Day 107 Monday 7th July 2014 Some naked eye observing.The tail of the Scorpion.

In the evening I sat outside and observed the stars rising over the mountains in the southeast. 

The Scorpion rose and part of its tail that snaked below the mountain was not visible.

Antares was brilliantly red.

The teapot appeared and rose higher - becoming very prominent.

It was 1030 pm and 27 degreees but with a cooling breeze. The Moon was spoiling the night sky by washing it out considerably.

Day 106 Sunday 6th July 2014 Telescope re-assembly and balancing.

I have started to re-assemble the telescope and have decided to spell out exactly how I balance the Paramount ME with the Celestron 14, the SBIG ST9XE Camera, the Teleskop 0.8X focal reducer and the TCS focuser.

There are a number of procedures for balancing telescopes - one of these is the

"Starizona Guide to balancing a telescope." Click below to go the the full document.

This is quite a good description but does not address the full procedure needed. The OTA will balance horizontally with this procedure but will most likely be out of balance when pointing at the zenith unless the OTA is perfectly symmetrical with no finders, cameras etc. 

Day 105 Saturday 5th July 2014 The Paramount ME problem.

My post to the Software Bisque Forum from yesterday and today describes the current situation.

Yesterday

In 2011 I travelled to Spain for a project and had a problem with my ME(9 years old bought in 2005) when the DEC blue LED kept flashing and did not become steady accompanied by the dreaded continuous beeps. It some how fixed itself as described in the link and has been fine since - when in Spain and also back in its observatory in the UK.

See discussion at that time: http://www.bisque.com/sc/forums/p/14360/56652.aspx#56652

In 2014 (a few weeks ago) I returned to Spain and set up the ME once again. At first it was fine but a couple of days ago when I was carrying out a drift alignment procedure I accidentally let the ME track into the meridian - it stopped and started beeping continuously.

I now get the beeping whenever I switch on the ME

It is the identical symptoms to 2011 except that it is the RA light flashing now so when I switch on I get the single beep for DEC success followed by the hum, a pause and then the continuous beeps.

I checked balance first of all and finally removed all of the equipment today - scope and counterweights.

I get exactly the same result with no load at all.

If I release the RA worm from the wheel completely - same result.

The RA motor turns when the power is switched on and turns the worm smoothly then stops abruptly followed by the beeps. There is not excessive pressure on the wheel causing resistance. I can turn the RA motor axle manually and the wheel rotates easily and smoothly.

I cannot think of what to do next.

I have read all of the beep discussions I can find but cannot pinpoint any actions for me to take.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Len Adam

4th July 2014

TODAY

As a follow up to my points yesterday  (I realise it was 4th July - I hope you had a good day!) -  this morning I concentrated on the RA axis as that seems to be where the problem lies. When I release the axis and rotate it manually using the RA shaft I realised that it was clicking and scraping at one point of its rotation.  I located this at about 8 0 clock (by listening for the click) on a clock face looking at it with my back to the north with the RA shaft as the hour hand of the clock. It sounds as though something is loose and moving with the rotation slightly.I can only assume that it is the internal cabling catching on the shaft and causing the noise.

It occurred to me to try and start the ME with the shaft at about 11 o clock - up past the 8 o clock area.(To go past the "click")

I tried to start the ME and hey presto two beeps! I tried to home the mount with the joystick - continuous beeps.

I switched off and on again after rotating the RA shaft counterclockwise and clockwise again to 11pm - two beeps and this time it homed successfully with the joystick and started tracking.

I returned the shaft to its 6 0 clock position and restarted the ME - two beeps as it should be.

I removed the East panel to view the axis but was unable to identify a particular cable  with the potential to either cause additional friction that could cause the RA motor to stall or to break a connection.

Could the RA motor stalling simply be caused by cable friction?

Note: I only have a single USB cable threaded through the mount.

I will look in the support forum for similar instances but any comments welcome. It does work now but I would like to know the reason for the initial problem.

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So - I have a working Paramount at the moment - it now needs to be reassembled.

Day 104 Friday 4th July 2014 C14 out of action.

The problem persisted and I was unable to start up the mount so I posted a description of the problem in the Paramount ME forum at Software Bisque which is normally answered fairly promptly by one of the Bisque brothers based in Boulder Colorado. I did realise it was 4th July so I don't expect a response until next week. I decided to strip down the telescope - removing the C14 and the balance weights. This had no effect at all - the mount on its own without load had the same problem.

