already blocked by the nearby construction site, that tower crane. Hopefully when the building work is finished, I may be able to see the sun for a longer time? Anyhow, the seeing will still be very bad.

Around 5 years ago, I can even do planets and even some limited deep sky imaging. But then around 2-3 years ago, I was more or less limited by lunar and solar imaging. Recently, solar imaging is in trouble.

What next? Will I be forced to give up indoor astronomy altogether?

iOptron Cube for the Night Sky

Cloud moving around tonight but that couldn't stop me from setting up the scope in front of the window. Simple compass north and level gives accurate GOTO on the moon and the saturn at the field at 24x.

I'm using the hacked side, and that quick release adapter which I've used for the scope attachment could slip. Luckily, it won't slip on normal usage, but when I called my kid to see through the eyepiece, they might push their eyes too hard on the eyepiece so that it slips.

Tracking was stable for visual observation just as expected, since it was stable enough for imaging.

So far I'm impressed by this little mount, really versatile and accurate enough for its purpose.

--

I've tried to do some planet imaging on the unofficial side, but then the adapter slips. I would rather say this is not the problem of the mount itself, and I guess if I'm using the official side with the dovetail, it should work.

Therefore, for indoor imaging purpose, this mount won't work for me since I've to use the unofficial side rather than the official dovetail saddle. As a result, I won't be able to do indoor planet imaging with this mount. And the direct implication to me is, I won't invest in another scope just for planet imaging since the unofficial side was even insufficient for the Ranger, not to say anything bigger.

Of course, I could attach another dovetail saddle to the unofficial side to solve the slipping problem, but I won't do so at the time being.

List of items that I want to get rid of...

Expected price in HKD without shipping:

1. 5" diameter heat absoring glass, ask for $50
2. Factory Enhanced Unistar Light: the Customization is done by Universal Astronomics, not by me, so that it can be used to support a C8 at medium power observation (up to around 100x), super portable at less than 2lb only, adapter available for 3/8" tripod. Come with an extra Japanese made GP compatible dovetail saddle. Ask for $1600 HKD, or $1400 HKD without the saddle.
3. Orion 100mm ED f/9 with tube rings, ask for $3500 HKD, can be used with the above mount. Get both at $4800 HKD.
   
4. 1.25" APM Herschel wedge with matching 1.25" B+W ND3 and polarizing filters, $1800 for the whole set, the perfect tool for serious white light solar observer.
   
5. Lumenera LU070M 1/3" 640x480 60fps 10-bit USB 2.0 black white camera, excellent for solar imaging, HKD $2700 each, I still have two on hand.
6. Shoestring Astronomy FCUSB, USB focusing controller compatible with JMI focusers, etc. Expect $500 HKD.
7. Sky Atlas 2000.0
   

Contact me if you're interested, actually, I'm willing to ship them except maybe the Orion 100ED f/9 since it's a bit too bulky for me to do so. Of course, I can arrange if there's a good potential buyer.

Canon 15x50 IS

Had been using my Canon 10x30 IS for some time, I really enjoy it. It's compact but it delivers very bright image considering its 3mm exit pupil. You know, it's on-par with my good old Pentax 10x50 PCF III in terms of brightness and I can usually see more with the help of the excellent IS.

Therefore, I'm always dreaming of a more powerful model. After selling much stuff, I have some paypal balance around. To transfer it to my bank account, it has quite a bad exchange rate, so it's wise to use it. Therefore, I've ordered a Canon 15x50 IS!

Once it arrives, I shall test how it compare with my existing Canon 10x30 IS in terms of capability and portability. I shall decide which one I should keep in long run.

On paper:

1. Canon 10x30 IS - 6 degrees true field of view (60 degrees apparent field), 10x power, 630g, 3mm exit pupil

2. Canon 15x50 IS - 4.5 degrees true field of view (67.5 degrees apparent field), 15x power, 1180g, 3.3mm exit pupil

At nearly double the weight, the verdict is pending testing. Also, I wonder if the IS would still be effective enough given the heavier weight and higher power. Really longing to try it out!

