Observing Log

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BRONTE OBSERVATORY

CURRENT MOON

moon info

hobsonaw@aol.com

Bronte Observatory

Alexander William Hobson

Height above sea level 78m or 256 feet

GMT -5MD 10 16' W

To find your home Lat/Log, go to:

http://www.satsig.net/maps/lat-long-finder.htm

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/latlong.adp

Oakville

GMT

Current Sky Chart

Current Earth View

WELCOME I OBSERVATORY I EQUIPMENT I IMAGE DATA I SPECTRA DATA I LOG I LINKS I BLOG I LIBRARY I CONTINUING ED

This logbook is in reverse entry format, most recent to oldest...

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20/3/2010

As far as education goes, I'm on a roll! So far I have 3 certificates and am working on a fourth. The latest is a Master Class with Dr. Alan Guth on inflationary cosmology. a little light learning hahahaha!

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20/3/2017

Finally back to some full time work after heart attacks and thyroid surgeries and everything else so I'll have a few more dollars to pick up some gear> I'm looking to get a small guide scope, mounting rings and guide camera. The scope from Ali, the rings from Scopetronics and the camera well I'm working on that.working back to some full time work after heart attacks and thyroid surgeries and everything else so I'll have a few more dollars to pick up some gear> I'm looking to get a small guide scope, mounting rings and guide camera. The scope from Ali, the rings from Scopetronics and the camera well I'm working on that.

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05/03/2017

Spent the last few weeks with the telescope in my bedroom so I could keep the laptop at the desk and take everything apart each day and set it up again to make sure it will all work in the field. This allowed me to run all the wires and get all the extension cords I would need in the field. Everything is great for outside in the backyard but now I have to do some research about power packs for when I'm at the park or take the equipment to a dark sky site. So far I think I'm going to go with a Celestron power supply 18774. As for the dew heaters, I'll have to pick up a few more I only have one for the hand controller because it actually came with the hand control cover I got from Scope Stuff. Then I'll have to look at getting a battery for that as well.

26/02/2017

A frustrating day of figuring out how to run my telescope and camera as the software that they come with just doesn't work. I found a few forums with info and determined to use SharpCap and Stellarium because they seem to be the most intuitive and best operating software out there. I still haven't taken the whole new setup out to do a test night but so far everything hooks up properly and tracks on the computer like it is supposed to. I'm sure I'll have fun with pointing but for now I'm just happy everything hooks up and is recognised. I have a second monitor now so I can run the telescope on the left screen and the capture software on the right, a folding plastic table for the setup, a separate powerbar for everything, and extension cables so I can sit away from the telescope. A far cry from a remote controlled system but I'm learning!

Cable management is next on my list. I have things worked out and have a black wrap around cable cover to bring things from the scope out the back but I still have to make up a wire management platform to keep things from snagging. I haven't even gotten into image processing yet!!! Can't wait to see that!

i think for the observatory cover on the dome I'm going to go with a hand built unit and I'm going to use cedar strip technique because I have a concave/convex set of bits for the router and I think it would be a great way to build the shell. Fur plywood for the frames and cedar strips for the outside and then fibreglass the whole thing after.

Next up is a filter wheel, RGB filters plus a dark filter for dark frames. I have several ND filters in various strengths for the moon. My Universal and regular camera adaptors should be arriving shortly, and I'll be able to use the camera with eyepieces and or the 3 and 5 times barlows. i also just picked up a remote control Bluetooth camera trigger for the iPhone so if I want to play with that, i can hook it up to the telescope and shoot without touching the setup.

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11/02/2017

I can't believe I just wrote 2017 on the heading of this log page! How can it be 2017. Seems like yesterday it was 1992... we are truly living in the future. It must be really difficult for science fiction writers to come up with material because we seem to live in a science fiction world right now...

OK so I have the new Neximage 5 and it is outstanding. Very tiny. The pictures are of course close up shots that they use for the advertising so unless you see one in person, you expect them to be about the size of a small can of soup when in fact they are about the size of a small 35mm film canister! That's not a bad thing! Very light weight and compact so it doesn't affect your telescope mount because of weight and balancing is easy. With the extension cords from China, I am getting things organised into bundles so I can shroud them with the plastic spiral covers. I don't have Blue Tooth for the scope or camera so it's still cords for me. I have a great setup with a folding plastic table and power bar and the laptop is all set to go. Still have not looked into why the scope isn't seen by the laptop but I suspect it has to do with the RS232 cable but no worries, I use the hand-controller anyway and only use the laptop for the imaging.

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24/11/2016

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!! Forget Meade and the LPI, Celestron Neximage 5 is where I'm going next! Ordered one from KW Telescope in Kitchener and should be here in a week. It was $100.00 cheaper than the new LPI and way more Megapixels. I also saw a nice Celestron C8 in there for $500.00 so I need to see mount and go from there.

My 2 USB 2 extension cables arrived from China and they are great. Should be way easier to use the computer and scope.

I'm looking into Kendrick dew heaters and a box for the laptop to keep it clean and heated in the winter. Probably wind up making something out of masonite and getting a laptop heating pad for it.

I also picked up a cell phone universal holder for the telescope and will be doing some imaging for fun with that and a wireless shutter release for it as well. Great for just throwing the scope outside and imaging through the eyepiece. I also have a T mount for the Nikon but I have to come up with a counterbalance as the scope is so small the big camera would trash the gears after a short time.

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11/10/2016

Received the RS232 USB2 cable for the LPI, but the drivers aren't working... have not had a chance to look into it because the computer is telling me that it sees the LPI which is at least better than before when i plugged it in and it didn't even see it...so my webcams aren't working either as they are USB1 as well so I'm looking at a 5MP camera with USB2 in time. Webcams are as expensive if not more expensive than a purpose made camera so once i am working more full time I'll look at that.

