Wasp Floor

After several years of concrete flooring I have finally got around to putting down a wooden floor. It cost about $600 of a pre-engineered material that has tounge and groove on boards about 1000mm x 200mm the top layer is about a 5mm veneer and is pre-vanished so it goes down and is finished. I needed to do about two days concrete grinding to get the floor flat enough.

MOA 2009-BLG-229

MOA 2009-BLG-229
RA: 18:05:19.86
Dec: -30:05:50.09
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observer: Steve Calveley, David Moorhouse, Guy Thornley

21 May 09
Off to a slow start with passing cloud making imaging almost impossible cleared at about 3am till dawn
22 May 09
Just getting one hours worth of normalising data

C14 Dew Sheild

Finally got the dew sheild installed today. It looks fantastic, bright yellow! It is made from three 4mm thick MDF rings 398mm ID and 450mm OD then skinned in a 2mm balsawood sheet outside. The sheet was made with ten 100x600mm sheets glued side by side to form a massive sheet. The outside coating is Solarfilm made for model aircraft, it is easy to apply and a nice shiney finish. Inside is matt black paint. Yet to get clear skies to test it out but it looks real black looking down the barrel.

MOA 2009-BLG-227

MOA 2009-BLG-227
RA: 18:07:34.92
Dec: -27:00:44.06
Kumeu didn't end up getting data on this event

MOA 2009-BLG-174

MOA 2009-BLG-174
RA: 18:02:07.60
Dec: -31:25:24.20
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 120 sec
Observer: David Moorhouse

12 May 2009
Lots of passing cloud and rain, needed to use 120 sec because of close moon and close to peak at mag 11. Got several good runs through the night.
13 May 2009
Just five normalising images taken as MB204 was doing an exit crossing so was more important
14 May 2009
Finally some clear skies without rain. Did about one hour normalising data at two minutes to keep it standard.

Optec TCS focuser installed

Installed last night with no issues. ASCOM driver downloaded and MaximDL is happy. Autofocus routine in MaximDL seems OK time will tell. Temperature compensation will be a big help once we get a co-efficient worked out. Many thanks to Ohio State University Astronomy Dept, who have provided this unit to us for help with microlensing events.

MOA 2009-BLG-204

MOA 2009-BLG-204
RA: 18:02:23.62
Dec: -28:45:18.48
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observer: Guy Thornley

May 04 2009
Lots of passing cloud and rain.
May 13 2009
Again a poor night but managed to catch a caustic crossing exit that will help nail this one down, only 16 five minute images through the night.

Painting

Finally after years of talking about it I painted the dome last weekend over a few days. It had two coats of white Wattle Solarguard. There were a few places that I did repairs on the fibreglass first with west system epoxy resin and glass cloth. The top of the hatch is rotting and needs repair still. Also a coat of Forestwood stain was put on two sides of the Wasp Observatory

MOA 2009-BLG-106

MOA 2009-BLG-106
RA: 18:09:56.49

Dec: -27:14:59.36

Optics: Celestron C14

Focal length: 2634mm

Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel

Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe

CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1

Filters: No filter

Exposure: 300 sec

Observer: Guy Thornley

Day 1: 04-04-2009 1200 to 1515hrs UTC

Occasional cloud no issues

Day 2:

OGLE 2009-BLG-076 MOA 2009-BLG-094

Day 1: Off to a slow start with guiding issues, target very faint
Day 2:
RA: 17:58:31.93
Dec: -29:12:17.91
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observer: David Moorhouse

OGLE 2009-BLG-020 MOA 2009-BLG-011

Day 1: UTC 25-03-09 1300 to 1400 hrs
Started run only to have cloud roll in soon afterwards
Day 2:

RA: 18:04:20.96
Dec: -29:31:08.96
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observer: Guy Thornley
David Moorhouse

Moa 2009-BLG-048

Day 1: UTC 23-03-09 1430 to 1745 hrs
This is the first target for the year. Easy and bright, perfect evening clear, good seeing.

Day 2: UTC 24-03-09 1300 to 1730 hrs
Another good run till dawn. Perfect skies one break due to a computer issue so autoguiding on different star at about image 10?

Day 3: UTC 25-03-09 1200 to 1300
Just a few images to be able to calibrate our results

RA: 17:52:06.71
Dec: -32:35:24.91
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observer: David Moorhouse