Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 3, 2011 7:19:50 GMT -6
Imaging Jupiter on an early hot morning
03 July 2011
03 July 2011
I finally installed collimation knobs on the C11,
( astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=ATM&thread=3230&post=12841 )
...and tested out the alignment on Jupiter...with some pretty great results..
Setting outside the garage at 3:30 am, after installing the knobs and minor cleaning, twilight was lighting up the east and I needed to work fast.
I noticed that with some minor tweaking of the collimation knobs, Jupiter's Great red Spot and a Jovian satellite transit was in progress.
And Bam!
With just a nudge of a knob and using the JMI remote focuser...Jupiter's glory came into view...
Europa was to the left and Io was making a transit...but I could not see it. It's uncertain what satellite was making the shadow, as Ganymede and Callisto were too far out on the right, but I say Europa.
Daylight was now coming fast and I didn't know how long I had left for the testing session, but the images kept coming...
It was now very bright out and some high thin clouds, but the C11 kept delivering...
I experimented with filters, with the 80A & 80B working the best, but the Skylight filter created a nice subtle contrast with the planet. I need to use this on a proper session.
The C11 tracked well and I was still getting good Jupiter views well into daylight...
At around 6:30am, a thicker band of clouds floated over and ended the session. I couldn't see the planet naked eye anymore, but there was still hints of it in the eyepiece...
Without a proper final collimation adjustment with a star, (airy disk/concentric rings), this test session proved to be a great success. The new knobs work exceptionally well...
They will make future adjustments a snap...and with the indexing I did on them, slight nudges are all that it should take before a serious session.
Perhaps this evening, I will finish the collimation with ever so minor tweaking under high magnification, but for now... it's close - and I got great Jupiter images to boot!... ;D
