Unfortunately I still didn't get a good alignment. I'm having trouble getting it into the polar home, and beyond. Any suggestions from you pros out there would be great. I have the general idea, but I have yet to get a good alignment. After about an hour of messing with that, I finally got it close enough.
I started setting up the imager. It went off without much trouble. Once I got the computer in place it clicked to life. I will say, this is no point and shoot situation. It's a constant balance between keeping the object in the field of view, pulling accurate focus, and setting camera functions. It's wild fun... if you like that kind of thing.So after cutting it close with my setup time, the shadows began to fall. I used a 26mm first to sight it in, then I transferred back to the imager. With a few tweaks it was ready to go. This type of shadow transit will not happen again for about 17 years. So it was nice to be able to catch it. It was one of the more gratifying experiences I've had with the scope so far. The images are my first to take with any telescope so I'm pleased with the outcome. I have a lot to learn, but it was a good night.
It's hard to do this kind of thing and not think about how uncanny life is. The universe is a an unlikely place for life to exist. Here I am having to look across millions of miles of space just to see another chunk of something semi-solid. There are so many variables involved in the sustaining of life. It's just beyond belief that we could have randomly appeared here. Looking at things like what I did tonight, leads me to that familiar notion that, there must be a creator. There just must be.
