Day 55 Hot day and hot under the collar with my old MX916.

A really hot today- the cafe next door has opened for the first time this year and was packed out at lunchtime with everyone enjoying the day.

I was out on the terrace setting up the ETX90 on the 4"refractor. It took a while but I finally managed to get the MX916 to link to CCDSoft via the 30 metre powered USB cable. I think one of the connections must not have been seated properly. I had set up the focus last night but disturbed this unfortunately so will have to do that again tonight.

Here is the " final " setup. If the trial works I will try to get a more rigid method of attaching the ETX.

 The camera is getting old now - you can see the adaptor mounted below the ETX - this is a parallel to USB2 interface that allows me to use the camera with a USB2 lead to the netbook.

I tested the camera using Capella - which was the first guide star for the CGEM - with disappointing results. Strange rows of dots running diagonally down the image with very odd shaped stars. I think perhaps it is time to replace this camera. It may just be me not remembering how to use it but I do seem to remember having a lot of hassle with it. I may try again one more time just to see if I can crack it. Probably much simpler to use my DSLR. The MX916 is an open loop cooled camera so does have that advantage over a DSLR. The aim was to use this camera with an SA100 spectroscopic grating or alternatively with B or V filters - all of which just screw into the camera 1 1/4 inch nosepiece. A simple approach? Well maybe not.