ASTRO: M74

Last weekend I had the "worst case scenario" for an astroimager: I was
standing under a nice dark sky (the first time since 2.5 years) with all my
equipment set up, a nicely structured milky way above me, and before I could
start any images my power converter blew up and I had to drive home without
any images. At home I had to find out that the electronics of my G11 mount
were also fried.
Still I didn't want to go to bed without any images, so I set up my trusty
old LX200 on my rooftop terrace and snapped some images of M74, to which I
added some more exposures the following night.

Taken from the middle of Berlin with an 8" Lx200 at f/6.3, SXV-H9 camera,
71x5 minutes.

The image can also be found at http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/m74-71x5gut.jpg

Stefan

"Stefan Lilge" wrote in message
...
Last weekend I had the "worst case scenario" for an astroimager: I was
standing under a nice dark sky (the first time since 2.5 years) with all
my
equipment set up, a nicely structured milky way above me, and before I
could
start any images my power converter blew up and I had to drive home
without
any images. At home I had to find out that the electronics of my G11
mount
were also fried.
Still I didn't want to go to bed without any images, so I set up my
trusty
old LX200 on my rooftop terrace and snapped some images of M74, to which
I
added some more exposures the following night.

Taken from the middle of Berlin with an 8" Lx200 at f/6.3, SXV-H9 camera,
71x5 minutes.

The image can also be found at
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/m74-71x5gut.jpg

Stefan

Sorry to hear about the G11 disaster. I'm sure that just puts a twist in
the pit of your stomach. I hope you are able to salvage it. Great image,
by the way.

George

Dang.. hate to hear you lost that mount for awhile... This galaxy is a
favorite... I love the detail in your image.

--
Regards, Doug W.
www.photonsfate.com
"Stefan Lilge" wrote in message
...
Last weekend I had the "worst case scenario" for an astroimager: I was
standing under a nice dark sky (the first time since 2.5 years) with all
my
equipment set up, a nicely structured milky way above me, and before I
could
start any images my power converter blew up and I had to drive home
without
any images. At home I had to find out that the electronics of my G11 mount
were also fried.
Still I didn't want to go to bed without any images, so I set up my trusty
old LX200 on my rooftop terrace and snapped some images of M74, to which I
added some more exposures the following night.

Taken from the middle of Berlin with an 8" Lx200 at f/6.3, SXV-H9 camera,
71x5 minutes.

The image can also be found at
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/m74-71x5gut.jpg

Stefan

Stefan Lilge wrote:
Last weekend I had the "worst case scenario" for an astroimager: I was
standing under a nice dark sky (the first time since 2.5 years) with all
my equipment set up, a nicely structured milky way above me, and before
I could start any images my power converter blew up and I had to drive
home without any images. At home I had to find out that the electronics
of my G11 mount were also fried.
Still I didn't want to go to bed without any images, so I set up my
trusty old LX200 on my rooftop terrace and snapped some images of M74,
to which I added some more exposures the following night.

Taken from the middle of Berlin with an 8" Lx200 at f/6.3, SXV-H9
camera, 71x5 minutes.

The image can also be found at http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/m74-71x5gut.jpg

Stefan

------------------------------------------------------------------------
YIKES!
And I thought I was having problems!
I'd hoped Mr. Murphy had left me but sure sorry to hear he paid you a
visit! Sounds like an expensive one as well or is that covered under a
warranty?

At least you salvaged something that night. I'd have been chewing nails
too hard to have been able to function!

Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Was not your lucky day than except for the image!
Good old LX200 series........;-)
Can the mount be fixed?
--
Dirk van den Herik


"Stefan Lilge" wrote in message
...
Last weekend I had the "worst case scenario" for an astroimager: I was
standing under a nice dark sky (the first time since 2.5 years) with all
my
equipment set up, a nicely structured milky way above me, and before I
could
start any images my power converter blew up and I had to drive home
without
any images. At home I had to find out that the electronics of my G11 mount
were also fried.
Still I didn't want to go to bed without any images, so I set up my trusty
old LX200 on my rooftop terrace and snapped some images of M74, to which I
added some more exposures the following night.

