Hello from Limburg - Forums

Topic starter

Aug 1, 2020

I'm Alistair, a Scot exiled in Limburg Belgium

and just getting back into a bit of astronomy getting spurred on by a friend that is also a foreigner in Limburg.

I've dusted off my telescope and wheeled it out into the light again and with a newish DSLR camera been surprised how well it works with planetary imaging.

Got a long way to go but early efforts look promising.

I've not used my telescope since 2009 after an arm injury left my left arm and hand very weak, I'm getting some strength back in it but it is still a struggle, last night I managed to get my10" LX200R up on it's wedge, man I was terrified that it was going to tip over and it almost did, the far leg was about 15cm off the ground at one point!

Equipment being used:
Meade LX200R 10" on a field tripod with Superwedge, tripod is in a trolly that my son welded up for me so I can roll it in and out of the garage.
Petersen 2" Eyeopener
Meade flip mirror system 2"
Nikon D5600 DSLR or D200 - one downside of the Nikon image path is that it is longer than Cannons and the eyepiece in the flip mirror needs an extension to focus.
Starlight Express SVXF-H9 + Autoguider

Helpful Respectful Engaging

Alicatt

Topic starter

Aug 1, 2020

Thanks, I'm in Hechtel-Eksel, its fun, with my friend in Mol that is helping with encouragement and being a good bit better at the image processing than I am

The one thing I do miss is the dark skies from the far north of Scotland, and the rich field of stars you could see with the naked eye.

Douwe79

Aug 2, 2020

Welcome Alistair,

Good luck with starting out again! At least you are in a country with very good bears 😉

Gr from Holland

Douwe79

Aug 2, 2020

Whoops haha

Alicatt

Topic starter

Aug 2, 2020

Yes the beer goggles are to the detriment of seeing

But they do help lubricate the gears

A man's home is his Kasteel (Donker)

Having fun trying to install software to run my Starlight Express camera without having to regress back to Win XP …
And the telescope is not responding to the Autostar programs either, not sure if it is hardware at PC end or Telescope end or if it is software

Wouter

Aug 2, 2020

Greetings from Hasselt

Rich Sky

Aug 9, 2020

Welcome to astrobin

Alicatt

Topic starter

Aug 9, 2020

Thanks all.
Been a few days getting the software running properly on my laptop so no viewing or pics and looking for someone that can make up an adapter to mount a c-mount lens to my starlight express camera, I did get one made up in Hasselt a good few years ago but it doesn't back focus properly, spacing is still out by a few mm, was wanting to use a 20mm - 200mm f:1.2 1/2" format CCTV lens that I have for wide angle, the lens when it was new cost more than my LX200R, it's optics are very good and I used it in a lot of situations where we needed low light observation.

AC1000

Aug 9, 2020

Welcome Alicatt! The Rochefort No.10 is also a nice beer, good for cold winter nights!
Greetings from Germany near the Dutch border.
Cs Harald

Well Written Respectful

Wim van Berlo

Aug 9, 2020 · Edited: Aug 9, 2020

Greetings from another Limburger, albeit from the other side of the border (Netherlands) and now living in Sweden. (During half the year, it's darker up here.)
And as far as beverages are concerned, I import my favourite from the village Arcen, back home.

CS,

Wim

Well Written Respectful Engaging