Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2015 1:47:19 GMT
Hi Folks,
What do you do when a travel case full of hi tech astro camera goodies arrives via FedEx from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, courtesy Prof. Jay Pasachoff-astrophysicist, Open it on the lounge coffee table, what else! I did find that the supplied 4-socket board by a well known manufacturer is not rated for 240 Volts as indicated, and it blew my circuit breaker three times. In the end I used one of my own along with their USA adapters two pin plugs to our three pin plugs. A moment of panic as each time I switched on there was a bang and the power went off.
This equipment named PICO, (Portable Instrument for Capturing Occultations). This is for me to use on the 12" f/5 telescope in my observatory at 42 South, hopefully to capture the Pluto occultation in the early hours of Tuesday morning-2 am 3 am. The event lasts 99 seconds for the full occultation, but it will be a long cold night by the time dawn sky flats are taken.www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/656445?origin=JSTOR-pdfThe FLI CCD camera is Peltier cooled down to -25 from ambient, and a sequence of exposures is triggered from the external GPS unit, which adds a very precise date time and location to each frame. This is a very hi tech professional system designed specifically to send to remote astronomers with suitable equipment to capture these scientific events. The past couple of weeks has been spent in maintenance work on the dome shutters and rotating track, telescopes and everything needed for a successful outcome, given clear skies of course. This means I have had little spare time for much else. The weather has been very cold with frosty nights.
Clear skies... Shevill
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Post by davy on Jun 26, 2015 7:27:05 GMT
Good luck...ps do they let you keep the kit afterwards lol
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Post by Dragon Man on Jun 26, 2015 8:28:37 GMT
Excellent Shevill.
Here's hoping for a fantastic result.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jun 29, 2015 16:51:57 GMT
Best wishes for clear skies and no frost!
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Post by davy on Jun 29, 2015 16:59:30 GMT
Good luck shevill from all the guys on the forum.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2015 0:10:32 GMT
Good luck Shevill from all the guys on the forum. Hi Folks,
Thank you all for best wishes, however read on....
Despite perfect sky conditions but a biting cold wind, my gastric flu reared its ugly head again last night and I had a raised temp and loss of balance due to bunged up ears. I also had a failed RA shaft encoder (rodent attack under the dome floor I suspect) a curse we suffer through the winter months, despite the tons of RatSak we put around the place. Comes with country living near a farm and keeping chooks etc. ourselves, always plenty of available food.
I even set up a Watec 120N with a GPS location/time/date/time signal inserter (PIC-OSD-UK)video recording system pic-osd.com/) on my pier mounted SN-10" f/4 -EQ6 outside the dome as an additional system, all to no avail. I am SO disappointed-spent the night in bed with a spiking temp.
Just emailed my USA event coordinators with a negative report.
This is the email I have sent to various people, plus a negative report to MIT Pluto Event coordinators.
Clear skies... Shevill
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Post by Dragon Man on Jun 30, 2015 12:36:36 GMT
Very unfortunate Shevill.
I hope you get well soon. Lots of Flu and viruses getting around.
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scopemobile
Member
Posts: 99
home town/country: Glasgow/Scotland
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Post by scopemobile on Jun 30, 2015 14:41:11 GMT
manooka honey and real lemon in a hot drink[for yourself, not the rodents] john
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Post by davy on Jun 30, 2015 17:51:06 GMT
Get well soon shevill. .Unfortunately it did not go well with the equipment malfunction and being ill..next time.
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