There is every possibility we may be involved with an event or two at Danby Observatory - we'll contact individuals directly should this be the case. Nothing is set in stone, the situation is likely to be fluid, not least due to weather conditions.  This is something to be discussed at the March meeting, it's a case of watching this space!! 

C11 and Mount, knob on orange saddle plate obscuring ports.
(Click for full image)

The Observatory facility at Danby is now officially open, Mark and John McCue invited to attend the grand opening on February 13th. There were several presentations, not only from NYMNPA officers, but also contractor Neil Phillipson and John McCue himself. As you would expect skies were mostly cloudy, although a few breaks towards the end of the event did get people excited about observing something through the telescope. Unfortunately, the chink in the cloud armour was too short-lived to allow satisfactory use of the scope - which is still to be properly calibrated and aligned. This is one aspect John and I are actively seeking to resolve in the coming weeks. 

Regarding this matter John and Mark revisited the observatory before the end of February to rectify some issues John had noticed regarding the telescope set-up. No observations – it was an afternoon, but they did unship the OTA from the mount and reset the zero position to better access vital IT ports obscured by a mounting knob. 

Mount head with ports now accessible on end. 

Reseating the OTA, data was entered into the hand controller to allow us to verify scope slewing and rough targeting of certain objects in daylight, Mercury and Venus. (best guess - but appeared to work). The iOptron Hybrid strain wave mount is exceptionally smooth and quiet and looks very robust, requiring no equatorial shaft and counterweight. Should one be required a thread is provided. 

The iOptron HAE69-EC Hybrid Harmonic Drive Equatorial GoTo Mount. (Click for full image)

The next step is to properly star align the scope using the hand controller as well as utilising App controllability, which we envisage doing in early March. WDAS members will then have chance to become more familiar the setup for future reference regarding hire and hosting events.