I just went out to observe the occultation of Venus by the Moon and
discovered that the mount on my CPC1100 has died again. It was working
fine when I last used it on July 18. I put into Hibernate mode at the end of that session.
Today when I turned it on, I got this message on the hand controller:
NO RESPONSE
16
I pressed UNDO, and started a Solar System Align on the Sun. The GPS
was working OK. I got the warning about the Sun, pressed Enter to rid
of it, and then pressed the direction pad. This got me nothing except a
message:
NO RESPONSE
17
I repeated this with the controller from my NexStar 6, with exactly the
same results, so the problem is in the mount. Not the same as last
time, because I never saw any error messages before.
We've had a couple of thunderstorms, but no close strikes, and the scope
is now on a surge protected power bar.
I've found this file, which has some helpful information:
http://www.nexstarsite.com/OddsNEnds/NoResponse.htm
I dread having to update the firmware. The last time I did this, it
wiped out all 99 of my User Objects, my entire library of variable
stars. I had to re-enter them manually, something I would rather not do
again, if I can help it.
Sigh!
Earlier today I set up the Celestron CGEM mount on the concrete pad on the east side of the house: maybe this put a curse on the CPC!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
1520e 2012/07/18–19
1520e 2012/07/18–19 22:10:50–23:50 EDT Foxmead POD 8 28cmsc
Aligned telescope on Saturn and Spica, then Arcturus. Although I used the 22mm Nagler (127x) briefly, most observations tonight were with the 40mm University MK-70 (70x).
ε Bootis: yellow/yellow, close.
δ Serpentis: blue/blue, wide.
Antares: not split, poor seeing.
I then began a tour of bright Milky Way objects, using CPC1100's "Identify" command to identify groups of Messiers, and later double stars and Named Objects.
M4 (started using 22mm), M80, M19, M62, M9, M6, M7 (returned to using 40mm). M8, M20, M23, M24, M18, M17, M25, M22, M11, M26, M16, M27, M71, M56, M29, M57.
ζ Lyrae: blue/violet, wide.
ε Lyrae: white/white/white/white, close/wide/close.
Albireo: gold/blue, wide.
17 Cygni: white/dim red, wide.
61 Cygni: white/white, wide.
NGC7331: Deer Lick Galaxy.
NGC7662: Blue Snowball.
NGC6992/NGC6995: E half of Veil Nebula. Without OIII filter, I could just barely make out NGC6992. With filter in place, it was quite obvious, and I could then see NGC 6995 to the south.
NGC6888: Crescent Nebula: Faint with OIII filter.
IC5146: Cocoon Nebula: Very faint with OIII filter. First new deep sky object in over 4 years!
With the OIII filter in place, I went back to the gems of the summer Milky Way:
M17: Swan Nebula: Could now see a lot of nebulosity off the Swan's rear end.
M16: Eagle Nebula: Much larger in OIII filter.
M20: Trifid Nebula: Dark rift in centre really obvious in OIII.
M8: Lagoon Nebula: Huge in size with extensive dark area in centre.
I ended up by looking briefly for NGC7000 (North America Nebula) but all I could see was hints of nebulosity here and there in the field of view, since the Nebula is much larger than the 40mm eyepieces 1° field of view.
All in all, a very pleasant evening of observing after a long lapse. I've felt nervous about observing in the dark since the bad fall I had a couple of months ago. After tonight, I feel more comfortable. 23 Messiers, 5 NGCs, one totally new IC, and 7 double stars. I love GoTo!
Temperature = 11.5°C.
Aligned telescope on Saturn and Spica, then Arcturus. Although I used the 22mm Nagler (127x) briefly, most observations tonight were with the 40mm University MK-70 (70x).
ε Bootis: yellow/yellow, close.
δ Serpentis: blue/blue, wide.
Antares: not split, poor seeing.
I then began a tour of bright Milky Way objects, using CPC1100's "Identify" command to identify groups of Messiers, and later double stars and Named Objects.
