[Lost]

I'm now well into the swing of using it regularly for astrophotography and have already had two groups through.

Up on the observation deck at ASIGN Observatory II, processing the data collected through the telescope over the past few nights.



Downstairs, putting the finishing touches on the astrophotograph from the previous night.

good to see you wearing high vis clothing so the martians can see you

[Barry]

After many months of research and selling nearly everything that is near and dear to me, I finally drove to Sydney today to pick up a shiny new GSO RC12 inch Truss telescope. Let the steep learning curve begin!

First cut


OOOH SHINYYYY!


Careful... don't tear the wrapping paper!


Back-heavy this one.


Balancing.


First light at the Moon.


Pointing at Jupiter.


Southern Cross and Pointers out the window...doesn't get much better than this!

[P Plates]

Wow - that's a monster. Looking forward to seeing the results you get with it.

[inapickle]

Now we are waiting to see the pics

[Barry]

Don't worry... so am I!

Baz.

[Barry]

Get this - I sold all my pro photography gear to buy all this, then I had to get a pro photographer in to take these photos for my website and Facebook group.... go figure...

[Barry]

ASIGN Observatory II on the front page of The Canberra Times today.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/tech...214-32rt2.html

[P Plates]

Good publicity Barry and hope you are getting the school groups through as planned

[Barry]

Ok here you go. :thumbup:

After 30 hours of cutting, drilling, bolting and painting, ASIGN Observatory II is now sporting a very stylish pergola and banister over the front entrance.

And a bonus little screen grab of Johanna Griggs from the Better Homes and Gardens team with me on the observation deck.

[Barry]

1. It's been couple of nights of rapid progression at ASIGN Observatory II. First night I got collimation of the mirrors sorted out.



2, 3 &4. Last night I had a fellow astronomer visit and help me through configuring of all the software that runs the telescope and cameras. Here's a few shots of the setup.







5 and finally, here's the first image (60 second single exposure) out of the new telescope through the deep space imager. It should be noted that there was nearly a full moon up and the mist filled the sky with poo. I can't wait to get a clear moonless night on some distant galaxies!

[seaslug]

Wow! That's heavy duty photography!

[Barry]

More testing of the new optics. I still have lots of room for tweaking the focus, but I am still fighting a sky full of moonlight and moisture/smoke. Too many people in our bush capital still using wood fires for heating.

The first picture is a single subexposure of M82 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy of ten minutes, guided using an SBIG ST-i guide camera and the Orion Starshoot (V1) as the main imager.

The second image is a single five minute subexposure of the Carina nebula.

Normally I would take twenty or thirty identical exposures, stack them together with dark, flat, offset/bias frames before exporting them to photoshop for final processing, so I'm pretty excited to see this level of detail, brightness and colour at the bottom of the pile.

Focus and collimation both need work, but that will come in time.

[P Plates]

Amazing Barry. Certainly looks a very technical set up but I'm sure you will get some amazing photographs. Thanks for sharing.

[Barry]

^^^ Thanks mate!

The television show called MANSPACE aired my observatory last night. They did a great job, apart for the part where they called me John.... !

It features first up, about a minute and a half into the show. http://www.jump-in.com.au/show/mansp...de-7/#autoplay

[Tatts]

That's Brilliant, great article

Your Ironman suit is coming along nicely too.