Amateur Astronomy: Observatory Rehab

On Friday, 25 May 2018 20:32:32 UTC-4, Davoud wrote:
I have donated my Takahashi TOA-150, my Astro-Physics 1200GTO CP4, and
my SBIG STL1100M camera
http://www.primordial-light.com/observatory.html#twoscopes to my
club, The Howard Astro League https://www.howardastro.org.

Keeping, I am, my Takahashi FSQ-106ED. I've just put it on a new Bisque
Paramount MYT and I have a newish Starlight Xpress Trius SX-36
monochrome camera with a Maxi Filter Wheel with an SX Lodestar guide
camera on the OAG. Photo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/primeval Å‘
though the camera is not yet installed for lack of one lousy adapter,
which arrived late this afternoon.

I did a rough polar alignment using a technique described by my friend
Richard Wright at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9pLz1bzV_A. That
was good enough for goto targets to be well inside the field of a 15mm
eyepiece.

Software Bisque's TheSkyX Professional, running on a MacBook Pro,
controls everything. After I've familiarized myself with the new setup
I'll give my Raspberry Pi, also running TSX Pro, a try. My iPad Pro
running Bisque's TheSky HD can also control the equipment.

There is a punch list to be addressed, mainly concerned with wire dress.

The A-P 1200GTO CP4/Takahashi combination was really superb, *except*
for the fact that it didn't leave much room for me under my tiny
2-meter Observa-Dome. It will be much more comfortable under Howard
Astro's 15-foot dome!

It is my hope that doing narrowband photography with a faster 'scope
will save astrophotography for me under worsening Mid-Atlantic skies.
The FSQ is a 530mm �5 'scope, 387mm �3.7 with a Reducer QE. ]

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Your impressive system is still within the realm of what you might call, "magnified image astrophotography." But I can't help wondering whatever happened to the days when people used large aperture, narrow-angle scopes to image individual objects instead of wide-angle swaths of the sky? I remember die-hards using Questars (uncompressed) for 2.5-3 HOUR exposures with film and they had to be hand-guided. The worst aspect of the "wide-angle disease" is in photography in-general. Mediocre photographers now use cheap ultra-wide angle lenses to try to inject some dynamics into what are mostly dull landscapes. "Astrophotographers" take 20mm lens shots of the Milky Way, and we have to suffer through reams of them on photography groups. You've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all.

Davoud:
...Photo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/primeval
though the camera is not yet installed for lack of one lousy adapter,
which arrived late this afternoon.

RichA:
Your impressive system is still within the realm of what you might call,
"magnified image astrophotography." "Astrophotographers" take
20mm lens shots of the Milky Way, and we have to suffer through
reams of them on photography groups.

Stupid ****! Turns out you aren't yet in the kill-file on one of my six
or seven Macs.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Fri, 08 Jun 2018 10:38:36 -0400, Davoud wrote:

Davoud:
...Photo at https://www.flickr.com/photos/primeval
though the camera is not yet installed for lack of one lousy adapter,
which arrived late this afternoon.

RichA:
Your impressive system is still within the realm of what you might call,
"magnified image astrophotography." "Astrophotographers" take
20mm lens shots of the Milky Way, and we have to suffer through
reams of them on photography groups.

Stupid ****! Turns out you aren't yet in the kill-file on one of my six
or seven Macs.

Just remember... it's easier to whine about other people doing what
you are incapable of doing yourself than it is to stretch youself and
learn something new.

On Friday, 8 June 2018 18:30:20 UTC+2, Chris L Peterson wrote:

Just remember... it's easier to whine about other people doing what
you are incapable of doing yourself than it is to stretch yourself and
learn something new.

Hold, 1, 2 and 3, breathe and s_t_r_e_t_c_h! ;-)