Hello and welcome back to everyone out there, I hope you have all been staying safe with your families and keeping well. How surreal is this situation we are all facing not just as a country but globally. A battle we need to fight together, stay strong and stay safe people. I could rant on about the governments here and around the world in dealing with this unprecedented pandemic but I will leave the politics out for today.
It has been 5 years to the day since my last post. I am not ashamed to say in that time I suffered a mental health breakdown from the job I was doing at that time. I was very ill and went to some very dark places. I required mediation to make me sleep, put on some serious weight, became type 2 diabetic and developed sleep apnoea. I stopped breathing 23 times an hour. I was wearing a Darth Vader mask each night and suffered panic attacks for the fear of stopping breathing again. I had hit rock bottom. Sad to say during that sad time my passion for astronomy withered, I was angry that I would never again enjoy the feeling and contentment from being under the stars. In that darkness I thought I would never use the observatory again so I sold everything, yes everything.
Fast forward 5 years.
Without the support of my amazing family I know I could not have done this, their love, support and guidance I am coming through the other side, I am not the same person I was I know that and makes me sad, I have plenty of faults and there is still plenty to fix around self confidence and self worth. But regular exercise and diet has now reversed the type 2, I have lost 3 stone , I can run 10K when the knee is ok and no longer do I need the dark lords mask to breathe at night. I found myself too stopping and reading Facebook posts from my friends at Breckland Astronomical society who are posting amazing images and felt that longing again to be part of what I have loved had since childhood I was soo happy it had not gone forever.
Life has changed a great deal for us all in that time. The last 5 years are a bit of a blur to me, probably a good thing and sad too I feel I have missed out on my girls growing and being a proper dad for them during that time. I am sure you know what I mean by that, just hard to put it into the right words. We lost too Katie's Dad Alwyn a wonderful kind man whom we all miss so much. I also learnt recently the sad loss and poor health of some of the clubs members, I also see some friends too who are fighting the same fight and battle with mental health. My thoughts, best wishes and love I send to you all. Please remember I am here for a chat anytime if you need it.
A new hope.
Got to love a Star Wars reference. More really a new start or beginning. Wow has astro kit changed over recent years. I have spent months looking, reading reviews, youtubing and putting together a modest set up again. The usual battle between wide field and super long focal length was the choice. I have always been a wide field imager and love that cinematic view of a faint fuzzy won the day.
The New Set up.
The mount is the Sky-Watcher Eq6r pro. I believe the heart of any good rig is the accuracy and precision of the mount. I was tempted by the Ioptron CEM60 but just a tad to far out of reach this time. Quiet stepper motors and a hefty 44lb payload will be more than enough for many years to come.
Main scope Sky-Watcher Esprit ED100 Triplet. An amazing scope with a proven reputation for quality of image reproduction. Incredible flat field with the specifically designed .85 focal reduced / field flattener reducing the focal length to a wide field 468mm @f4.7.
Imaging Camera ZWO ASI294MC Pro. I must admit I am a fan of Trevor Jones from the Astrobackyard a fantastic You Tuber who's adventures I follow regularly. He uses this camera with a similar set up and produces amazing results, so much more sensitive than my Starlight Express MC25 of just a few years ago. Zwo have an amazing line up of cameras and I have been using them for many years as a guider and planetary imager.
Image control ZWO ASIair Pro. A truly unique piece of hardware that has revolutionised image capture. ASIAIR PRO is a smart WiFi device that allows you to control all ASI USB 3.0 cameras, ASI Mini series cameras, DSLR cameras and an equatorial mount to do plate solving and imaging with your phone or tablet/iPad when connected to ASIAIR PRO via WiFi.
Dual bandwidth WiFi Control: 5G & 2.4G supported.
Independent Guiding & Imaging: Standalone guiding & Imaging without the need of PC. Everything is under control with your phone!
Preview in real time: Preview: with the help of WiFi network, ASIAIR PRO can preview images in nearly real-time. Auto & manually histogram stretching is always useful for dark deep sky imaging.
Plate Solving: Offline plate solving can be done in a few seconds.
Supported cameras: ASI USB3.0 camera, ASI cooled camera, ASI mini cameras, DSLR cameras
USB Hub: ASIAIR comes with 4 USB ports, you can connect up to 4 USB devices and don’t need USB Hub.
Power Supply and Power Hub: ASIAIR PRO needs 12V DC input. It also serves as power hub for up to four other devices - thanks to four 12V DC outputs!
 
Guide Scope & Camera. Altair Astro's 60mm guide scope and again a ZWO camera this time the 120 MM are the perfect lightweight partners for guiding.
 
Filters. ZWO have designed a magnetic drawer that accepts 2" filters that eliminates the necessity for the removal of camera to add or change a filter. At 22mm depth it forms part of the 55mm back focus. So simple..
Optolong L-eNhance dual bandpass filter enables narrowband photography with color cameras and significantly reduces light pollution too.
The spectral lines H-Alpha, H-Beta and O-III are let through almost unhindered.
Periferals. Lynx Astro EQ Mod cable. Provides connection to the EQ mod software and connects directly to the ASI air pro for mount control and guiding. No more ST4 cables ( I savoured every minute of cutting into little pieces).
The next project a new home for them all.
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