SESSION 24 · 11/26 · WORKED
A Saturn worth keeping
Saturn on the 127 with the ZWO, at 20 ms and gain 335, near its highest. The planet drifted out of the frame all night even with tracking on, and the stacker had to chase it. Twenty-four recordings…
STARLOG · TARGET
Saturn
Every night Saturn was the target, from Goolwa, South Australia, newest first.
SESSION 23 · 10/26 · WORKED
First light for the ZWO
First night with the ZWO ASI662MC, on the 127 Mak with the SV205 moved to the finder. Saturn came out soft in sixteen recordings, which I blamed on my focus; the numbers said seeing. After midnight…
SESSION 19 · 10/26 · PARTLY WORKED
Two half-misses make one Moon, and Saturn in the wrong hole
The best sky of the spring. Two 43-panel lunar mosaics on the AZ-GTi, 128 GB each, every goto within two arcseconds, but each grid missed most of the Moon; stitched together, the two make a complete…
SESSION 17 · 10/26 · WORKED
Saturn in colour, with AstroDMx
An AstroDMx night with the 127 on the AZ-GTi and no agent driving: 38 runs of 50 full-size frames, the crescent from 19:29 and Saturn from 21:19. Codex could not reach the rig from its sandbox and…
SESSION 16 · 10/26 · PARTLY WORKED
Thirty-five panels, and a dimming I never explained
The 127 on the AZ-GTi, run from the mount's hotspot. A 35-panel crescent mosaic at 19:44, anchored 11 arcminutes off the disc centre with a new shift option; a second, softer one after the image…
SESSION 13 · 09/26 · WORKED
The whole Moon, and a search that found Saturn
A complete Moon at last - 24 panels, 100% of the sunlit disc, measured and not just looked at - and my first Saturn, rings and all, in a single overexposed frame. On the way: a spiral search built…
SESSION 11 · 09/26 · WORKED
A mount that answered every question and refused to move
The best sky in weeks, and two hours lost to a mount that talked happily and would not turn. Saturn is a fortnight from opposition.
SESSION 5 · 09/26 · DIDN'T WORK
A new tube, two nights, and not one frame of sky
Got the 76/700 on the mount and pointed it at nothing successfully. Cloud, a finder I never aligned, and a field of view the size of a keyhole. The morning's daylight testing is where the actual…