Hello Friend,

     There was a brilliant lesson that the Canadian Women's hockey team taught us all in Sochi yesterday
when they went for the gold, and delivered the goods.

And it's one that applies to observing and CCD imaging as well.

      I told you about my experience with the SBIG ST4 CCD camera from many years ago.  It was certainly
discouraging, and off putting enough to make one give up on CCD or imaging altogether.

But the truth is simple: you simply gotta try again, and again, learn from your mistakes.

One big mistake I made was not using any kind of focal reducer on my F10, inch Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain.

So the CCD chip,  was looking for a star to focus on that was like a needle in a haystack.   Subsequently,
did use an optical reducer f6.3, and that allowed me to widen the field of view, so the CCD chip could
more easily focus.

The key is to keep trying and never give up!

Have you ever gotten frustrated with trying to use your CCD camera, ,or when observing trying to find an object?

It's happened to me many times over the years, and I've just learn't to accept it, and oddly enough, that's when things
seem to get easier, and flow better.

     So remember, when things are going awry during your observing or imaging session, and it looks like you are going
backwards.

       You're not.

You are actually moving forward.     Now that's something to think about. 

Clear Skies,

Ray "Go for gold" Khan

PS Canada has done such a splendid job during this Olympics, that we can all be very proud of the
     outstanding athletes that represent our country. Kudos to them all.