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Hi Chris,
Any chance of seeing one of your SQM from a clear moonless nights? Would be curious to see the shape it takes.
Grant
I used a Meade LS-8 a couple of years ago. That was a case of shove it on the tripod, put tripod outside, plug in and flick switch. It handled all the leveling, north finding, GPS location/time and pointing refinement with an attached built in webcam. Failed 1 in 10 times and took about 10 mins.
You can take image of up to about 30s (threw away about 25% of pics) before field rotation trails the stars and its fine for planets. Got some quite nice pics with one using a Starlight H18.
Worth considering. Its doesnt get any easier – unless you go for a permanent set up. Richard Miles has an impressive solution…
I imagine whether it is bad news depends upon who buys it.
In recent years it had become a pale shadow of its former self.
Theres at least one USB relay on Amazon that can be run via a simple serial port command (but which plugs into USB). If not done in Python its only a few lines in VB6 to create an executable that opened or closed the relay. It even has a small LED on it so you can see the relay status.
I must admit I too was tempted until I saw it was in York. Its just too far away for me. About 5hrs continuous traffic-jam-free driving or 4.5hrs on the train. Could stay for the weeknd but have other commitments.
Britain is big and, in the past, meetings have too often been in the south, so I am certainly not complaining.
Looking forward to enjoying the videos from a comfy chair.
Is that real football or the other sort?
Perhaps play it safe and measure in perch, rods and chains*?
* For those unfamiliar with the joys of the archaic Imperial units. A chain is the same length as a cricket pitch 🙂
Isnt his raising an objection at this late stage a conflict of interest?
Also,someone not far from here and had a Meade LX200 in his observatory – which was in a conservation area. He appears to have got round it by making the observatory walls out of stone and flint (local materials) and making the roof dark.
What were the grounds for rejection? Was it because the building is listed, because its in a conservation area or something more mundane like being over 2.4m high and near a boundary?
You got more than me!
Yeah, the coding is fun. More fiddly, than difficult. I wrote some in VB6 a few years ago – that used Source Extractor output, but it could just as easily have used Pisa or Daophot instead. I imagine many would use Python instead of VB6 these days. 🙂
The problem is it went from owners who wanted to make a living to owners who wanted to be rich with the minimum possible effort.
You see it in business a lot. Buy something good, reduce standards, cut costs and milk that asset!
In Salisbury it was hopeful when I went to bed, but at 02:50 and 04:15 it was thick cloud…. The sort of cloud that says, there may be a moon in there somewhere but you’ve no idea where.
Ho hum. Perhaps I should have moved east when I retired.
The magazine changed after it was taken over. It went from being focused on the real enthusiasts with good (substantial) equipment review, observing accounts from experienced observers and cutting edge stuff, to a slim shadow of its former self and devoid of interest to all but beginners.
It still has some good writers, but a lot of the content is fairly lightweight.
Shame.
