Pier Project

I just have paid a visit to the blacksmith where my pier is to be made.

It is almost ready to rock!
The picture below shows a similar pier project in which the big difference will be the bottom plate; mine will be really wide (oh, my...!) and square.

These are the specs I have came up with:

A- 250mm/10"
B- 750mm/29.53"
C- 100mm/3.94" (adjustable)
D- 20mm/0.78"
E- 110mm/4.33"
F- 700mm/23.56"
G- 152mm/5.98"
H- 980mm/35.58" (depending on C)

E/G is a DIY (actually a blacksmith's job) Losmandy MA adapter to connect to my G-11 mount.

I will have it delivered next year, by tuesday or wednesday and will have to set it up as soon as the weather allows it to be bolted on.
In the meantime, a Telegizmos 365 T3G2 cover is also expected soon next week to permanently set my rig up.
Looking forward to it very much.

Hope I can post a picture of the entire rig soon.

Moon (20101216)

The skies have cleared up a bit and the setup got dusted off :)
Seeing was not so great as can be figured out by the stack I got of some 30 frames, out of 1700 frame avi file.
Anyway, it was so nice to have a glimpse of the moon, M31, M42, NGC2392, NGC 884 & 869 (double cluster).
This evening I invited Mateus, my 6y-o (I guess) little neighbor to have his first view through a telescope. Though not a "wow!" guy, he enjoyed it pretty much watching those DSO's and Moon.
Here he is, next to the setup

Mateus all dressed up, ready to rock in his first astronomy experience.

He was able to detect those faint whitish "clouds" without a doubt. Cool; I did not have to tell him what to look for. He spotted them right away, though he doesn't know (yet) what a galaxy is or, for that matter, how HUGE the Universe is...

Before he joined me, I had some time to snap a couple of moon shots:
this one was shot at a 68%RH & 3.1ºC (37.58ºF)

full resolution

shot at 60%RH & 3.6ºC (38.48ºF)

full resolution