CCD camera, weather

I finally got a GOTO drive, a Vixen Skysensor 2000-PC, and a new CCD camera, an MX716 from Starlight Xpress. I also got an Optec Bessell V filter for some serious magnitude photometry of variable stars and supernovae. Of course the weather has been terrible since I got my new equipment but that's fall in southwestern Ontario I guess.

Weather was very cold this morning but I saw Mercury for the first time in years. I still love viewing the innermost planet, even though it is little more than a phase, more than half lit today. I used my quick view setup, an 80mm f/9.4 refractor on a camera tripod so I could set up, view and break it down before my fingers froze off at -17C.