HURAH FIRST LIGHT..................

[Mac]

Spent about 15 mins last night polar aliging the scope.

by following this excellent guide..
It also explains how and why it works.

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/astro/iterating.pdf

I need to do it a little more accuratly,
but i need to pick up my 2" to 1 1/4 adapter thats still in the light bridge.
So i can use my eyepieces

(Jim could you arange to bring it next week, cheers).

As i dont have a camera cable at the moment, i could only manage 30" exposures.

and this was the very first photo.

The goto was spot on, M57 dead centre.



Details.

Lx200 10" Pier Mounted
Lumicon Deep sky Filter with Ha Hb & Oiii filters. http://www.lumicon.com/telescope-accessories.php?iid=LF3020&cid=13&in=Deep+Sky+Cassegrain+Rear+Cell&hn=
Canon 350D unmodified.
iso 1600 30" Unguided.
No flats
No darks
No nothing, not even processed.

I still need to colimate the scope, but im hoping to try out my artificial star for that

Hopefully once i get my camera cable, i can start some long exposures.

(Tony let me know how much you want for the cable, cheers)

Mac.

[Fay]

Well done, Mac, you are on your way.............no stopping you now!!!!!!

[Daniel]

Awesome stuff man, I've been quietly following your pier thread, glad to see it's all come together so well, I'd  install a pier in my garden except my garden has an alleyway behind it and I don't trust anyone round here as far as I could throw em.

well done man!

Daniel
:O)

[RobertM]

You're right about the collimation but it's a great feeling getting that first image, it makes it all worth while.

[Tony G]

Mac,

If this is the cable you are on about, then I have a spare, which you can have free of charge, as I don't need two.



Tony G

[Mac]

Tony i was on about the computer controlled one for long exposures,

Mind i've just found a wiring diagram for one, so i might have a go at building one.

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/dslr/CanonRelease.html

http://www.dslrfocus.com/help/eoscable.htm

Mac

[Fay]

Oh Mac, I thought you meant the one Tony has as well.
Astronomiser, Andy Ellis, will be able to supply a computer serial controlled one for you.

[JohnP]

Well done Mac looks very promising.... John

[The Thing]

I have just made a serial cable to control my Minolta DSLR, I have fitted a small jack into a remote cord rather like the one shown and can plug the serial cable into it so I didn't have to destroy the remote cord to get the Minolta proprietary connector. However it looks like you wouldn't have to worry about that.

All the bits can be got from Maplins and it took about 20 mins to solder it all together and fit into the D-sub 9 serial case. I think I used Paul Beskeens page

http://www.beskeen.com/projects/dslr_serial/dslr_serial.shtml

for instructions and have made the opto-isolated design. Now I can use DLSR Shutter or IRIS or K3CCDTools etc. etc. to make the LED go from red to green and back again Played with it for hours! Now for a clear night to get some long exposures.