First light with new ED80

A ffew days ago I decided I needed another telescope...what else is new . I wanted a scope for solar imaging specifically and large scale lunar. I decided to order an Orion ED80.

The Orion ED80 arrived safe and sound about noon today. According to the instructions, it takes about 1/2 hr to put the the scope together, so and hour and half later I had it done!!! Not bad for me...LOL!! Naturally, as soon as I finished the sun went behind a cloud. I took it outside and tried it out anyway. The images with my Radian 17mm eyepiece were very nice!! I needed to tweak the scope some more, set the latitude and such. I was disappointed that the drive runs off batteries only, especially since I didn't have any on hand. I decided to give imaging a try anyway and hand guide. So about 2:30pm local time I took it and the toucam out and set it up. I had to remove the 2" diagonal and insert a 1" extension tube to get the sun to focus. I shot a couple of 30 second images using the manual slow motion to guide. Surprisingly, it was fairly easy to do. I just need to find a better way to cut the glare on the computer screen and I'll be better. Anyway, here is the first light with the ED80 on the sun. I used a Baader solar filter and the toucam to get the image, stacked from a 30 second exposure. This is group 652, it's not as good as the image at Spaceweather, but all things considered, I'm quite happy. Now to get some batteries to make the job easier. The seeing was not good, it was very windy and broken clouds.

http://tinyurl.com/558a4

Clear skies!!
Paul Maxson
http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/index.htm