Ad Astra Observatory

I was a little worried about the weight of the new (and larger-aperture) OTA, but since it was a first light, I was running in minimal load mode; just the OTA, a 6×30 finder, and a visual back.

I actually had to remove weight compared to Veronica with full photo rig.

Goto worked like a charm once I got the finder aligned! I even had to do a pier flip to go from M42 to M51 and all I had done was a 1-star synch, used the same pointing model as with Veronica. M42 was centered
(Trapezium over the crosshairs). M51 was within 0.5°; it was near the upper RH corner of the frame.

I even shot off a couple of flats; I have the lightbox set up so that when the scope is parked, it points right at it…