Gallery XXXVIII -  9-6-05

Attempts at the veil

     

 
I went to Deep Creek Lake (40 min from site of old Laurel highlands Star cruise and pretty dark). I took the 10" and the stellacam II. I set up in day light. I got the scope polar aligned. i aligned the finders to the degree of accuracy needed to get an object onto my tiny chip. I created a parfocal eyepiece for the stellacam II with its f6 reducer. Then I discovered that all that I lacked to be able to achieve focus was a 1.25 to 2" adaptor.
 
Hmm, Ok I'll try to shoot with out it with the f5 scope. I achieve focus.
 
Clouds arive.
 
2 hours later - no break in clouds. I tear down the set up. I look up - sky is clear from horizon to horizon.
 
I take out my new 25x100mm Apogee binos with filter (it does increase contrast) and surf the summer milky way at 25x in stereo. For a finalae i take the binos (10lbs + heavy) - lie on the driveway and glimpse the far (from 52 cygni) side of the veil - wow - it fits in the 2.5-3 degree FOV.
 
The next night I set up after dark. I polar aligned. I aligned the finders.
 
I had thought all day of how to achieve focus. The old 10" f5.6 Discovery dob has separate 1.25 and 2" focuser adaptors that screw into the mechanism. I can focus with the f6 reducer in the stellacam with the 2" but not with the 1.25" adaptor. I hought - hmm if I remove the stop ring from the 1.25" adaptor that will buy me 1/16" of in travel and I found that I could rack the focuser in by another 1/8" beyond that.
 
There was a star - star light star bright - first star i see toninght - i wish i may I whish i might ... eureka  ... I achieve focus. I home the alignment of the finder (8x) to get the star near the center of the chip. I practice, I can position reliably.
 
Hmmm. The horizon is gone. I'll go for the veil. I get 1 shot - a stack of 30 (8.5 sec exposures) - I over process - i see the veil - positioning is off - I reposition. Ah, the veil - you are mine.
 
Clouds seal off the sky.
 
2 hours later  ...clouds ... I tear down and go to bed.
 
I was happy though as I'd gotten all the equipment to work.
 

 

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