OK, I have heard many times about BackyardEOS for controlling Canon EOS cameras used in Astrophotography.  Unfortunately my 1st generation Digital Rebel (300D) with its now ancient DIGIC-I processor is not a supported platform.  Even though it does have USB and you can trigger the shutter through that you can only use the predefined exposure lengths up to 30 seconds.  You cannot use Bulb mode through the USB port, only through the 2.5mm phono plug.  The 300D only has USB 1.1 so even if you could hold the shutter open indefinitely, downloading a full raw image would take an age.  Added functionality in the DIGIC-II and greater processors includes things like sub-frames and live view which lets you do lovely things like live preview for frame and focus.  I didn’t realize how incredibly useful that was until I borrowed my mom’s 1100D and tried BackyardEOS out for myself.  Let me tell you, that is WONDERFUL.  I didn’t get to experiment with the drift alignment routine in BYEOS but if it is even as simple as the parallel crosshair it is a useful tool indeed.  BackyardEOS is a complete bargain for $30, $38 if you want to use ASCOM to control the focuser.  What’s that ASCOM plugin all about?  Well, if you have an ASCOM compliant focuser and the appropriate drivers on your PC, BYEOS can do all the FWHM auto-focus thing for you so all you do is find a nice star to focus on and press GO!  Then magic happens and your image is focused for you.  Fan-frickin-tastic!  Great stuff that BYEOS

Backyard EOS

After seemingly unending weeks of temperatures over 100F during the day and 85F at night with at least 60% humidity we get some relief.  It came in the form of Tropical Storm Lee which pummeled the East Coast with rain for days on end once again flooding large portions of Tennessee but the break in temperatures is very welcome here in North Texas.  The moon is about 75% full so deep sky photography will be challenging but I took some pictures of the moon, just in case.  At least the night won’t be a total loss now even if everything goes completely pair shaped.  Currently the temperatures are in the middle 70’s and the humidity is in the upper teens to lower 20’s with calm winds.  Only barely enough gust to keep the air from being completely still.  Currently the SN6 is trained on M27 and snapping away happily after a small amount of minor drama.  I took my time getting set up but I bumped the tripod lightly with my foot while aligning the mount.  Hopefully no ill will come of that.  We shall see in the morning.

It’s been oppressively hot here in Tejas recently but I’m starting to get the itch to play under the stars once more.   I needed to give my declination axis a tune so I did that last week hoping to use it when it was actually looking like it might get into the 70’s overnight.  Granted it wasn’t much into the 70’s with lows forecast at 78F and 79F but it was less than 80F at least.  I just got a Clear Sky Alarm Clock notification that the sky is favorable tonight so I may ponder this over dinner.

Over the last several weeks I’ve spent some time giving my LXD-75 some much needed TLC.  I disassembled the Dec and RA axes, cleaned them and examined the nylon bushings.  I hadn’t looked at the bushings before but now I understand why kits are available with replacement teflon bushings.  I could have cut better bushings from a piece of acetate with an Exacto knife.  The edges were rough with several places where it was obvious the press used to stamp them out of sheet was worn far beyond acceptable.  A quick run over them with some 120 grit to knock of the really rough stuff followed up by some 1,200 grit to smooth the edges made them more acceptable.  Add some SuperLube to that and they’ll be serviceable until I finally replace them with those relatively expensive teflon bushings.  If only Meade would be willing to spend just a small amount of time doing QA during assembly these mounts wouldn’t have the awful reputation they do.

Regardless I’ve got my mount as good as it can be with the sloppy gearing made by underpaid, over worked, sub-par Chinese labor.  I don’t know about you but I’d be willing to pay twice as much for a US built mount with a little bit of reasonable QA done and slightly higher quality materials and craftsmanship.  Meade really, really needs to have a mount on par with the Celestron CGEM.   To match the price point they’d have to make it in China, just like Celestron, but if they could find a way to manufacture or at least assemble them in the US for a reasonable amount more, I’d be willing to pay for that.