So, no observatory. Back to the good old days of slumming it, having to set the scope up each time you want to observe or image. Luckily the base is the ideal location for setting up the scope.
I had already missed two clear nights in a row, I wasn’t going to miss another. So on the 20th of April, I set the scope up. Once it got dark I was able to get polar alignment quite quickly. The image left shows the initial placement, but I could see that luckily there were still three marks left on the base where the tripod had stood before I got the pier. So as long as I put the scope on the marks each time now in the centre of the base, the mount will be just about be polar aligned once carried into place.
First problem, a slight breeze shakes the damned thing. I haven’t had that for quite a while…
Venus was visible over in the West, so captured that first. The almost first quarter Moon was out so I took a number of webcam images. I decided not to try doing any deep sky or comet images that night.
Amazingly, the 22nd of April was also clear with a first quarter Moon. The Lunar X and V clearly visible as the sky darkened. Shadows from Montes Caucasus looked extremely dramatic.
Pictures from that evening are at the bottom of the page.
In fact, despite the hassle of now having to set everything up each night, I really enjoyed standing out under a wide expanse of sky.
Onwards and Upwards! 🙂
More of my Lunar images can be viewed on my Flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eagleseyeonthesky