--

Received a piece of junk from ebay... cracking and broken here and there, full of mould, finger print and dust... it's a very poor abused kid.

Complained and will be returned to the seller tomorrow. I hope no one will buy it again, for it's truely junk...

Need to find another one later after the refund was completed.

Software Ready...

Just installed the following on my netbook:

1. Lumenera driver for my LU070M
2. K3CCDTools again for my LU070M
3. Driver for my iOptron mount
4. ASCOM Platform, ASCOM driver for my iOptron mount
5. Cartes du Ciel

All tested to work, now ready for solar imaging as well as comet hunting when the sky allows.

--

Found the c mount to 1.25" adapter with filter thread on ebay again, $21 USD shipped, not a bad deal. I will need this one in order to shoot in white light with my Herschel wedge... since I'll need to attach those ND3 and polarizer to the camera nosepiece.

The Lumenera LU070M barrel does not have filter thread.

20100611 Sun

Muddy sky, full of moving cloud, and the cloud never stop moving. Anyway, just a record.



I've rotated the telescope in its mounting ring so that it's more like for alt-az tracking. I've also moved the ring such that it is in great balance when used with the Solarmax 40 and BF10.

--
Sales of the Orion 100ED:

A potential buyer of my Orion 100ED + Unistar Light has contacted me this morning, we shall meet tomorrow morning to test the scope out. He will bring a tripod and I will buy a couple of eyepieces for the test.

Just wish that this nice scope would impress him, and I really want this excellent scope to have a good new home! If I successfully sold this scope finally, I will stay as such. Low inventory, only the most portable.

I shall attach the Unistar Light on the Orion 100ED tonight.

Dual scope setup for the cube

This is a "side-effect" of my recent hack, the cube can now carry two scopes at the same time, and it should allow better balance as well. As a quick test, I setup my Ranger on one side, and I setup my DSLR with a 100-400mm lens on the other side. Both are around 70mm in aperture, and the weigth is quite similar as well.

After rough balancing, I engaged the mount by tightening the black knob. Then, I align both side by adjusting the quick release plate which I've added to the black knob side. This quick release plate is so nice that you can swing around the pivot, and so it's enough for me to align both views.

Everything work as expected.

Of course, this setup is more for experiment than practical, since I won't use the cube for longer exposure. However, this should be nice for eclipse chasing! You can observe on one side and take snapshots on the other side.

I love this little cube even more!

20100606 Sun - Cube Refined

I've optimized the Cube based setup, again, picture tells the story better. I bought a small quick release plate, in which the plate can be rotated relative to the base. This plate is far lighter than the 410 head for such, and it's far lower profile and thus, the whole setup balance very nicely!

So, the scope could be attached easily and it's very stable.


Close up shot of the joint:
And the sky is better today, so the image quality tells. After seeing this image, I know that alt-az tracking of the Cube is great enough!

No need to look back. This setup is just right for me, it's lighter, more portable and stable enough for indoor solar imaging. With the hacking on the black side, the scope can point out of the window easily, I don't even need that offset plate which I've to used during the summer for indoor imaging with my LXD55.

--

Originally, I planned to buy a ball head for the black side. I checked that there're some good candidates from ebay, and so I went out to the local shops to compare the price. To my surprise, the ebay price is cheaper and it even includes shipping!

When I'm about to give up, I saw that quick release plate, and I think it should even work better since it's lighter and less complex. Therefore, I shall live with this plate at the time being, and I shall see if rotation is enough to align both sides or not. Such an alignment is useful when I use both ends for observation and imaging.

--

I will be passing my LXD55 to a local friend tonight, now knowing that the Cube will work for me, I feel more relax for the transaction.

No need to look back now!

Now, I'm saying goodbye to any heavier equipment formally. :-)

My heaviest scope is just 7lb (Orion 100ED) but it could be held with a 4lb mount (Unistar Light + Gitzo G106)!

First Light of iOptron Cube

This is the first time that my Cube is pointing to the sky.

