Janurary 2024 has proven to be especially bad regarding the weather. Here in Gjern we have had approximately 5 nights of clear skies, and then when I was changing the batteries in my GTi mount it stopped working. I have no clue as to why – so I only managed to play around with the mouth for a couple of nights.
Having only been able to collect a few hours of data, mainly getting familiar with the rig – has proven to be difficult in terms of producing any proper images of high quality. So I turned to the next best – working on archive data from work. Here I had previously recorded data of several galaxies and open clusters using the remote teaching telescope FUT located in Mt. Kent Australia. Below you can see an attempt to create an RGB-composition of the galaxy M83 also known as the southern pinwheel – this galaxy can be found at the edge of the constellation of Hydra. The galaxy is approximately 15 million light-years away.
A stroke of bad luck
As if the bad weather was not enough. My Star Adventurer GTi suddenly died on me while I was replacing the batteries, and could not get it working again. Luckily the vendor of the Star Adventurer GTi agreed to replace the mount so hopefully I will be able to get out under the night skies again soon.
While I have been unable to obtain data for my projects I have been thinking about what the next upgrade to my rig should be. I have come up with three possible investments that might improve my game.
First route – get guiding
The first upgrade might be to invest in an ASIair mini along with a guide scope and a guide camera – This might prove to be a very good investment since it would lead to longer exposure of the subs and the improved Polar Alignment done with the ASIair would be beneficial.
Furthermore, the all-in-one system of the ASIair mini that will both control my Star Adventurer GTi and my camera and provide plate solving and guiding will create a perfect and stable platform for observations. Unfortunately the
Second route – get a new scope
Another route of investment might be investing in a new scope. My main focus regarding a new scope has been the Sky Watcher Evolus 62ED 400 mm refractor which comes at a very short form factor. Ideal for bringing alongside for travel and hiking, while maintaining a reasonable focal length.
The main issue with this scope is that it will not produce a perfect flattened field of view across the entire Full frame sensor of the Z5.
Third route – a dedicated Astro-camera
This is by far the least likely investment for me to make – I would, however, like to get the ZWO ASI 533 Pro whether it should be in the colour version or the mono version I have not thought about but the square sensor talks to me and it reminds me of my time at UNI studying Astrophysics working with FITS files every day – back at uni we worked with square frames all the time.
Until next time
Clear Skies