Unfortunately I have had to make the decision to sell my kit due to our change of circumstance. The observatory was the first piece to go a week ago and now most of my items have been sold. I still have a few bits on sale on Astro Buy & Sell and Ebay so soon it'll pretty much all be gone.

However, I'm keeping my eyepieces as I will get a cheaper manual scope at a later date that I can just plonk in the garden and use on a clear night. I will also get back into imaging again at a much later date as I enjoy it but for now I just don't have the time to warrant having all that kit sat around hardly being used.

As for the site, I've put a lot of effort into it so may keep it going although I'm not sure what I'll be able to add. It would be nice to keep so when I eventually get back into imaging I have something to build on.

Took a few avi video files of Mars in the early hours of this morning with a Philips SPC900NC webcam through an 8" LX200R, processed them into images and have added two to the site. There was a lot of moisture in the air, creating an orange glow around the street lights but at least I managed to get a result of some kind. I'll try again when I'm not working nights and the weather's better.

I've finally lost all patience with 64 bit operating systems so I've installed Windows 7 32 bit. So far so good and everything's working well apart from the Starlight Xpress filter wheel. For some reason it wouldn't work with the the 32 bit Vista driver but worked intermittently with the 64 bit one Michael from Starlight Xpress had e-mailed me. The problem apparently stems from a computer circuit board within the early filter wheels which has now been rectified. I've sent the wheel back to them to fit the new board which sorts out any compatibility issues. Spoke to Michael today who hopes to return it by the end of the week.

Anyway, 64 bit operating systems and many astro related software programs just don't seem a good partnership so I finally made the decision to start over again. As mentioned on a previous blog I had tried using a virtual PC program that allowed me to run XP along side Windows 7 64. This turned out to be too problematic and I eventually gave up. I've now got the 32 bit version of Windows 7 and I wish I'd have just got that in the first place as it would have saved a lot of grief. Luckily Windows 7 comes with both 32 and 64 bit versions in the box, so I installed the 32 bit version and it accepted the licence key.

All I need now is for the clouds to take a hike.

I've had a few firms offers for some items but by no means all the items so it looks as though I'll be keeping everything after all. I'll keep the ad going for now to see what happens although I'm quietly pleased that nobody's bought it so far.

Put my equipment up for sale on Astro Buy Sell to see if there'd be any interest. Got a baby on the way so we're extending our bungalow which at least means relocating the observatory. I hardly get any time as it is to image anything due to working shifts and the lovely English weather so I'm wondering will I do any at all once mini-me arrives (although it might be a good excuse to escape the house).

The dome's currently situated in the best position in our small garden and any move will be a compromise. As the money would come in handy I thought I'd test the water and see what happens with the ad. I've had loads of interest on various items although only one solid offer on one item. The observatory itself has received the most attention although I wouldn't sell anything unless I could get rid of almost everything otherwise it would be pointless.

Anyway, deep down I don't really want to sell so if nobody makes a good offer then I can keep it all with a clear conscience. Even if a good offer is made I'm still not sure I could actually part with it and besides I've put quite a lot of effort into this site which would then become pointless keeping. If I don't sell I've decided where to relocate the dome in the garden which will show me even less of the Southern sky but it'll be ok. Unfortunately we live in a dip and there's a two storey building due South that ruins my view of that part of the sky. Maybe I'll be able to raise it off the ground a little to help. Anyway, I'll give it a couple of weeks before removing the ad either way.

Added two images of Jupiter today. I took them both on November 4th although this time I imaged with the ZenithStar 66 and a 5xPowermate. One of the images shows two of Jupiter's moons and the other image shows three.

Up until today I have not been able to run most of my old astro imaging programs and drivers with Windows 7 64 bit. I have downloaded a free piece of software called VMware that acts as a virtual PC allowing me to install Windows XP on my laptop as I would any other program.

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/desktop_downloads/vmware_player/3_0

So for me, I can run XP in a window from Windows 7 just like any other program. I have an icon to launch it from my desktop. I can minimise XP at any time to do something on Windows 7, and then go back into XP - it is so easy. All my programs have installed perfectly, including my guiding camera (Meade DSI II) which is great as it's far better than messing around with a dual boot system.

Taken an added an image of Jupiter together with one of its moons Io. The clouds broke for around 20 minutes, I set everything up and took four two minute webcam avi videos before the clouds returned. I processed them all in Registax and added the best of the lot. It's not quite as clear as a couple of my earlier efforts although it's good to be imaging again having not done so for a few months.

