| Joined: | Sun Apr 1st, 2012 |
| Location: | South Lakeland, UK |
| Posts: | 4066 |
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The new wedge mount is excellent, needs finishing properly and details refining but it works a treat. It's very solid and the adjustments work really well, way better than before, need much more practice but I took two series of exposures with and without the motor running. I am currently processing the images as I type, I took some without the motor running then I started the motor and all the stars stopped moving, but... they are giggling about. I am not yet sure what's causing that, it may be the gear train again or it might be mirror slap shaking the camera arm. The D800 mirror does seem to generate a fair old whack, at that magnification it must have some effect on sharpness. I need to look into locking the mirror up.
I seem to have managed to find the celestial North. I still haven't a clue how I did it, I wasn't sure which star was Polaris, which has been my problem before but I am gaining some understanding. Polaris describes a circle around the celestial North axis, the trick is knowing at what point around that circle Polaris should be. It relates to a 24 Hr clock, as you might expect... This evening I wasn't able to see Ursa Minor, which would have clinched it.
I tried the Go-Pro Session but the images of stars in the dark were not bright enough. It's fine in daylight but not in the dark. I still need to make a small red LED lamp for the Polar Scope. Will post some images in the morning.
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Robert.