Disaster - sorta!

Well, it had to happen. As anyone who knows about the "Mangieri Cloud", technology and the local Mangieri household don't get along. It seems that whatever I buy, build, assemble, or otherwise acquire will very soon develop a problem. This is how the cloud works. I even told a salesclerk in a local store that I wanted to exchange a product while I was still in the checkout line. When asked why I told her: "to save me the trouble of getting home, finding the item to be defective, and then having to drive back to the store to get a replacement!"

So, last weekend, out of the blue, after I had setup the complete telescope system with full imaging capability, the telescope mount motor control board failed. Had to cancel the session, pack everything back up and find a vendor to replace the unit. Why, isn't the board under warranty, after all it has only been 10 months since I got the mount? Well, it would have been if I hadn't jury-rigged a power coupler on it the very day I got the telescope (see post October 26, 2013). New part costs $350 (not in the budget!). Yikes. I guess high-end, expensive equipment comes with pricey replacement parts. Funny thing (OK, not so funny) is that its probably a $1.50 component on the board that went bad, but nobody fixes circuit boards anymore, and without a schematic I don't know what type of component to get. Maybe some day I'll experiment and see if I can fix it - then I would have a spare.

New board should arrive this weekend, just in time for the cloudy skies and rain :)

A day before the board failure I was able to get some good subs of the Ring Nebula. Haven't processed them yet, but should be posting them within the next few days.

Apollo 11 - 45 Years Ago Today

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Where were you 45 years ago when that message was beamed to earth from the Moon?  Hard to believe it was almost half a century ago.

Read the complete story at NasaSpaceflight.com

M27 - The Dumbbell Nebula

Last Friday evening was an unbelievable evening for July in Maryland. The temperature was in the low 60's, dew point way low, no wind, clear skies. Yeah, a bit of turbulence in the atmosphere which would have made planetary imaging a bit difficult, but the clarity of the sky was awesome. About the only problem was the waxing moon - but once it set, everything was a go.

So here is the result. The Dumbbell nebula in all its glory.

Dumbbell Nebula (M27) - July 5, 2014
Celestron EdgeHD-11 Prime Focus
20x180 sec ISO800