I've added two images of Uranus to the site which admittedly are poor but I was just pleased to even have found it. Meade's GOTO system is good with stars as they're fixed in relation to all other stars in the sky whereas planets are constantly moving and far harder for the GOTO system to find. It takes you close but then you have to do a little moving around to find your chosen object, easy with something bright and large like Jupiter, but not so easy with something small and dim like Uranus. With better atmospheric conditions I think I could get clearer results but considering Uranus is about 1,600,000,000 miles away, over four times further away than Jupiter, and much smaller, then they're not that bad really.

Got hold of a copy of Windows 7 64 bit and installed it yesterday. It was no improvement over Vista 64 but after a little help and a bit of luck I manged to get my webcam working. If you're wondering why I didn't just install the 32 bit version (as both come in the box) as I already knew Vista 64 had issues... my laptop's got 4GB of RAM and 32 bit operating systems can only use up to around 3.25G... and besides, I'm stubborn. I've had Vista 64 since its launch happily working away on my main PC without any compatibility issues, it's only ancient astro imaging drivers (Meade DSI especially) that are problematic. If I manufactured a product that required a driver I'd want it to work on as many operating systems as possible to increase the chance of a sale, so therefore supply new drivers as and when new operating systems arise. Is it really that hard?

 I can't get my laptop to work with my usual webcam imaging program QCFocus although I did get some success with Craterlet. The computer completely froze five times using it but I did get  a few video clips of Jupiter followed by Uranus. Craterlet is nice and easy to use, just like everything else from Stark Labs. I also tried K3CCD Tools but I found it to be way too complicated although I'm sure it's very good if you've got the patience, which I haven't.

So, I still can't get my guiding camera (Meade DSI) to work with my current operating system, so no guided imaging of deep sky objects for now. I need to get hold of a copy of Windows XP service pack 3 (apparently has to be SP3 to detect the laptop's SATA drive) to install on a partition on the hard drive and then install all my astro imaging software on it before being able to use everything again. I will get there...

My computer arrived the other day and for now has Windows Vista 64 installed. Today I've found out through trial and error that most astro imaging programs aren't Vista 64 bit friendly.

The Meade DSI will not work and there are no 64 bit drivers available, so as that's my guiding camera I won't be able to do any guided imaging.

I normally use QCFocus for webcam imaging but I can't get that to work either. I've now installed K3CCD Tools for webcam imaging as it appears to have 64 bit drivers but I don't like the user interface. I'm not one for reading instruction manuals as they're normally badly written and painful to read (I did try but gave up), and in my opinion K3CCD isn't anywhere near as user friendly as QCFocus which was simply to work out. I'm sure once I have a play with it it'll be ok as at least I managed to get an image from it earlier today.

I couldn't get the software for my Starlight Xpress filter wheel to install earlier so I called Michael from Starlight Xpress who is really helpful and he e-mailed me an updated version which works perfectly.

There is light at the end of this long drawn out tunnel though. I can get a free Windows 7 upgrade through Dell, but as usual it's not that easy. Window 7 was released yesterday so I tried to register for my free upgrade on Dell's website. Every time I enter my computer's service tag on their upgrade page all I get is some message telling me my service tag has yet to be registered on their database and that it might take anything up to 10 days. They can send it from China to England but they can't get a seven digit service tag on their database??? So for now I'm stuck with Vista 64. The good part with Windows 7 is that even though I'll be getting a 64 bit version you can opt to run various programs with 32 bit compatibility (my wife has just burst into laughter asking, "Are you still writing that? Nobody's going to read it!") so hopefully everything'll work.

I had considered earlier partitioning my hard drive, installing my old copy of Windows XP and the various imaging programs, until I found out I'd need a copy of XP with service pack 3 (I have SP1), so I'm just going to have to sit it out until Dell's website decides it's happy to accept my service tag and then send me Windows 7......

Computer arrived today along with even more clouds.

There's been some kind of delay with the computer so I'm still waiting. Looks like it's going to be cloudy all week anyway so taking this week off has been a bit of a waste of time.

Hopefully taking delivery of a laptop on 16th October. I've got a week off after that so I might at long last get a new image or two to post. :)

I've ordered a new laptop after my last one died having given me a couple of months of nothing but grief. Hopefully I'll finally be able to take another image having done my last decent attempt back in July. I've not really paid any attention to this site in that time and have numerous pages to finish, so as I have some time off later this month I'll try to complete some of the pages I started.