As well found a very inexpensive supplier for 13% moon filter and have one on order. they also have dark frame filters. just bought a telescope converter and T ring for the Nikon D7000 and a remote timer so i can use it for digital telescope images and also a universal bracket for my iphone. I did some nice shots through the iphone a few nights ago and im very impressed by the quality.

At least the hand controller is working on the telescope but can't get it to work through a computer yet something wrong with the setup.

Fixed my Kendrick dewshield by having it sewn at a shoemaker in Oakville.

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19/9/2016

Well didn't I get a big shocker when i went to do a night of shooting. i was being smart and set everything up during the day and got long extensions and all kinds of tables and chairs set up. Then I started to turn everything on and to my amazement, nothing worked!!!! I'm using a new laptop and it didn't even recognise the telescope. Then the same thing with the LPI imager. So I tried the webcam and same thing. I thought this through and realised that the old laptop had USB 1.0 inputs and the new laptop was USB 2.0. so I ordered a new RS232 cable to USB 2.0 thinking, boy it couldn't be that easy but bingo the cord came and when I plugged the telescope in to the computer, it came up as recognised and found the drivers for it right away. So that means my old webcam is no good as it has the USB cord attached, but the Meade LPI has a USB B to USB cord so again I ordered a USB B to USB 2 cable for it and hope it works again. As well, i have some inexpensive USB 2 extension cables ordered so I can work better with everything. I was afraid to start looking at Blue Tooth, a few more dollars than I would like to shell out until I know everything works. So now just waiting for a clear night where I don't have to be up early the next day for work!

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05/08/2016

It's been years since I've been here, it's crazy!!! Well I had a heart attack in July and had a stent installed, after which I had another major heart attack like on TV...and Five more stents installed. I'm like the bionic man now! going back over everything I;m going to build the observatory dome myself as the price of the ready made units has gone crazy...

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04/27/13

Wow has it really been that long since I was on here??? Unreal!!! Well been doing construction for several years now. Not a lot of spare time or money so the observatory is being re-planned. I continue to use the binoculars outside for observing and will probably make the dome when the time comes, (Michael J. Cooke version or similar). Really enjoyed the Venus transit. The position on the sun surprised me. I never get used to the fact that we are stuck to the side of a moving ball…I was expecting it to appear at one side of the sun but instead it appeared almost directly at the top and travelled down to the bottom. It was a great day!

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09/29/10

Time flys when you're out of work...

A major hold on everything as I've been out of work for more than half a year. Everything sort of comes into focus when you have time on your hands.

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01/04/10

Happy New Year!!!

Podcasts for the IYA went well and I was asked by Terrance Dickenson if I was interested in doing a Blog for the Sky News website which I would love to do. I haven’t head details yet.

I’m working on a pet project. I have asked most of the top astronomers, astrophysicists and cosmologists in the world, what book influenced them most and what their favourite book was. I’m amazed at the fact that most have emailed me back! It’s remarkable the books being recommended and as I go through the list, am purchasing some of them to add to the library. Some outstanding reading and some really off the wall material.

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06/12/09

Weather has been too wet for digging, switched to constructing garden shed first, 3 days construction and finished except for soffit and fascia, good experience to get my carpentry skills back up to par. Thinking of making a small warm room within the observatory. I can build up to 100' square without a permit so somehow it would have to be incorporated into a 8X12 building or make 10X10 with space between and small warm room not attached but with small windows between? I'll figure it out...

Mean time, looking at a CPC1100 with a wedge and the 66, although there have been some good deals on LX200 12" lately...

Neighbor Con is a welder part time with equipment at home so can fabricate pier any time…

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01/28/09

Thought more about main scope and guide scope. Will get either William Optics 66 or Astro Tech 66 for guide and leaning towards C11 with Losmondy mount. Observatory plans remain the same, starting construction spring 09.

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05/20/08

Have tech cable for power, phone cable and cat 5 cable ready.

To Do list:

1.) Measure distance from house to observatory for conduit.

2.) Dig 5' hole, 3 feet wide for pier.

3.) Fill bottom 2" crushed stone, tamp.

4.) Bend rebar for pier and install on spacers.

5.) Pour cement 3' wide X 2' H for pier.

6.) Sono tube 2'w X 3'h for pier.

7.) Pour cement in sono tube 3', just shy of ground level.

8.) build deck of observatory

9.) install conduit in observatory floor

10.) install observatory floor

11.) continue observatory construction with walls, door, vents, roof trusses

12.) install roof caps,

12a.) Install dome

14.) install exterior conduit

15.) pull wires and install electrical, phone alarm system etc.

16.) install tripod and telescope and use for 1 week. Get proper height for permanent pier

17.) construct metal pier at height chosen.

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04/22/08

Marked out observatory building and pier placement with white paint. Clear view of Polaris. Will mark out Polaris for proper pier alignment. I am going to install a 3’ Sonotube base 3’ high, then transition to 2' Sonotube about 2’ high to just below the surface of the ground for the pier. That way if the unit has to be moved, just chop the bolts and cover the cement with soil and sod. I will epoxy the bolts for the pier so that the pier height can be obtained after the observatory is complete, and get a custom made pier.

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3/24/2008

Set up logbook and refined website. Looking at areas in yard for observatory. Will be Explora-Dome with 10'X10' building. 12"LX200 GPS (R), SBIG adaptive optics, SBIG CCD, Williams Optics APO with SBIG guide CCD.

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