K3CCDTools Registered and DMK for sales

Just received the notification and now I will mainly use my Lumenera LU070M for solar imaging. The DMK 31AF03 still has its unique position since it has higher pixel density and thus, it delivers more spatial resolution in the same setting.

Anyway, my DMK 31AF03 is not going to be used as often as before, just wonder if any one is interested?

I can offer it at $520 USD shipped, so you save over $200 USD for a new one, and as a bonus, I can include a 1394 powered HUBS with a DIY 8AA battery box for free so that you could use the DMK even with 4-pin 1394 port.

20100424 Sun

Seeing 3/10, transparency 4/10. Low solar activity, minor surface detail and lack of any big prominences. Taken with my DMK 31AF03, since the software for my Lumenera is still pending registration.

Full disc with reducer:

1517 (GMT+8):-


1518 (GMT+8):-



Close up with 2x barlows:

1521 (GMT+8):-

Registering K3CCDTools

http://www.pk3.org/Astro/index.htm?k3ccdtools.htm

My internet connection gets more stable now and so I just did the registration online through paypal, but I realized that it took maybe up to two days to get the registration done.

I will have to use my DMK again today, since the K3CCD trial period was expired during the cloudy days.

20100419 Sun

The sun is relatively featureless today, lack of active region, QRF or prominences... My K3CCD was expired during the cloudy days, so I've to use my DMK again, and I shall register my K3CCD soon, but my internet connection is too unstable for me to do this at the time being.

1524 (GMT+8):-


1525 (GMT+8), exposure pushed to show prominences better:-


Just a record.

20100412 Sun

It has been cloudy for very long, my K3CCDTool is about to expire. I tried to see if it works with my DMK, but it seems not. It's on the menu, but the image just won't show up. Anyway, it's probably the best deal to support my Lumenera, and I'm going to register in a couple of days.

Summer is coming and the sun is moving to a location such that I've to mount my telescope via an offset plate, the mount is not perfectly balance in that location but it works since the telescope is light. The sun will keep moving to a worse position until the next Fall.

The Lumenera continue to shine because of its 12-bit capability, the prominence on the right side is fantastically connect to the filament in one single exposure (stacked).

1505 (GMT+8):-

Enough? Enough!

When will we have enough equipment and stop looking for new stuff?

I guess when I have more observation time, I will then have less time to look around for new equipments.

Of course, it's an oversimplified story. With the rapid development of new technology, new equipment is never enough. New CCD, new filter technology, new coating, higher precision mount, etc.

Anyway, if I have more time to observe, the time for "day dreaming" will reduce for sure.

Astromart

I just realized that my account was disabled unless I pay $12, one dollar per month is not unreasonable but...

1. Cloudynights.com is free, and you even get a discount if you buy from astronomics

2. The value of astromart comes from the users, NOT the website itself. No matter how great is the website, if you have no user, it didn't worth a single penny. If we don't pay that $12, their website will then became an empty place. What would be their value by then?

3. To offer something for free at first in order to gather a huge user base and then ask the users to pay, it seems totally unfair at least to the initial user base as they were helping to try out the website, to submit user rating, to make it useful for everybody, etc.

Imagine the government would let you build a house in a land for free but after several years, the government said if you don't pay for the land, you should be kicked away from your house, reasonable?

I'm not going to pay, I really want to see when the number of users drop, how could it go on?

--

After around one month, I've finally to pay the astromart tax on second hand equipments, since it seems there's no better alternative right now.

Now I can only hope that it won't charge me again quickly.