No, I haven't forgotten this site, just been busy etc and have had no luck for the past couple of months with my laptop. Well the laptop has finally met the grim reaper and is no more, so I'm now on the hunt for a new one. Hopefully I'll get one over the next couple of weeks and get back to imaging once again.

My laptop's been being a pain recently. I tried imaging Jupiter the other night as the sky was clear and the Moon was up, washing out the rest of the sky. Everything looked good until my computer kept freezing. Each time I tried to load QCFocus (a free piece of software I use for planetary imaging) my computer froze, I'd get wierd screen artefacts and I would have to re-start. After an hour or so of trying  I gave up.

Anyway, I thought my only option would be to re-install Windows XP, which I've now done, along with all the relevant software. Just as I finished installing XP service pack 3 the same screen artefacts appeared and the computer froze. Aaaaarrrgh!!!! Looks like my computer's had better days but I'm still hopeful. I'm working later today until midnight so in the unlikely event that the sky is clear then I'll give it another go and see what happens.

I've not done much recently in the way of astro imaging. I work a lot of lates and nights (guaranteed clear skies) that don't help, plus I've not taken a couple of opportunities due to being tired/bone idle. I have had one night in the past couple of months where I tried imaging Jupiter but the seeing was poor and I've had a couple of nights of visual use only.

Anyway, I've got three nights off next week so here's hoping.

I've started a new page called "Our solar system" that can be found in the "Did You know?" section. It's not finished as yet so I'll add some more another time.

I've also amended the the other pages in the "Did you know?" section where I'd originally mentioned light takes eight seconds to reach Earth from the Sun, when in fact it takes eight minutes. I've now corrected it - my bad.

Finished work at midnight and stayed up until 0200 hours due to the Met Office's forecast. Needless to say it was a waste of time.

Haven't had a lot of luck recently with the weather. When I'm on days or lates it's cloudy but if I'm working nights or going out then it's clear. I'm working a late shift tonight and the Met Office is forecasting clear skies, not that they're to be believed as I'd do just as well to flip a coin. Anyway, fingers crossed.

...only I was working nights.

Tried processing an LRGB image of the Ring Nebula the other day but it didn't quite work. I've had another go today and it doesn't look too bad so I've uploaded it onto the site.

Received an e-mail from Clustrmaps (the world map visitor widget on my home page) saying I was a winner of their user of the month award. There are five winners in total and I've pasted in the details below including how they choose winners. As a bonus I get a two year free upgrade to Clustrmaps+ which doesn't have advertising and you can zoom in on the continents for a closer look at where visitors have come from. Anyway, I only installed Clustrmaps two weeks ago so I'm pretty pleased, it's probably the only thing I've ever won!;-

http://clustrmaps.wordpress.com/user-of-the-month/

User of the month

Every month we will feature a new ClustrMaps User Of The Month, and reward that user with a free ClustrMaps+ upgrade for 2 years. We take no responsibility for the content of any sites listed below, and emphasise that their opinions are theirs, not ours. We choose sites for many reasons, as described at the bottom of this page.

Winners – current and past

July 2009

• Webb-ed feet: Walking the path of digital literacy in the 21st Century
• the UC Guys: Real-world information about Unified Communications
  
• Sussex Astro Imaging
• Java Graphics: Code Snippets, Musings, and Discoveries
• Making a Mark: creating drawings with pastels, pencils and pen and ink – Art blogs and blogging about art

Went out in the early hours and took a series of one minute LRGB images of M57 the Ring Nebula. Unfortunately the clouds came over and stopped me short but I'd taken enough images by that time to at least process. I waited an hour for the clouds to clear, got fed up, packed up, went in and then the clouds cleared. I'd had enough by then and called it a night.

You can now access this site by either;-

www.astro-mo-fo.com

www.sussexastroimaging.co.uk

I've been on a couple of forums over the past few days, the Meade one that I've been a member of for a couple of years and I've just joined Stargazers Lounge which appears to be a very friendly site with loads of posts on all types of astronomy related topics.

Anyway, my website address has been displayed as www.astro-*****.com on Stargazers Lounge as it automatically removes text that might be offensive. So, I've also now got sussexastroimaging.co.uk as a website domain name only which I will be able to use on forums etc without offending anyone. All I have to do now is work out how to create a link so that if someone tries to access my site via www.sussexastroimaging.co.uk they will be redirected to www.astro-mo-fo.com.

