Best Spirals Ever!

It was a spiral galaxy type of night.

The sky was dark and moonless. Its transparency was excellent.

With this, I was able to see the spiral arms on M81, one the two galaxies known as Bode's Nebula.  Usually, I can only see M81 as a blob of light.

M81 Bode's Nebula

M81 with its spiral arms

M81 is more than just a blob.

A Simple Mod

While playing with the latest CPWI beta, it became clear that I needed to make a modification to my Cat.

It's a simple modification and a cheap modification.  And it will prevent enormous frustration when using the scope in the field.

It's a binder clip

I added a small binder clip to provide strain relief on the USB cable from the laptop to the hub on the focus motor.

Not only does this hub provide control over the focuser, it also controls the movement of the scope.  Tracking, alignment, and slewing to target operations are sent from the laptop via this cable.  

The cable normally hangs from  a USB type B connector on the underside of the focuser housing, just begging to be pulled out.  This strain relief prevents that.

What simple mods have you done to your scope?

A Ring and a Cigar!

Friday evening, we had a break in the rainy weather.  Yay!

And the sky was dark with excellent transparency. 

So, I loaded up on coffee and rolled the Cat out into the driveway.  It sure is nice to have it on wheels.  It is a little tough negotiating it through the doorway to the garage and down the ramp, but I think I've got the procedure down now.

Love the wheels.

This is not the droid you are looking for...

The astronomy session started out as just an opportunity to wring out some new equipment and software, but I did get to observe a new (to me) planetary nebula and an oddly shaped and colored galaxy!

So, what did I see?  A couple of highlights are below.

Weather, Field Rotation, Stacked Plates, and Bears

Friday night and into early Saturday morning, we had almost an inch and a half of cold rain.  Saturday morning was foggy and then the wind picked up with some strong gusts.  The house's gutters hummed in resonance when the wind hit just right.  Hummmm!

That doesn't sound very auspicious for astronomy this weekend, does it?

The sky teased with some periods of sunshine, so I staged the equipment just in case, but that seemed certain for naught.

Throughout the day, I watched this weather chart from a nearby weather station on the Weather Underground.

Weather data is fun!

Around 1930, it looked like the wind was finally dying.  I peered out at the sky, and I could see stars!

By 2030, I had everything outside for a night of astronomy.  Of course, at the time I didn't know how breazy it was going to be, but it turns out the the CPC 1100 isn't as easily buffeted by wind as my Dob.

Wheels

The Wheels on the Bus go round and round . . .

It's not a bus, but it needs wheels anyway.

My new Celestron CPC 1100 is big and heavy.  With its optical tube assembly (OTA) weight approaching 75 lbs (includes focal reducer, focus motor, and 2" diagonal) and its tripod another 36 lbs,  it's not as big and heavy as some of the other choices that I had considered, but it is marginal in terms of me being able to set up and take down without assistance.

I can carry the OTA assembly from the house, through the garage, and across the driveway to my preferred observation spot and get it mounted on the tripod without too much difficulty as long as I don't have to lower the OTA to the ground and lift it again.  That is the troublesome part of the procedure as it is necessary to remove the OTA from the tripod and carry the tripod out first.

But, what if I could just keep the tripod and OTA together and just move the complete assembly?

It turns out that there are a number of "Scope Buggies" choices that one can purchase to perform that task.  Oh, my.  They are expensive.

I decided to try a DIY approach.

It took a while, but a plan coalesced.  

Thoughts captured in my notebook.  Artsy, huh!?

First Light

What does an amature astronomer first do with a new telescope?

Point it at out the window and see if he can see anything, of course.  In my case, I used it to 

peer at the neighbor's much studied chimney.  It's much studied because I frequently use it to test new astro-gadgets and align the optical paths of anything that needs aligned.

So, technically, first light on the new telescope came from the neighbor's chimney.

How does Santa fit?

But that doesn't really count as first light, does it?

Coffee First and a Nap Later

There is a nap in my future, I'm sure.

Three cups of coffee for the morning, but that will not be sufficient to make it through the day.

Love this mug!

It was a really good astronomy session last night.  The sky transparency was merely average, but the evil clouds stayed away, and the moon had already set.  A couple of the objects that I wanted to see were mired in the light dome of the nearby city, but I was able to use SharpCap and my ZWO ASI294MC imager to tease out some details!