And I've mounted the scope on the other side of the official dovetail via the hack which I've just done last night. And the devil is in the detail, the black knob cannot be engaged since the newly added mounting screw has a head which is too big! There, I've looked around my home to find a suitable "washer" to offset that, here I found a very nice plastic ring.



A picture tells a thousand words. Since my small ball head is just too small to mount my Ranger, I've mounted my Manfrotto 410 head there. It is strong but it's heavy as well. Therefore, I've to extend my tripod so that the whole thing will not tip over.



It works perfectly. Slewing is smooth and the scope was extended farther out, it reaches a lot of sky outside! However, it's a little bit late and so the sun was sinking low close to the newly constructed building, bad... the seeing becomes very poor therefore. Tracking is smooth and the sun keeps in its place virtually during I take my snapshots. Focusing will induce vibration but I'm using a NGF-CM and thus it's not a problem at all.

Since this is not the official side, I believe it could be better on the official side? Anyway, here's the result:



20100605 1518 (GMT+8), this does not come out as good as before, but I guess it's more like a problem of the sky condition rather than the mount or the tracking performance. Cloud keep moving around and seeing was extremely bad.

Therefore, I've to try more to know.

The 410 head is close the 3lb alone, plus the Ranger, the solarmax and the camera, the whole thing is more than 7lb but the performance of the Cube is good enough, I'd say... it's an excellent portable and economical mount indeed.

Solving the indoor usage problem of the iOptron Cube

It's not a solution but it's a workaround. What I'm trying to do is to put the scope on the other side! Some local folks have done that and I tried to do it as well, what they were trying to do is to put another scope or camera on the other side of the cub, but in my case, I want the telescope to reside on the other side since it will enable me to reach farther out!

Here's what I've done. First of all, drift a hole on the central of that black disc on the other side of the mount, that is, the engagement knob. It's easy to drill at the center with good accuracy, since it's recessed in the middle. The hole is not very big, around 12mm only and so you will need to decide which mounting screw is to be used. For me, I've chosen 1/4" which is rather like a standard for ball head. While 3/8" would be even better but I found that hole was not quite big enough, remember the screw head has to be small enough as well.


So, I placed a small 1/4" screw inside, it can sit fully within the hole, without hindering the knob to engage the mount.

Put on a ball head... this one is too small and it cannot hold any telescope, not even my now sold Borg 45ED II, so I will need to buy a bigger one soon.


To put the whole thing back to the Cube.


This side of the mount should have less loading, but for my light weighted Ranger at 3.5lb only , it's going to work.

The good thing is that, now I can put my Ranger to the other side of the mount, and it also reaches out more since the ball head is taller than the dovetail saddle! And a great side effect is that, the little cube can hold two telescopes (or one telescope, one camera) now, and it should balance better.

Quite elegant and easy to do.

Technical issue about the iOptron Cube

It's cloudy outside but the sun is strong enough to penetrate part of the cloud, so I pulled out my Cube for testing.

I found that if I put my cube in its "park position", when I ask it to slew to the Sun, the scope will go to the right side of the mount.

And since I'm trying to do indoor imaging through my south facing window, so if the mount can put the telescope on its left side, it should be far better for me. Is there any way that I can instruct the mount to point via the other side?

I've tried to slew the scope to the other side of the mount, but the software is "smart" enough to say that the scope is now pointing below the horizon...

Any idea or input would be highly appreciated.

Sanyo Eneloop

These are the best AA rechargeables that you can buy in the market. They hold charges surprisingly well, and so despite they're rated only at 2000mmAh, they last much longer than typical rechargeables.

I bought the first pack for my digital camera, but then I bought some more packs for other stuff like my Canon 10x30 IS, and later I bought some more to power my Firewire hubs which drives my DMK 31AF03 in the field. Now, I've sold my DMK and where shall I use these batteries? At the same time, my digital camera has less usage after I got my DSLR.

Yes, it's my newly acquired iOptron Cube! A local friend has tested it on rechargeables and they can last for 6 hours, and therefore, it's more than enough for my observation habbit and that makes it super portable as well, no more SLA battery.

