Some News and What I've Been Doing on These Cloudy Days

It's been cloudy and rainy since I tested my 114mm reflector.  This gives me time to mess with the reflector some.  I recently won a book on ebay, "Build Your Own Telescope" by Richard Berry, and in it gives a simple way of collimating a reflector.  I performed the task according to the book, and it seems the optics were way out of alignment.  Of course I have not been able to star test the scope due to the clouds, but I'm betting the performance will be much improved.  I'm looking forward to doing some photography once the sky clears.

Also, a friend offered to loan me an 8 inch dob, which he says he should be able to deliver to me on Sunday (3/13).  You can bet I'll be taking some pictures through it.  I'm borrowing it so I can determine whether to go with a slightly larger refractor or if I want to go with the bigger newtonian design.  I will base what I'm able to do with the newtonian and the webcam on planetary and lunar observation.  I will be posting any images that I take thru his scope.  He also said he would be very interested in what I'm able to photograph using it.

There is a homebrew polar mount in the book that I'd like to build.  Perhaps over the next few weeks I'll get the stuff together to put it together.  It looks simple enough, mostly made of wood, with some iron pipe involved as well, and although it was designed for a 6 inch newt, it should hold the 4 inch with very slight modification.  I will document my progress on the mount.

So lets hope for clear skies, so I can do some experimenting.