Finally got to grips with producing a colour image with Nebulosity2 today after receiving advice from Ian King. I'd never have worked it out on my own. I tried using the data I took the other night of the Ring Nebula but I reaaly hadn't taken enough frames and the quality was very poor.

However, I took a few exposures of the Dumbell Nebula in the early hours of this morning before the clouds came along. I found the Starlight Xpress filter wheel very simple to operate, it's a well made piece of equipment. The finished image only comprises of 42 one minute images, 18 of luminance and eight a piece for red, green and blue. Considering the amount of time taken to image followed by a bit of hit and hope with processing, I'm really pleased.

Finished work just after midnight (4th July am) and set everything up as soon as I got home. Unfortunately I've been having an issue with my DSI camera when setting up, and it took me over two hours to figure it out. Turns out it was the active USB 5m extension lead that I use to allow me to use a laptop indoors. This meant having to take the laptop into the observatory which is no big deal.

Anyway, time was against me as the sky was just starting to get lighter and I still wanted to try out the filter wheel on the Ring Nebula, and I wanted to have a go at imaging Jupiter using a 2.5x Powermate. I did a rush job and took a series of one minute images, 10 for luminance and four each for red, green and blue. However, I've not yet managed to assign colours to the RGB channels in Nebulosity2 and I'm totally stumped. I need to ask how on a forum and have just joined Stargazers Lounge.

I did manage to take a few webcam videos of Jupiter though and have posted just two. Both of these were taken using a 2.5x Powermate. I also took some using a 5x Powermate but they're too fuzzy to put on the site.

Just added a new page to Guided imaging called Guiding with the LX200R. In the unlikely event that anyone actually finds this site and is wanting to guide with a Meade DSI and an LX200R then it's a step-by-step guide that will make life simple as I had numerous headaches trying to work it out for myself. I'll improve it at a later date.

Just when I'd given up all hope of imaging last night (the Met Office changed their minds and said it was going to be cloudy) the sky was clear, so as I'd just received the filter wheel back and I had a night off I thought I'd go outside and image. For some reason the my guide camera, the Meade DSI II decided to play up and all I could get was a grey screen. After numerous failed attempts changing leads and uninstalling/installing drivers etc I came to the conclusion there was nothing I could do, and gave up.

Not the end of the world I thought as at least I could image Jupiter (and possibly Neptune) later on in the morning (as there's no need to guide for short webcam video clips) once it's high enough to clear a building near to me. Just before three o'clock the clouds rolled in, and I've turned the DSI on this morning and needless to say it works perfectly.

I've added a new widget to the site called Clustrmaps which you'll see on my homepage. This will show where any visitors to the site come from. Unfortunately it only starts from today so won't show any previous visitors. At the moment there's one lonely red dot but hopefully they'll soon spread like swine flu. It gets updated once every 24 hours so in the mean time I'll beg a few friends to visit to give the false impression I've got a popular site.

Got the filter wheel back from repair today after I'd managed to mess it up. I was really hoping to have a go tonight as I've got the night off, but the Met Office (who've been predicting clear skies for tonight over the past few days) have now said it's going to be cloudy tonight.

I've started another new section called Guided Imaging. I've begun a page within it about the required equipment to guide (that needs finishing) and will add more pages on how to etc soon.

I went outside last night with the hope of imaging but after a computer issue that took a while to resolve the clouds appeared, so that was the end of that.

It's 2340 hours, I've got tomorrow off, I'm setting everything up and hope to image the Ring and Dumbell nebulae. Shame it'll still be in black and white though. I might try and get a better shot of Jupiter later in the morning.

Just received a call from Michael at Starlight Express. There are very small magnets on the wheel that have to be in the correct orientation. I must have moved some and therefore caused the problem. They've used a new epoxy resin that will hopefully hold the magnets in place for good.

He's letting the resin set for 24 hours and will return it to me tomorrow so I'll hopefully have it for Wednesday as it's meant to be clear and I've got the night off. Unfortunately the moon will be up high so conditions won't be perfect.

Started a new section on the site today called, Did you know, that I'll update and improve when I've got some more time. This is in addition to the Using the LX200R section I added yesterday.

Unfortunately the Starlight Xpress filter wheel has had to go back directly to them. It's already in the post so hopefully I'll get it back next week once they've found the fault. I've been told they'll sort it out as soon as they've received it, which should be Monday as I've sent it special delivery.

