First night of my 3rd C5

The first one was sold but I soon wanted to get another one.

The second one was a lemon and I soon returned it.

The third one has arrived for a few weeks maybe, but I just managed to get some star lights to fall on it. I colliminated briefly and stars were pinpoint.

Cloud moved in and out so that I cannot really fine tune the collimation, or I can really observe with it. But at least I know it's not a lemon. The last one could not form any decent image even for day light target.

Wish that I can have time to really try it out, it shall stay with me for a pretty long time.

20110321 Sun

Thank God for the sunshine today, it has been so wet these days and the sunshine should drive the humidity lower.

Prominence activities were pretty good today, and a small but strong group was at the bottom and a pretty long one could be seen near the top. AR1175 could be seen clearly and signs of new (or remnant?) active region could be seen over the solar disc.

Seeing pretty poor at 2/10, transparency 3/10.

1522 (GMT+8):-


1523 (GMT+8):-


Closer up:-

1525 (GMT+8):-


1526 (GMT+8):-


1527 (GMT+8):-

20110314 Sun

I tried to setup my telescope twice today, the first attempted failed since cloud covered after I setup my stuff... After seeing the completely covered sky, I packed up my stuff... and then after around half an hour, sunshine came in my home and I setup my stuff again.

Seeing 4/10, transparency 2/10.

1458 (GMT+8) with reducer:-


1500 (GMT+8) with 2x:-


1501 (GMT+8) with 2x:-


1502 (GMT+8) with 2x:-


1503 (GMT+8) with 2x:-

20110307 Sun

The sun is very active today, we have several big active regions around and among them, I have taken two close-ups which includes AR1164 and AR1166.

Seeing 3/10, transparency 3/10.

1523 (GMT+8):-


1526 (GMT+8) with 2x barlows:-


1527 (GMT+8) with 2x barlows:-

20110228 Sun

This is the last day of Februry 2011, time is going very fast but cloud had been moving slow. I finally got some sunshine today.

AR1164 is going strong, seeing 6/10, transparency 4/10.

1427 (GMT+8) with reducer:-


1430 (GMT+8) with 2x barlows:-

Another C5 is coming

The tracking service of Hong Kong Post reveals that the package has arrived Hong Kong. I might be able to fetch it on Wednesday morning, it is an insured parcel and so I'll have to go to take it myself and it won't be delivered to my home.

It's again a Nexstar gray tube model, with a Vixen compatible dovetail. I guess it's still a Made in USA model. I'll also get a 1.25" visual back as well as a Astrotech dielectric diagonal, a 25mm eyepiece is included as well.

Actually, I don't need that diagonal and eyepiece, so if you're interested, let me know and we might be able to come up with a good deal :-)

20110207 Sun

I've been out of town for a couple of days, and I have some observations there for a few nights. The sky there was not particularly good, but I've conducted some low power observation with my Canon 10x30 IS as well as a few short exposures with my Canon 450D on my Takahashi TG-SP 2. I'll write some separate entries for them later.

Back to the Sun, AR1153 is around when I observe today. Seeing 3/10, transparency 5/10. No big activities.

1521 (GMT+8):-

Going for a family trip

Chinese New Year is coming and this is a special one for me since I'll be going for a trip with my family. We're going to some villages and hopefully I'll have some better sky than Hong Kong. Since I'll be going with the kids, I couldn't bring anything heavy. What I will take are the following:

1. Gitzo G160 with Manfrotto 410 head
2. Takahashi TG-SP II without counter weight
3. DIY battery box with 4 AA Sanyo eneloops
4. Canon 450D with kit lens, timer release
5. Canon 100mm f2.0
6. Canon 10x30 IS
7. Pocket Star Atlas, S&T Publishing

The TG-SP II is small, and it can take my Canon 450D without any additional counter weight, the motor compartment is a built-in counter weight and I found that it's heavy enough to balance the 450D with either the kit lens or the 100mm f2.0! Also, since it takes only 6V, and I found that it works without problem at 4.8V so power supply is not a problem as well. Visual observation would be done with a Canon 10x30 IS.

Weather forecast is favorable:

http://www.haotq.com/d7_quanzhou.html

20100131 Sun

Lunar new year is coming.

Seeing 3/10, transparency 3/10.



AR1150 is probably the most attractive feature despite it's small. My elder daughter Alby came and had a look with the 20mm widescan Type III, she can tell me nearly all the features that I've captured. I also had a look with my 13mm Nagler Type 6.

20110127 If there's less cloud

If it's less cloudy, it should be a very nice view!!!

1628 (GMT+8), that filament extends outward to form a complex structure!


1630 (GMT+8):-

20110124 Sun

Cloudy but I got a short break without cloud, transparency 2/10, seeing 1-2/10.

1450 (GMT+8) with reducer:-


1453 (GMT+8) with 2x:-


1456 (GMT+8), with 2x:-


Quite interesting sun today with two active regions (1147 and 1149), some QRF and a long and thin prominence.

20110115 Sun

Seeing like 1/10!!! Worst that I've even seen, transparency 5/10.

