20100927 Sun

Transparency 5/10, seeing 5/10. Full disc with reducer, close up with a 2x barlows.

1345 (GMT+8):-


1349 (GMT+8):-


1353 (GMT+8):-


Visual observation was conducted with a 2x barlows plus a 13mm eyepiece. Stunning, I would say! Activities here and there on the surface and near the limb...

20100924 Sun

The sun was getting low in the sky when I took this shot, seeing like 3/10 at best, transparency was pretty good today at 6/10.

My usual setup with the reducer in place for full disc.

1639 (GMT+8):-

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.