I spent a couple of hours today "fiddling." That's what I tell my wife when I'm going out to work with the telescope. "I'm going to fiddle." I say that becuase only a small portion of my time goes to actually looking through the telescope. Most of it is still set up. This is partially because I'm still getting everything set up. I've learned something though.
I'm realizing that astronomy is as much a tinkering hobby as anything else. I had to make a tool in the shop today to do what I needed. I wanted to take out a ring in the T-adapter (camera mount tube). I didn't have a screwdriver small enough. So I cranked up the grinder and flattened out the end of an Allen wrench to fit the slot. It was an easy fix, but it made me think of all the explorers and ancient astronomers who have gone before. I imagine what it must have been like to have to build every piece from scratch.
The telescope I have (Meade LX200 12") had a focal reducer on it (Celestron f6.3), which meant that the image was "zoomed" out. It made it where the images were farther away. I had tried a couple of times to remove it, but it wouldn't budge. I pulled out all the stops, and put the piece in the vice in the shop. I then used a screw driver to twist the nose piece off. Finally got it, with a shout of joy. Now the telescope has a much tighter view.
Here is an image that I compiled from 100 shots. Note: I didn't calculate any dark frames on this one so it has pretty heavy noise lines. I'm really eager to get some shots of Jupiter, Saturn and the moon. Maybe even Mars. I know the image isn't much to look at, but it represents about two days of preparations. The telescope is finally ready to get some decent shots of the our solar system.
