18" Mirror Cell Completed

I finished the primary mirror cell this morning, and it looks great!

Here's the pics:

 

Imaging Problems

Okay, so I've been having problems with my junky Sony Cyber-Shot. Obviously, it was never designed for this sort of work, but I can't get it to focus. The views look great in the 4.25" Quattro eyepiece, and just for kicks, I re-collimated everything again last night before observing, but it just won't behave.

This regular 20-second shot of the northern sky shows you how much noise there is on the camera (that's not really light pollution):

This is the clearest image I could get of the moon:

Here is the clearest closeup I could get of Mare Crisium and the Proclus Crater:

To say that I'm not happy with my imaging options at the moment is an understatement, particularly when the scope itself is working so well. I guess I was just spoiled working at the University of Arizona Steward Observatory in college with all the good equipment there.

I am hoping to get things resolved before the 18" is completed in May, but for now, eyeball astronomy is quite rewarding enough. I just wanted to share some of those images online.

The idea for the 18" is to put together a DSLR and CCD gallery online for students to use in conjunctions with their science, astronomy, and physics classes. I hope I can get some sponsors on board to help with that.

Meanwhile, I'm back to tapping holes for the 18" primary mirror mount.

Houston, We Have a Finder Scope!

Good news! I got an e-mail from Stellarvue, and they are donating an F2 Multi-reticle Finder to us!

This is a great boon for us, since the Dobtracker idea didn't work out so well. I'm still working on a source for a track and point system for Deep Sky Observing.

But here's a picture and link for you to check it out yourself:

http://www.stellarvue.com/f2.html

Thanks, Vic and crew!

More Digital Imaging with Quattro

Nightly images with Sony DSC-W1 and Quattro 4.25" unguided Dobsonian:

Venus

Venus again

Venus yet again

Crescent Moon

Mirror Cell Construction: Day 1

I started the Mirror Cell today, beginning with the three cross bar supports that will sit under the triangles. It was just your basic drill 5/16" and tap 3/8-16 threads job. 21 more holes to drill and tap!

I also picked up most of the hardware as well.

More to follow. Here's the pics:

CCD Imaging with Quattro

So, I'm trying to squeeze some better performance out of my junky Sony DSC-W1. It's not a Canon 5000, but hey, I'm experimenting.

Check out this shot of the Pleiades (it's not bad for a 3 second exposure at F2.8 with a hand held shot against the 20mm eyepiece):

I'm hoping a t-adapter on the 18" will reveal wondrous images, but we'll see.

More to follow. Tomorrow, we're cracking on the primary mirror cell at Horizon Industries.

Mirror Cell Redux

Round 2 on the Mirror Cell:

Work is progressing. The PLOP calculations are complete, and I'm scrounging the local scrap yards for 1/4" Aluminum plate and 1" x 1/2" key stock for the bar joist.

I'll be using 3/8-16 Weld Nuts as the supports, as indicated by the awesome Bino-scope engineer Bruce Sayre on his website:

http://www.foothill.net/~sayre

Overall it should look something like this:

I'll post more pictures as I get things accomplished. I'm off to the scrap yard!