Today I counted them all, and I've four packs of Eneloop at home. Two packs for my iOptron Cube, half pack for my Canon 10x30 IS, and one pack for my DC, and there're still two left for other purpose, like the toys of my kids.

Equipment changes tonight

Will do two things tonight:

1. Pass the 1.25" focuser to a friend, I bought that focuser in the hope to use some existing objective lenses, but it never realized. It's time to give it to someone else, I sold it at 40% of the original price despite it's virtually new. Despite it's made of plastic, it's better quality than many focusers these days. Attention was paid to the detail like a very well blacked interior, internal baffles, thicker plastic on the place where the set-screw is located, very nice padding to reduce any slack space between the draw tube and the focuser body.

2. Fetch a polarscope for my TG-SP II. This is a charity item as donated by a really good man from the local astronomical society, he passed away recently and his equipments were sold to set up a charity fund. I should have offered far cheaper price for this item but I did not. After getting this polarscope, my TG-SP II is now completed with the original wedge and the original polarscope.

I shall sell my DIY polarscope and mounting plate afterward.

At the same time, I've found a new owner for my G1415 and LXD55. I shall pass it to the new owner on this Sunday. I will continue to consolidate my astronomical stuff, to reduce my inventory to an absolute minimal, to keep only all those portable equipments, and only those I can use more often than those which were sitting idle all the time.

The iOptron SmartStar-G on Gitzo G106

On going to the Post Office to send my DMK 31AF03 to the US, I found that there is a very well stocked screw shop near my home. I bought a long M8 screw together with a few washers, and the iOptron is mounted to my Gitzo G106 successfully.

I placed my Ranger there, and it's a very stable setup. On focusing, the vibration would damp out at around 5 seconds, not bad. Slewing around is smooth and accurate, a good sign of excellent backlash compensation. It's cloudy outside so I couldn't really test it. I turned on the tracking and insert a high power eyepiece (185x), slew the scope to a terrestial target, watch it track. Tracking is pretty stable with some very minor vibration, I don't know whether it's induced by my eyes or by the tracking action itself. Focusing is easy since I've a NGF-CM, so focusing induce zero vibration to the setup.

I've yet to try it on solar imaging, but it looks promising right now.

Orion 100ED on Unistar Lighter + Gitzo G106

On selling my LXD55, I need to see if I still have a mount which can carry it, the situation is even worse since my Gitzo G1415 will be sold with the LXD55 and therefore, I will only have a small Gitzo G106 to use. The G1415 + Unistar should handle the Orion 100ED well since this combination can even hold a C8!

This morning, I pulled out everything to try. Yes, it works apparently and the bottom line is that, it will tip over or fall down by minimum breeze or even a light push. Then I insert a Pentax 40mm SMC XL into the focuser to test, at such a low power 22.5x, it's okay and the vibration induced by the focusing action would be totally damped out in around 5 seconds and with the help of a finger as shock aborber, it will stop nearly immediately.

This is use-able but not great, so I set the G106 to shorter height. It's a 4-section tripod and the shortest part has a very thin leg, so it makes sense to do that to stablize the whole setup.

Yes, it helps. So I pulled out my 13mm Nagler Type 6 for a test. This should be the highest power that I would use without tracking. It translates to 69x but with the huge field of view of the Nagler, it's perfectly okay. I further tighten the friction control knobs of the Unistar Light and it remains very useable.

Conclusion: I shall keep my Orion 100ED at the time being, and I shall further test it under the starry sky when possible.

First Impression of the iOptron SmartStar-G

The first impression is that, it's smaller than I imagined! If you know, astronomical gears are usually bigger than it's otherwise in picture. It's also lighter than I once thought, but it's heavy enough to give a feeling of serious stuff. Not exactly toy indeed.

I don't have a tripod for it, and my existing tripods do not work since it has a M8 screw in its base which is hard to match, I will need to find some additional hardware in order to use it. I have tried to put my Ranger on it, but it fails to balance unless I put a small counter weight on top of it. Slew the Ranger around shows zero problem, very precise and it looks good.