The other day I installed the polar finderscope for the CGEM. This video shows the installation (from Mark Zabokrtsky on You Tube). My finderscope does not have the metal ring.

Day 103 Thursday 3rd July 2014 Spain and Australia Pluto Images compared.

I put together my original Pluto image from my C14 with the image from Siding Spring yesterday to confirm that the object originally imaged was in fact Pluto. I was unable to image Pluto on the C14 last night  to confirm. Of course I had to turn the Siding Spring image upside down to match!

Unfortunately the images do not overlap to be able to show the movement - thus the above image.

I was unable to use my C14 to take another Pluto image because I decided to check polar alignment again with a drift align and the mount started to "beep" near the meridian. When I switched the mount off and on again the dec motor was fine but the RA motor was unable to run and the dreaded beeps restarted each time. Normally this is due to mount imbalance but this was not the case - raising the worm from the RA gear removed all load but the RA motor still stalled and set off the alarm. trying to sort the problem out in the dark was not possible.

Day 102 Wednesday 2nd July 2014 Solar Flares from Andy Devey, NGC 6188, NGC 6334, Pluto from Siding Spring.

Andy Devey sent me an email about two flares he observed yesterday - a C6.0 followed by an M1.4 class event. (From 10:00 to 12:00 UT). Here is a link to Andy's video:

http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/5610/2014/23618004-286e-4d90-a688-c2f929a56ef8.gif

Andy estimates the area to be 1 1/2 times the size of Jupiter.

The weather was good in New South Wales at Siding Spring so I took this 10 minute image of NGC 6188.

NGC 6188 is in the constellatio of Ara

and then NGC 6334

I managed to image Pluto from Siding Spring

Day 101 Tuesday 1st July 2014 CGEM setup with 4 inch refractor and guider.

No imaging last night - cloud set in and put an end to it. A bright sunny day today however. Now that the C14 and Paramount are set up I am aiming to set up the 4 inch refractor. This is its current state.

Note the two cannons which prevent the telescope from being blown over! The telescope now has the Skywatcher 80mm and ZWO guiding camera attached. It also has a base for a Telrad - I have two Telrads between 3 telescopes and 3 Telrad bases permanently attached. The setup also has the adjustable guidesope mount which I think will make a tremendous difference to aligning the guidescope! See this extensive review. I have also fitted the polar finderscope which I have yet to use.

The elastic cords are simply stored there not part of the structure!

The guiding camera can work as a guider or an imager.

The modified Canon camera is the main instrument in this setup.

 The Celestron polar finder telescope is screwed in and has a focuser.

 Unfortunately cloud set in as it grew dark but it gave me just enough time to use the polar alignment scope to match Ursa Major against its pattern and to centre Polaris in the offset circle to give polar alignment.At the next clear opportunity I will use the CGEM polar alignment routine to enhance alignment.

Day 100 Monday 30th June 2014 The New Moon, Pluto, Hercules,Vulpecula and Lyra Galaxies.

 Galaxy Library Total 132

Just after sunset last night the new Moon made its first appearance in the west.

I could see Jupiter to the right of the new Moon but failed to capture it in my hand held shots.

Just before Sunrise this morning I took this image but failed to capture Venus which I could see or Mercury which I could not. I must try harder - but was a bit tired after a 2 a.m. finish last night.

Sagittarius is in a good position from my site so I thought I would try to locate Pluto which is in that constellation and quite bright at the moment approaching opposition on 4th July. ( Mag 14). This is where it is:

A 30s image readily found it.

I will reimage Pluto at the next opportunity to illustrate its movement. I am assuming it will show more movement over a shorter period because of its being near opposition.  I must simulate the position of Pluto in 1930 in the SkyX software when I have time!

I will try and emulate Clyde Tombaugh who produced the images below by getting two images.  Some years ago I visited Lowell Observatory where the images were taken - I must learn how to sew on a cap badge that I bought there!!

The Pluto Discovery Images

 I  carried out galaxy runs on Hercules(23). Lyra(39) and Vulpecula(28). No SN found.

This was the first galaxy in the Vulpecula List NGC 6921

Day 99 Sunday 29th June 2014 - SN Search Cygnus 42

Galaxy Library Total 42

All went as planned last night. I mapped stars to the east having synched on Vega and the pointing is pretty good. All done to the sound of the Spanish Guitar and flamenco dancing music emanating from the village centre below - all lit up for the occasion.

