Setting up...

Well, attempted shooting Messier 3 last night with limited success. Dark night, mostly clear. It's been six months since my last outing...a little out of practice, I guess. Focusing took quite some time, as I soon learned to take shorter bright star exposures to focus on the diffraction lines. The visual acuity of this RC scope is impressive. It turns out that only a few 3-second 1600 ASA exposures is all that is needed to perform LCD-review focusing. Now I know.

Tried to get 250 frames, but could only use 147. Something else I learned is to make sure the heavy duty Crayford focuser is securely tightened. The focuser unit on this RC scope can be rotated 360 degrees at your pleasure, unless its not fully tightened then it rotates on its own. I also found that I had not made sure the camera 2" extension was tightened. It was loose, too. Sooooo, the meandering image began with exposure number 148, and continued to do with the rest of the exposures - watch the bouncing ball.

Below is the not so impressive image of M3 taken with only 147 exposures.