Category Archives: Projects

Projects undertaken at New Forest Observatory

Mini-WASP statrep 23/05/2012

Managed to polar align the mini-WASP array last night, while in parallel I was taking some LONG subs with the HSIII on M13 going for the faint stuff.  Now it really is just a few odds and ends to fine … Continue reading

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Vega from the mini-WASP array

Testing out the re-collimated Sky 90s I took an image of the Vega region using both scopes and cameras.  This is a Registar combine of both sets of data.  There is some field rotation in all 4 corners of the … Continue reading

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mini-WASP pier extender fitted

Eric Kennedy of NTE Poole Ltd. brought over the all-Aluminium pier extender for the mini-WASP on Sunday. Today (Tuesday) I have just spent all day completely disassembling the mini-WASP to fit the pier extender and then rebuilding the whole thing … Continue reading

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No imaging tonight

And to finish off today’s photo marathon here’s a double rainbow over the New Forest Observatory. It’s tipping it down so hard right now I’m seriously considering using the decking for an ark.

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“Little Planet” 2

A second go at a New Forest Observatories “Little Planet” scene – taken today.

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A “Little Planet” image of the New Forest Observatories

I was sitting at the computer yesterday (Saturday) typing out some rubbish or the other when for some unknown reason I suddenly twigged how those “Little Planet” images are taken.  So I grabbed the Canon 5D MkII and a fish … Continue reading

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The never ending collimation problem

Clear night last night so could see if my collimation efforts had any effect. The scope that always had reasonable collimation was still o.k. the scope that had poor collimation was still poor.  Now seeing how they looked pretty much … Continue reading

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Sky 90 collimation statrep

I spent a couple of hours yesterday taking the imaging Sky 90s off the mini-WASP frame, collimating them with the Takahashi collimator, and then putting the whole thing back together again.  Well – as far as the collimator goes, both … Continue reading

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Takahashi collimator delivered – mini-WASP fine-tuning good to go

Nick Hudson (True Technology) visited the New Forest Observatory yesterday and brought with him an essential piece of kit for tuning up the mini-WASP array.  Yes – the thing that has been halting any further progress on mini-WASP commissioning has … Continue reading

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Scary skies 6:00 p.m. on Thursday 12th April 2012

This was the “Close Encounters” scene over the New Forest Observatories at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday 12th April 2012.  By 10:00 p.m. it had cleared to a perfect dark sky with no interfering Moon!

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