Day 95 Wednesday 25th June 2014

A good day and a clear night. My pointing seemed to have gone since the previous evening and, because of the small image size I could not find a single object using the camera remotely. I even tried taking images and trying to plate solve them but the SKyX could not identify the field because it was being fed incorrect RA/Dec data from the software due to apparent incorrect polar alignment/T Point data.  I am hoping this was not caused be the recent very strong winds perhaps shifting the scope a little. It did not appear to have moved and was starpped securely to the Sierra Cabrera mountain range!! Both the 8 X 50 finder and the Telrad were misaligned- as it worked out only by a small amount - but enough to miss the field of the camera!  After a very long time I had to admit defeat and remove the camera. I used a 32mm eyepiece  and was able to get Saturn centred in the eyepiece and align the Telrad and the 8 X 50 finder. I then replaced the camera and Saturn was in the 12 minute square field! It was the early hours of the morning by then. I synched on Saturn. I was able to map a few very nearby stars.

I kept finding myself in the "horizontal counterweights" situation and stalling the mount with the resulting continuous beeps - they seem very loud at 2.30 a.m.  I must check the balance in the morning and restart the entire polar alignment process from scratch - hopefully tomorrow night.

I have always had this sort of problem when moving the paramount away from its permanent pier. I am sure I will resolve them soon.

The sky was clear and moonless - the Milky Way stretching across from the mountain range - Scorpius is very prominent and Mars and Saturn very bright with Spia in Virgo between the two but nearer to Mars.. Saturn was quite a sight through the 32mm eyepiece with the C14 but I didn't have time to look at it closely.

The summer triangle was prominent but not as clearly separated from the other stars as it is in light polluted Lancashire.