1208 (GMT+8):-


I only had ten minutes to setup, shoot and tear down everything today. The seeing is so bad that even at such low power, the sun looked like exactly a 20 cents Hong Kong coins. The video:-

Ultrawide Lenses

I've three candidates in my mind. Maybe it's time for me to really sit down to list all the respective pros and cons:

1. Canon 10-22mm

- Great performance
- 22mm is long enough to replace the kit lens
- $5xxx HKD new, $4xxx second hand

2. Tokina 11-16mm

- Fast aperture, FAST!
- Great performance
- 16mm not quite enough to replace the kit lens
- $4xxx HKD new

3. Sigma 8-16mm

- Widest among three, WIDE!
- Great performance
- Again not quite enough to replace the kit lens
- $4xxx close to $5000 HKD new

It seems like the verdict is among whether I want it to REPLACE the KIT lens, I want it FAST or I want it WIDE!

20110113 Sun

Cloudy, windy and cold these days, finally we got a little bit sunshine today.

1444 (GMT+8) with reducer:-


1449 (GMT+8), with 2x barlows:-


Cold weather these days forced to rethink my preference. Frankly, I love cold weather much more than hot, but you know, life really needs warmer weather in order to survive well... So?

Our own star is the source of heat, and thus an important powerhouse for life here. I should love it more than to hate it during the hot summer, or needless to say, under cold winter.

Having said that, I still love winter more.

ebay buyer protection

It covers the cost of the item as well as the original shipping, but the problem is that, you will have to pay the return shipping.

Somehow it's pretty unfair if it is due to unreliable description of the item. In my case, it was an abused C5 telescope. It's corrector might be from another scope or it is just a piece of plate glass. It came loose and obviously someone had disassembled it before without properly return it into the place. The orientation of the corrector with respect to the primary is critical and I saw no mark left on the corrector, and I've tried to rotate it for sharp image, but I found that I couldn't. The rubber ring around the secondary mirror cell is also broken. When I tried the scope on the moon, I could see double image, no matter how I rotate the corrector or collimate the scope, it won't go.

Returning this junk scope costs me more than $40 USD but I've no choice if I wanted to get back $2xx USD. Buying heavier item which could incur a big return cost is not something wise from ebay transaction.

Celestron C5 OTA

This could become harder and harder to come by.

What I got ia s silver tube C5 OTA with Starbright Coating, it comes with a Meade 2" SCT mirror diagonal with 1.25" compression ring adapter. A 9mm Kellner eyepiece is included. The diagonal has a "Japan" label on it, and that 1.25" adapter has a compression ring inside, not bad it seems.


The focusing knob is a bit tight and it has some rough points throughout the whole travel, but then when I loosen the screws a little bit, the problem is gone.


This is the worst part, as you can see from this photograph, part of the rubber ring around the secondary cell is missing. It indicates that the corrector was once removed from the tube for some unknown reason.

I guess that I've got a good deal but then I found many issues with this OTA. The most serious one is that the retaining ring on the corrector is pretty loose so that the corrector can rotate around the cell, bad thing indeed! You need critical alignment for the corrector and the primary!

I've decided to return this scope to the seller. Just waste money for the shipping, sad.

What's still good for this particular transaction is that, I managed to try this OTA on my iOptron and I found that it could handle it without any problem! So, maybe I can go to search for another C5 in the future?

--

I've been struggling for the refund and it's more complicated than I once thought. When the package arrived the seller, he still refused to refund me but he said that the package was damaged during shipping. However, as I found that he has signed to accept the package and that means, the package should be free from trouble as from the outside packing. After the postman left, it's actually hard to tell whether the scope was broken during shipping or intentionally done by the receiving party. Frankly, that scope is unuseable in the first place and therefore, it has zero value and thus, it's impossible to claim any insurance indeed. It feels like you're sending a junk but then you said it's "damaged" and ask for compensation! I believe that it's more like cheating and so I've refused this request promptly and asked ebay customer support for help.

ebay is fast and reliable, I got my refund this morning. Despite I've lost some money for the return shipment, I feel good about ebay who stands behind the deal.

A Heliocentric Birthday Greeting

Among so many birthday greetings which I've received a few days ago, the following is the most astronomical:

"Congratulations on another trip around the Sun!"

And this is actually the underlying physical meaning of a birthday. We will usually take the biological one, but this astronomical/physical meaning could be a nice alternative for amateur astronomers.

20110108 Sun

Some real nice activities... seeing 4/10, transparency 3/10. AR1140 and 1142, with some long QRFs.

1226 (GMT+8), with reducer:-


1229 (GMT+8), with 2x barlows:-


1231 (GMT+8), with 2x barlows:-


1232 (GMT+8), with 2x barlows:-

20110107 Avian Occultatons of the Setting Sun

This event is highly predictable since the last time I visited that site by random during the last partial solar eclipse. It's pretty close to my home and thus easily accessible to me.

I don't know what's the reason behind when then when it's about sunset, the birds will come from nearly all directions! Those birds were mostly not there even 20 minutes ago!

Anyway, it's a nice view.

20110101 Sun

Happy new year!

The sun greets us with a little bit more activity, wish that we have a strong sun in 2011! Seeing 3/10, transparency 5/10.

1223 (GMT+8):-


I'll still use my good old Solarmax 40 with BF10 until it was sold one day.