Tracking will begin once you slew to any object in the sky. The little cube assumes that you're starting from your home position, so it knows where it's pointing with the help of the GPS and the real time clock. Slew is quick and quiet - remember it's a relative term, so my reference point is my LXD55 and also a Nexstar mount, as well as a couple of Meade DS mounts which I've tried before.

The GPS is pretty quick, it puts itself in a correct location position before I realize that it might take time for the GPS to engage. Another plus.

I just did some general observaton by slewing to the sun, slewing to the moon at night, as well as some planets. They're supposingly in correct orientation in general, I've no way to tell since I cannot really mount a scope on it yet, and it's also cloudy outside, just as what you would expect when there's any new instrument coming in!

The only downside which I've found so far is that, given its home position, it will place the telescope side on the right, that means, it's the far side from my home window. That said, solar imaging would become harder. Of course, since this mount can be placed closer to the window, maybe it still viable? I shall test it soon.

So far, my impression is that, it's pretty portable but still solid enough. More portable even than my Takahashi TG-SP II, and its 8 * AA batteries compartment should be handy, a local folk tested that by using 8 * 1600mmAh rechargeable, the mount can run for over 6 hours! And that's more than enough for me as I usually stay around only 3 hours at most in a single observation session.

Finally, my mount arrives with a cracked screen. Luckily, it's insured:

Goodbye my LXD55 and the meaning behind

Yes, I finally managed to sell it, after a huge price slash :-)

My life style changes make me sell this one, and the recent "bad contact" problem of the Autostar triggered the price drop. I've ordered a iOptron GPS Cube for indoor solar imaging purpose. I've been going from alt-az tracking to equatorial tracking in the hope to push the quality further, but now I'm going the reverse route since I know that I'm not going to shoot much in high magnification because of the rapid construction work around my home building, my lovely home@walnut "observatory" which is, indeed, an open window from my "playing room".

Together with it, I'm going to pass the Gitzo G1415 along with the deal. This tripod has been serving me since I was using the excellent Giro + GiroDrive combination. It's my primary foundation for planet imaging, and again, I know that this is going to an end. Indoor planet imaging is no longer do-able for most of the time for it's even harder than solar imaging. When I sold my Giro + GiroDrive, I know it's finished. Another important duty of my G1415 is for my portable "C8 anywhere" project and it's a huge success as well. Of course, I'm not going out to the darker sky as much as before. All that means my G1415 has accomplished all its purpose with me, I really have to thank its excellent service - light weight, portable, excellent stability, versatility! :-)

Now, I wonder if I could use my Orion 100ED with my Unistar Light on a oh-so-light Gitzo G106 tripod, if not, I'm going to do another huge price slash for my Orion 100ED.

I will remain a solar "addict" with my coming iOptron GPS cube for indoor solar imaging, I will do some casual visual observation like before, and I will continue to do some toy planet and lunar imaging. Finally, some light weight wide field imaging with my TG-SP II plus DSLR, and if possible, to do eclipse chasing.

Only time will tell, I might go for a C5 again for planet imaging later.

The miscellaneous stuff to the mount and tripod, and they are to be handed to the new owner together:



This is also part of the reason why I've to sell it. It's heavy to me, it's bulky so that I only managed to get it out once or twice. And it's so easy to miss one or two parts.

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I'm trying to sell my Orion 100ED including the rings at $3300 HKD, let me know if you're interested. This is an excellent telescope, light weight and portable despite you might imagine it's not. A Unistar Light can be offered at the same time at $1200 HKD additional. Notice that this special offer is valid for my local Hong Kong blog viewer ONLY.

20100526 Sun

My usual setup, nothing special today, that active region (AR1072) remains small and it seems dying down as well.

20100525 Fun with the moon

Didn't really try the Lumenera on the moon, got a chance tonight.

First up is a mosaic stitched by 4 frames with Tele Vue Ranger + 2x barlows.

And then try to push the power up with a 5x Powermate:

Finally, a true prime focus shot without any barlows: