Astro gear - December 25, 2017

December 25, 2017

My Winter Astro Setup, essentially the same William Optics GT-81 - iOptron CEM25 combo, with the addition of the iOptron Tri-Pier Adapter, some 6x8 aluminum plates off eBay, and one treated 4x4 post from Home Depot. 

The good side of winter and astrophotography is it’s usually dry on clear nights--and “clear” really means clear in terms of astronomical seeing, atmospheric turbulence and all that. Downside is that it’s freakin’ cold. Tonight it’s supposed to get down to about -8°C (about 20°F), pretty cold to be out for a long time, but not painfully cold. 

Here are a couple shots of my setup for tonight--and possibly the rest of the winter. (William Optics GT-81, CEM25P EQ mount, Atik414Ex mono CCD, WO 50mm guidescope with ZWO ASI120S-MM guide cam, INDI/KStars/Ekos observatory control). What’s cool is that I can unbolt the mount with the pier adapter and aluminum base plate (they’re all bolted together) from the 4x4 post and top plate, and carry in the entire setup--mount, scope, cameras, etc. What I especially like about this is the ease with which I can setup and tear down each night. The whole thing remains balanced and ready to go, with polar alignment reduced to very fine adjustment to zero in on the NCP. 

Note on my other mount: I probably won’t use my Orion Atlas EQ-G mount until spring when things start to warm up, and that’s based on the weight of the Atlas and the low temperatures--with ice adding some difficulty to the setup process. (Yeah, I don’t want to lug around this monster with any probability of slipping, landing on my back, and having to catch fifty or sixty pounds of metal out of the air before it kills someone). The average winter low in New Hampshire is around -12°C, and the average winter high temp is still below 0°C (around 30°F). It’s not unusual for things to get down to -20 to -30°C (-10 to -20°F). We’re still in December, so early in the season, but we’re already getting repeated snow storms interspersed with temps above 0°C (32°F). We typically get a few days of warmer weather here and there, snow and ice melting weather, but there haven’t been enough of them to make a dent in the accumulating snow and ice we have in the yard, driveway, or back deck. We just ended yesterday (the 25th) with another 6 inches or so. When there’s ice, lighter is better.