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News & Events:
ChronosMount Developing New Hardware Option: Polar Alighment Scope for HD32HPO
May 12, 2010 - Tacoma, WA
It seems the folks at ChronosMount have decided to add Polar Alignment Scopes as optional add-ons to their Mounts. They offered me the chance to help field test the Scope and I quickly agreed. I'm a big fan of Polar Alignment Scopes because they greatly reduce the time required to accurately calibrate my Imaging Platform at new locations.
Equipment Test I: Intergrated Test of RCOS 16RC Telescope and Chronos Equitorial Mount
May 9, 2010 - Gold Mountain Observing Center Astro-Camping Trip.
I just returned from my first integrated equipment test at GOMOC and everything works as expected. Since this was an integration test I didn't take any cool images. I was too busy calibrating sights and running cables. There is a lot of new equipment that I'm not used to operating so I decided to take my time and not try to do anything fancy on the first trip. I expect it will take (up to) three astro-camping trips to get everything properly calibrated before I can start imaging again. The Off-Axis Guider was not getting enough light to track properly and needs to be lowered more into the light stream. Also of note, the Adaptive Optics module will take a while to get the hang of so I temporarily disabled it.
My biggest blunder was that I plugged the Auto-Guider Cable into the wrong Guider Port on the Chronos Mount. It seems there are two different types of Guider Ports on the Chronos Mount and I need to use the one designed for STL-Cameras (for my STL-11000M) instead of the old style ST-Camera Guider Port (for my ST-2000XM). I remember reading about the two different types of Guider Ports in the documentation provided by Chronos but simply forgot about it during the field test.
My second biggest blunder was forgetting to correct for Magnetic Declination when I was assembling the Chronos Mount. Therefore I was 17 degrees off the NCP and that was beyond what I could correct for with the Mounts build in adjustment settings. The only way I could fix the error would have been to take everything apart and start from scratch. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time or energy to do that so I had to "lived with the problem" during the field test. The next time I setup the Mount I will be extra sure to adjust for magnetic declination.
I did receive some good news from Tim at Chronos. It seems they have decided to build Polar Alignment Scopes for their Mounts and have asked me to help field test the one for the HD32HPO Mount.
I really appreciate all the help Tim at Chronos has provided. He always takes the time to answer my questions and has gone out of his way to ensure my mobile Chronos Mount is easy to setup and operate. I have never claimed to be an Astrophotography expert - just someone willing to pay for exceptionally good equipment. When it comes to Imaging the Sky - the quality of your equipment makes all the difference!
Delivery Day : Chronos HD32HPO "High-Precision Option" Equitorial Mount
April 8, 2010 - UPS just delivery my new Mount.
I just received the delivery of my new Chronos Mount. It arrived in 5 "BIG" boxes and 2 "small" boxes and the combined weight is 543 lbs. This is the largest Mount I have ever owned and can hold up 250 lbs of equiment payload. Because of the unique "leading-edge" design of this Mount, I don't need to worry about doing Meridian Flips and no Counter Weights are needed to balance the payload. I placed this order nine months ago and believe me when I say it's been worth the wait.
Once I get a chance to unpack everything I will add new pictures of the mount to my Equipment Section.
Delivery Day : RCOS Carbon Truss 16" f/9.0 "ION Milled" Ritchey-Chrétien Telescope
March 8, 2010 - DHL just delivery my new Telescope.
I just received the delivery of my new Telescope from RC Optical Systems. Weighing in at 16 inches and 93 lbs, this is the biggest Telescope that I have ever owned. I placed this order nine months ago and believe me when I say it's been worth the wait.
RCOS does not mass-produce Telescopes. Each one is hand-crafted by a highly skilled machinist and all the parts are manufactured on the finest CNC machines available. But the most important features of this Telescope are the two mirrors supplied by ARIES INSTRUMENTS Co, Kherson, Ukraine. Both mirrors (Primary & Secondary) are made from Zero Expansion Astro-Sitall and are repeatedly ION Milled until certified to be at least 1/40th Wave RMS.
I am still waiting for my new Chronos Mount to arrive. Once it gets here I will be able to start taking truly amazing deep space images.
When it comes to Astrophotography the quality of the equipment you use is one of the most important things. Believe me when I say you can't make good quality images without good quality equipment. I learned this lesson the hard way when I tried to turn my first Telescope, a Meade LX200GPS into an inexpensive imaging platform. The old adage which says, "You can't turn a Sow's Ear into a Silk Purse" was very applicable to this first attempt. After spending six-months and approximately $2000 on additional parts I finally gave up and purchased my Takahashi Astrograph imaging platform.
New Year Equipment Delays
January 4, 2010 - Chronos Mount & RC Optical Systems Need More Time...
I just received an updated delivery schedule from Tim at Chronos Mount. He has rescheduled the delivery date of my HD32 Mount to the end of March. He said this season's unusually bad Winter Weather is to blame. It's made it almost impossible for him to run the Mount through it Q/A cycle.
I also received news from Debbie at RC Optical Systems that the delivery date for my 16"RC telescope has been rescheduled to mid-February. Because of all the Holiday Season celebrations there is now a backlog at their machine shop.
Advanced Imaging Confrence
November 3, 2009 - Summary of AIG 2009
I just returned from attending this years Advanced Imaging Confrence held in San Jose, CA. This was the first time I have attended that event. AIG officially ran for 3-days (from Oct 30th to Nov 1st) and it was amazing to be there. We had the top 300 CCD Imagers in the world gathered in one place. There were lots workshops to choose from and I had a chance to learn from the very best Astrophotographers in the world.
Of special note was the workshop given by Tony Hallas where he explained in detail the techniques he uses to process his World-Class CCD Images. That workshop was packed wall-to-wall and afterwards I immediately purchased his E-Z CCD (3-DVD) Video Leacture Set. There was even an area setup for Astronomy related hardware vendors to display the newest offerings and this year all the top vendors where present.
Table Mountain Star Party
July 24, 2009 - The Party Was Great!
I just got home from attending the 2009 Table Mountain Star Party. It was really fantastic and I had a great time. I planned ahead and came a few days early so I would get a good spot and boy was it the right thing to do. By the second official event day they were completely full. The weather was great and the nights were very clear. I made several new friend and showed them how to better process their CCD Image.
Placed New Equipment Order
June 3, 2009 - I'm Upgrading My Equipment To The Best...
I finally decided it's time to upgrade my Equipment so I just finished placing a new Equipment Order with Oceanside Photo and Telescope. I ordered a Chronos HD32 Mount and a RC Optical Systems 16"RC Carbon Truss Telescope. I also ordered the matching Telescope Command Center, Precision Instrument Rotator and Field Flattener / Corrector for the new telescope. I plan to mount my Takahashi FSQ-106EDX Astrograph on top of the 16RC so that I can take both Deep Field and Wide Field images from the same platform.
I also upgraded my CCD camera to a SBIG STL-11000M with the SBIG Adaptive-Optics Module and the matching 8-Slot Filter Wheel. To finish off the camera upgrade I added the full set of Astrodon Gen II LRGB filters and the matching Astrodon 3 nm Narrowband H-Alpha, SII and OIII filters. Now I can take "Hubble Pallette" Enhanced Color Images.
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