Taken from the middle of Berlin with an 8" Lx200 at f/6.3, SXV-H9 camera,
71x5 minutes.

The image can also be found at
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/m74-71x5gut.jpg

Stefan

I am very sorry for your mount....but your image it is really great!!! and
also in respect to the observation site.

Regards


--
--
Fabio Acquarone
Website: http://www.fabioh2o.it
Email :

"Stefan Lilge" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Last weekend I had the "worst case scenario" for an astroimager: I was
standing under a nice dark sky (the first time since 2.5 years) with all
my
equipment set up, a nicely structured milky way above me, and before I
could
start any images my power converter blew up and I had to drive home
without
any images. At home I had to find out that the electronics of my G11 mount
were also fried.
Still I didn't want to go to bed without any images, so I set up my trusty
old LX200 on my rooftop terrace and snapped some images of M74, to which I
added some more exposures the following night.

Taken from the middle of Berlin with an 8" Lx200 at f/6.3, SXV-H9 camera,
71x5 minutes.

The image can also be found at
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/m74-71x5gut.jpg

Stefan

Rick,
fortunately the electronics of the "non goto" G11 are not expensive. And
Losmandy have been very fast shipping the parts, I ordered them last Sunday
and the parcel arrived here in Berlin today.
The "funny" thing is that while the new electronic board doesn't seem to
work, the old one miraculously has recovered after giving no sign of life
for some days, so the mount is in working order again.

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...


Stefan Lilge wrote:
Last weekend I had the "worst case scenario" for an astroimager: I was
standing under a nice dark sky (the first time since 2.5 years) with all
my equipment set up, a nicely structured milky way above me, and before I
could start any images my power converter blew up and I had to drive home
without any images. At home I had to find out that the electronics of my
G11 mount were also fried.
Still I didn't want to go to bed without any images, so I set up my
trusty old LX200 on my rooftop terrace and snapped some images of M74, to
which I added some more exposures the following night.

Taken from the middle of Berlin with an 8" Lx200 at f/6.3, SXV-H9 camera,
71x5 minutes.

The image can also be found at
http://ccd-astronomy.de/temp/m74-71x5gut.jpg

Stefan

------------------------------------------------------------------------
YIKES!
And I thought I was having problems!
I'd hoped Mr. Murphy had left me but sure sorry to hear he paid you a
visit! Sounds like an expensive one as well or is that covered under a
warranty?

At least you salvaged something that night. I'd have been chewing nails
too hard to have been able to function!

Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Many many years ago (like the 70's) I built a 120v converter for running
the scope off the car battery. It had slow motions by changing the
frequency. We were headed to the viewing site when a drunk driver
coming toward me decided to use my side of the road. I took a cross
country trip through the ditch with scope (10" f/8 Newt.) flying. The
inverter crashed into something that smashed the glass in the meter.
Otherwise we and the equipment were unhurt. But when we set up the
inverter wouldn't work. One wag suggested that was because the crushed
glass in the meter was holding the volt meter down. I pulled the glass
away and watched in disbelief as the meter slowly came up off the pin,
30v --- 40v --- at about 90v the neon bulb on the scope lit up and the
drive motor started turning. After about 10 minutes it hit 120v and was
even the right frequency (60CPS -- this was before Hz replaced that
term). It has worked fine ever since. I never did fix the meter. I
still use it with that scope in the field and it still works fine, just
don't hold down that needle!

Sounds like you had something similar. Think in my case it was due to a
temporary short that charged a large capacitor backwards. In fiddling
with the meter I corrected the short and as the cap reformed (old style
electrolytic) things started to work. Either that or the meter really
was holding down the voltage

Glad yours had a similar experience!

Rick


Stefan Lilge wrote:

Rick,
fortunately the electronics of the "non goto" G11 are not expensive. And
Losmandy have been very fast shipping the parts, I ordered them last
Sunday and the parcel arrived here in Berlin today.
The "funny" thing is that while the new electronic board doesn't seem to
work, the old one miraculously has recovered after giving no sign of
life for some days, so the mount is in working order again.

Stefan