Well, we've been pretty much fogged out here the last few days, so much that Heathrow airport have cancelled half their flights. The last chance I had to use the scope was last Saturday evening, objective was to test out the recalibrated Polar scope.

Got the scope aligned fairly quickly and then started with some piggy backed shots, this time I wanted some shots of Cygnus....



Quite pleased with this 10 minute exposure (longest yet), this shows the rear section of Cygnus with Deneb showing nicely, this is a very rich section of the sky as the Milky Way runs through here. The image below has some lines drawn to show the outline of the constellation, Deneb is top right and is in fact the tail star of the swan.



Next I thought I'd have another go at Lyra as it was higher in the sky than last time and therefore out of the glow of light pollution....



Another 10 minute exposure at ISO:400, 35mm equiv 90mm focal length.

Then I tried some prime focus shots and also using the camera attached to the Barlow lens. The Barlow lens seems to have a blurring effect though.

Also I ran into some camera shake again, I've tried everything to eliminate shake. I purchased a 2 metre extension lead for the remote shutter release, this was then isolated by being clipped to a photo stand next to the scope with plenty of slack between the scope and the stand.

I tried shooting with the mirror lock up function also, all to no avail. I've come to the conclusion that there's either a fault with the drive or my patio (made of concrete slabs) has a bounce in it so that as I walk away the scope is picking up vibrations.

Next opportunity I get I will downsize the camera by removing the battery grip and using the camera in its standard configuration.

Just looked outside and...more fog.

cheers
Mitch