M4 (started using 22mm), M80, M19, M62, M9, M6, M7 (returned to using 40mm). M8, M20, M23, M24, M18, M17, M25, M22, M11, M26, M16, M27, M71, M56, M29, M57.
ζ Lyrae: blue/violet, wide.
ε Lyrae: white/white/white/white, close/wide/close.
Albireo: gold/blue, wide.
17 Cygni: white/dim red, wide.
61 Cygni: white/white, wide.
NGC7331: Deer Lick Galaxy.
NGC7662: Blue Snowball.
NGC6992/NGC6995: E half of Veil Nebula. Without OIII filter, I could just barely make out NGC6992. With filter in place, it was quite obvious, and I could then see NGC 6995 to the south.
NGC6888: Crescent Nebula: Faint with OIII filter.
IC5146: Cocoon Nebula: Very faint with OIII filter. First new deep sky object in over 4 years!
With the OIII filter in place, I went back to the gems of the summer Milky Way:
M17: Swan Nebula: Could now see a lot of nebulosity off the Swan's rear end.
M16: Eagle Nebula: Much larger in OIII filter.
M20: Trifid Nebula: Dark rift in centre really obvious in OIII.
M8: Lagoon Nebula: Huge in size with extensive dark area in centre.
I ended up by looking briefly for NGC7000 (North America Nebula) but all I could see was hints of nebulosity here and there in the field of view, since the Nebula is much larger than the 40mm eyepieces 1° field of view.
All in all, a very pleasant evening of observing after a long lapse. I've felt nervous about observing in the dark since the bad fall I had a couple of months ago. After tonight, I feel more comfortable. 23 Messiers, 5 NGCs, one totally new IC, and 7 double stars. I love GoTo!
Temperature = 11.5°C.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
1519m 2012/07/14
1519m 2012/07/14 04:50–05:15 EDT Foxmead E window 3 ne
Crescent Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Aldebaran in a quadruple conjunction this morning. Many small clouds on eastern horizon,but they finally cleared enough that all four objects were visible.
Crescent Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Aldebaran in a quadruple conjunction this morning. Many small clouds on eastern horizon,but they finally cleared enough that all four objects were visible.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
1518m 2012/06/23
1518m 2012/06/23 04:50–05:10 EDT Foxmead E window 9 10x50b ne
I caught both Venus and Jupiter this morning with my 10x50 binoculars. Once I'd spotted Jupiter with binoculars, I could see it naked eye.
I caught both Venus and Jupiter this morning with my 10x50 binoculars. Once I'd spotted Jupiter with binoculars, I could see it naked eye.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
1517m 2012/06/21
1517m 2012/06/21 04:50–05:30 EDT Foxmead E window 8 10x50b ne
Spotted Venus for the first time since the transit: it was a tiny skinny crescent in my 10x50 binoculars. I could not find Jupiter, which was only 7 degrees away (though I didn't check its location ahead of time). There were no clouds, but yesterday was very hot and humid (32°C) and the transparency this morning was poor, a kind of brassy haze on the eastern horizon.
Spotted Venus for the first time since the transit: it was a tiny skinny crescent in my 10x50 binoculars. I could not find Jupiter, which was only 7 degrees away (though I didn't check its location ahead of time). There were no clouds, but yesterday was very hot and humid (32°C) and the transparency this morning was poor, a kind of brassy haze on the eastern horizon.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
1516m 2012/06/17
1516m 2012/06/17 04:50–05:30 EDT Foxmead E window 8–3 10x50b ne
Conjunction of Moon and Jupiter. Venus was too low at 04:50 to be visible. As objects rose, they became obscured by bands of cloud, so that I lost the Moon and Jupiter, and never saw Venus.
Conjunction of Moon and Jupiter. Venus was too low at 04:50 to be visible. As objects rose, they became obscured by bands of cloud, so that I lost the Moon and Jupiter, and never saw Venus.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
1515d 2012/06/07
1515d 2012/06/07 05:30–05:45 EDT Foxmead E window 8 10x50b ne
Scanning NE horizon for Venus without success. Gibbous Moon setting in W.
Scanning NE horizon for Venus without success. Gibbous Moon setting in W.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)