Thinking of maybe getting into astronomy.

[WaynejG]

Ah I see. I am probably off that chart. My house is right next to one of Canada's biggest steel plants. There is a huge flame south of me that lights up the whole west end of the city. So much so that one does not need flashlights to see around. One of the reasons why I wanted something portable down the road.

Here is a photo I took looking towards the steel plant in June. Note that the largish yellow flame is off to the right hidden by some trees even though you can see the light it pumps out. There is also a blue flame seen here depending on what they are doing, These stacks are a good distance away but do provide enough light to affect astronomy, at least at my home. I do have some off site places I can go to and probably wiill try that at a later date.

20240628_002042 by Chako, on Flickr

In case you are wondering, I was trying out a super powerful flashlight that I bought off of Temu as a lark. The flashligh is no joke. I was able to spot the light on that distant stack in spot mode.

What model torch where you testing?

[Chako]

This one...

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php?topic=92500.0

[WaynejG]

This one...

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php?topic=92500.0

[Chako]

Ok. Today was a good day for things to come in. I just received my laser collimator device, the 2x barlow, and the zoom eyepiece. I also got in the table, Super compact and I found that if I extend the legs to their maximum height using all the leg pieces, it isn't super stable. At this height, it is exactly the same as my TV dinner table. However, if I remove the smaller leg piece, the table stiffens up considerably. I think I found my height for the telescope. The weather hasn't been very cooperative and I haven't had the chance to take the scope outside yet. I still have another week left of my vacation. I hope to do this soon before having to go back to work.

On Tuesday, I should be getting everything else I ordered minus the power bank. That will arrive on the 30th to early September. I ordered a set of filters, a red only flashlight, a Svbony SV205 planitary eyepiece camera, and a 12v car lighter male plut to 5.5 x 2.1mm plug that will hopefully mate the power pack to the scope.

[Chako]

Ok. My first venture was a bit emberassing. I went out at 5:20 am to at least calibrate the red dot sight with the scope. Things did not go as expected! 

I wanted to see if I could hook up my phone to the Viruoso GTi mount. Hmmm..I kept trying to hook up via Bluetooth but it never did show up on my cell phone screen. I was getting the correct lights on the mount. I had to go back in to fetch the instructions. Couldn't make heads or tails of it. While outside, I did a Google search and someone said they couldn't get their Wifi working. Ohhhhh...not Bluetooth but Wifi. Opened the right spot and there it was on my cell phone. It was uber cool to see the scope move on its mount. Unfortunately, I didn't know where the starts were, and there was a bit of overcast so I couldn't calibrate, but I had fun nontheless.

Then I tried to calibrate my red dot sight, and couldn't see anything using the zoom eyepiece. I went in side to fetch the Super 25 eyepiece and nothing. I thought to myself that the eye relife really sucks, even took my glasses off a few times. After fidding with things for a good 10 minutes or so, I ran through everyhthing. I couldn't figure it out. Then I looked at the opening, and I had the dust cap on the end. 

Once I removed that, I was able to point the scope to a distant smoke stack, focus on it, lock the mount down, and properly zero in the red dot scope. At least I got that done lol.

Then it was time to pack it all in. It was a learning experience to say the least. I won't be doing those same mistakes on my second outing lol.

Here is what my setup currently looks like.

20240826_062529A by Chako, on Flickr

[Farmer X]

Nice setup! I'd consider getting into astronomy...after I settle down in a more permanent spot.

[Chako]

Thanks.

I just received the All Powers R600 power bank. It can even act as a UPS.

20240827_144721A by Chako, on Flickr

The instructions are not very indepth.

20240827_144756A by Chako, on Flickr

The unit came with an accessory bag with only the power cord for recharging the battery bank. At least I can keep all my stuff together, so this was much appreciated.

20240827_144843A by Chako, on Flickr

First look at the unit. It is a nice size and weight. Very portable.

20240827_145203A by Chako, on Flickr

The top of the unit has a 15W surface charger for cell phones.

20240827_145218A by Chako, on Flickr

I have plans for that 12V 10A DC car plug. I hope to power the scope from that and even bought a cable to do that.

20240827_150206A by Chako, on Flickr

Enough USB ports for me.

20240827_150320A by Chako, on Flickr

Includes 2 regular plugins that will handle up to 600W.

20240827_150326A by Chako, on Flickr

I also bought a 5V DC USB universal plug kit to go with this unit.

20240827_151314A by Chako, on Flickr

20240827_151333A by Chako, on Flickr

Currently charging the battery as it came with 0 charge. It tells me that this will take an hour to do. That is fast.

20240827_151433A by Chako, on Flickr

Guess I should remove that LCD protective film.

Now I was a bit surprised that the unit arrived with zero charge. Also surprised that no solarcell cables came with the unit. If this works in powering the scope, I will be a happy camper. I love how much detail is given from the LCD panel. It tells you the power in and out of the unit, predicts the time you can run the device, etc. I am curious to see how long this unit will run the Sky-Watcher Virtuoso GTi mount. I also read that the built in fan gets very loud. So far it has been fairly silent when it runs. Lets see how loud it might get towards the end of the hour. I did hear that the newer units have a much quieter fan than the older units.

[WhichDawg]

Super cool!    With everything hooked up on our set-up(s) mount, camera, dew heater, Asiair computer and sometimes a second camera for the guide scope. we use maybe 10% of it’s capacity on our power station over several hours use. More than enough so I’m sure you’ll get similar results 

[Chako]

I should have known. I am certain I have brought the bad weather with my scope purchase lol.

Happy to say that my unit did not have the super loud internal fan that many reviewers posted online a few years ago. It ran the whole time but was very quiet throughout the charging, and it only did take around an hour to top it all up. I wish the instructions were better. If I hadn't read up heavily on the R600, I would not have known that to fully turn off the unit, you need to depress the power button for 3 seconds. A quick tap turns everything off but the power button kept on glowing. I tried holding the power button down and it woked in fully turning off the unit in order to stop the battery drain while not in use.

[friendliestdoggo]

Our pictures:

The wife likes Nebula so:

IC1396 - The Elephant Trunk
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NGC 2174 - Monkey Head
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And I like galaxies:

M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy (with supernova)
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M63 - Sunflower Galaxy
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M81 & M82 - Bode's Galaxy and Cigar Galaxy
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Woah those are really cool pictures

[WhichDawg]

Woah those are really cool pictures

Thank you it was fun and cool taking them

Now it’s Chakos turn!