Today I thought I'd connect the filter wheel to my laptop just to ensure it functions correctly. The wheel has seven 1.25" holes for filters, all of which are numbered one to seven. I'm only using four filters and they are in positions;-

1 Luminance

2 Red

3 Green

4 Blue

However, using the supplied software, selecting number 2 gives me the blue filter, 3 is Green and 4 is red. When I select 1 for Luminance, it either gives me the correct filter in position 1 or gives me a blank hole in position 5.

I've called Starlight Xpress and am waiting a return call, and hopefully an answer.

No rush anyway as the MetOffice predicts clouds for the next few evenings.

Fortunately the filter elements themselves can be removed from the filter metal housing. So, I've removed the two elements from the bad housings. I've got some old Revelation visual filters, so I've removed the elements from two of those and replaced them with the two Meade elements I needed to house. The Revelations thread perfectly into the filter wheel so I now have all the filters in place.

Finished work at midnight but it was too cloudy to image :(

Took delivery today of the new Starlight Xpress filter wheel. I'd planned to use my old RGB filters that came with the DSI II that I use as a guide camera but as usual I've struck a problem. There are four filters I want to fit in the wheel, red, green, blue and luminance but unfortunately the threads on two of the filters aren't quite compatible with the filter wheel. As two are fine I can only assume the problem lies with the Meade filters, not the wheel itself.

The long awaited Starlight Xpress filter wheel has finally been made available so I've ordered one from Ian King Imaging. Should be here tomorrow so fingers crossed for some clear skies. The wheel houses filters that are spun round in front of the camera. I'll be using the luminance, red, green and blue filters that came with my Meade DSI II. Using software you combine luminance, red, green and blue images to produce colour images, or at least that's the idea.

I've just completed a basic guide to processing black and white images using Nebulosity2. I began it yesterday and finished it off today. Nebulosity2 is a cheap and simple solution to processing as opposed to MaximDL and you can still get great results with minimal fuss. Yes, MaximDL is apparently the best (I've not used it) but then it costs many times more. In fact the top version of MaximDL costs over 10 times as much as Nebulosity2.

This Nebulosity2 guide is in addition to the Registax v4.0 guide I've already added. Registax v5.0 is now out, I downloaded it but it's different and looks a little more complicated so I've decided to stick with Registax v4.0 which is effective and simple to use.

I worked a late shift last night and was due to finish at midnight. However, I ended up having to do a few hours overtime and got off just after three. I got back around half past after a quick cycle home. My wife was due to get up at a quarter past four as she's going away for the weekend and I'd already offered to give her a lift to the train station at five so there wasn't any point in going to bed.

Jupiter was high enough at that time of the morning to be clear of a building to my South so I thought I'd have a quick imaging session. I took five short video clips of Jupiter that I've aligned, stacked and processed in Registax, and uploaded on to this site. The sun was coming up and the sky was already quite blue although you can't really see that from the images I've uploaded apart from the last one that has a hint of colour. The next time I get a chance I'll try to image with a 2.5x Powermate.

I also took a few images of a crescent moon and I've uploaded one of those. 

I've had this site running now since 11th May 2009 and have added a few bits along the way. Unfortunately for me I work shifts with lots of lates or nights which doesn't really lend itself well to astronomy. On top of that the skies are normally only clear when I'm at work, or when I'm up early the following day.

I've been waiting for ages for Jupiter to reach an altitude where I can see it as I live in a bit of a dip and the building South of me is right in the way. I'm hoping to get lucky in the next few months once it clears the building as Jupiter moves towards the West.

This is my last of 11 days off and I've had clear skies every night. I've made as much use of the weather as possible while keeping my better half happy. I often pop outside saying I'll be back in five only to return half an hour later or so, but luckily I don't get moaned at so I just deal with the guilt and pop back outside.

I've managed to take a few images on the odd night over the past 11 days, mainly of galaxies but also the Moon and M13 that I've added to the galleries.

I've got 11 days off so fingers crossed for clear skies.

If you've never built your own website as you thought it would be too difficult then think again. This site has been built with MrSite (www.mrsite.com) and I received it as a birthday present. It really makes site building easy as my computer knowledge is very limited.You choose your domain name and off you go. MrSite offers loads of templates for how you'd like your website to look, and you can change it at later date if you want. All the hard work is done for you, click on the relevant icon on MrSite, add page, add gallery, add blog etc etc and just fill in the blanks - easy.

I began this site on 11th May 2009 and luckily you can choose when to publish it. This allows you to work on the site but only you can view it. I built a few pages and added galleries before I first published the site.