Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Back in the saddle again

Once I got through the weather delays last month, it went from bad to worse...several components that were being used far harder than the original designers intended finally gave out. That included the RA worm gear and the handset controller.

Today I managed to get a hold of a nearly complete EQ-6 mount, probably ten years old, but never sold. Many parts missing, but none that I don't have...and since this is the upmarket version of the mount I have, I was able to replace the entire RA worm gear block. I still have some handset issues (it will no longer power the declination motor, for instance) but that's nothing I can't work around.

Tonight I was able to enjoy the luxury-for the first time-of picking multiple targets, and even with the full moon I got some nice subs-once I finish the stacking and processing, there should be a lot of action here. Finally!

For starters, look for a couple of globular clusters in the next day. The tracking is VASTLY improved, and nothing shows tracking problems like globular clusters, so of course that's what I had to start with...

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