As my friend Andy says however the main light pollution here is from the Milky Way.

It seems to me to pour upwards out of the Sierra Cabrera Mountains to the South!

Stephen O'Meara refers to the Milky Way as "pouring out of the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot"

I imaged a number of interesting objects - see below  - and did my first galaxy supernova hunting run of the year - 42 galaxies in Cygnus - yet to be checked.

Messier 27 The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula - a single 20 second exposure

Messier 29 Open Cluster in Cygnus - a single 20 second exposure

Messier 71 Globular Cluster in Sagitta - a single 20 second exposure

Messier 39 Open Cluster in Cygnus - a single 20 second exposure

Messier 52 Open Cluster in Cassiopeia - a single 20 second exposure

Messier 103 Open Cluster in Cassiopeia - a single 20 second exposure

Messier 57 Planetary Nebula in Lyra - a single 20 second exposure

Messier 11 Wild Duck Open Cluster in Scutum - a single 20 second exposure

 

Messier 56 Globular Cluster in Lyra - a single 20 second exposure

The first galaxy in my standard list of 42 galaxies in Cygnus is NGC 6946 otherwise known as Caldwell 12 or the "Fireworks Galaxy". I take 30 second images for the supernova search process but for the image below I took 20 X 20 second images and aligned then added them in CCDSoft.

I now have 42 galaxies to check against the Deep Sky Survey images online. Because I have changed my focal reducer the scale of my images has changed so I need to rebuild a reference library of images. Only when I have done that will I be able to blink the new images against the library ones using Grepnova. Comparing my images coming in with DSS online is slow and I am likely to miss differences.

All checked now  - no potential supernovae found within limits of the images and my checking ability. In a week or so I will reimage Cygnus galaxies and use Grepnova to check - much more likely to spot any changes.

This is Cygnus Target 29 - PGC 67235

Day 98 Saturday 28th June 2014 Drift Alignment

 Based on yesterday's blog about Camera Orientation I produced a diagram that illustrates how a misaligned polar axis results in the movement of stars in the "eyepiece" or on the screen.

This assumes you are standing with North at your back facing South to the Meridian. It shows a misaligned polar axis and the track (in red) that the telescope will take as it tries to follow a star. The actual track (blue) of the star centred on the Meridian is to the left of the telescope track. As a result the star appears to drop down in the eyepiece or image view.

 

 The next diagram shows the potential actions for differing results.

The next step is to track a star in the East to see the effect. The possible outcomes are shown in this diagram

I found a star near the meridian with the OTA on the West side of the mount. One second images 0f the star were displayed in CCDSoft and I used the magnify button to show any movement more readily.

The star drifted down (South) in the image so I adjusted the azimuth controls to rotate the polar axis anticlockwise - i.e. to the west.

I repeated the process with a star in the east but found little movement so I took a 5 minute image. The stars were nice and round so I left the alignment at that for the moment.

I finally got to the bottom of the problem with pointing - it was the Sky 6. What I had obviously forgotten since moving the Paramount to a new location the last time was that when the Sky6 asks for a Time Zone it needs a minus sign in front of it! In other words the box that asks for the time zone means that Time Zone 1 is actually Time Zone -1 in Sky6! Otherwise it is two hours out! That sorted the problem and allowed me to start a T Point mapping session that brought most stars to withing 2 minutes of arc of the cross hair box on the images coming in. I realised this when having sorted out the Polar Alignment the Sidereal Time was 2 hours adrift on the chart!

I now have 18 stars mapped to the West of the Meridian. I found that when I tried to slew to Vega on the other side of the Meridian it was not in the field of view although when I checked at the telescope through the finder it was very close. I took a 20 second image of the position it had slewed to and solved the plate.

This is the image showing the stars found. The bright star is SAO 47587

The astrometry lists the stars found and gives the centre of the image

Note that the camera is still 2.75 degrees away from North - a little bit of rotation needed.

This chart shows the distance of the field from Vega

 

 This gives the actual error - quite large! 1.5 degrees! Obviously more TPoint mapping needed. Of course a synch on this side of the mount will improve matters considerably.

I stopped at that point (2 a.m.) Tonight I will slew from the home position to Vega and synch that into the TPoint model when I have centred it. I will then map stars to the East of the Meridian and see how the general pointing improves.