ARCHIVE May2009
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Another attempt at NGC7000
This time I tried 20m subframes (polar alignment not good enough — much field rotation) and settled on 10m subframes (lots of detail but no star trails). I forgot to change the […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
300D first light, Ha filter first light, and an old nemesis
Since my Gemini mount is up in WA and my Nikon died, I had a lot of new stuff going on. In particular, I tried out the Canon 300D for the first […]
stacking vs. subframe
While I was testing out the Ha filter last night, I decided to test out a theory. Like most astrophotographers, I take lots of short subframes of my subject, then stack them […]
G-11 maintenance – Eagle has landed
I sent my Gemini north for Art to look at. He let me know that it arrived OK today. The G-11 that’s here is ready to go; I think it’s polar aligned. […]
Astro tragedy
My D70 died tonight. 🙁 The USB port has some kind of short and the camera won’t connect. I will take it to the camera shop tomorrow and maybe he can fix […]
polar alignment sucks
polar alignment is awful. i think it would be ok if the axes didn’t affect each other. because they do, it always seems a little like minimizing error and less like positioning […]
DSLR Narrowband Imaging – trying again
I had nothing but trouble the last time I tried H-alpha imaging with the D70. I bought a 2” Baader filter, and decided that the Astronomik filter slide system would be perfect. […]
G-11 maintenance – the nuclear option
I have a second G-11 living in my garage. I bought it on Astromart with the intent of selling it for a profit. It’s a non-Gemini G-11. But, since it’s essentially a […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography / Maintenance / Observing Reports
…when you're making other plans
As part of my periodic error testing on the mount, I have been gathering tracking data during my recent photo runs. I suppose it’s more accurate to say that I have been […]
Rig maintenance – moving cameras around
I had moved the ST-4 to the main scope to do some periodic error testing on the mount at higher magnification. This helped me to see the errors more clearly, but also […]
RECENT UPDATE
Polar Alignment Calculations
Here’s a page that derives Polar Alignment Calculations. (update 5/2020: the original site is gone, so I found the text on Wayback and am inserting it below. This is by the original […]
Gear / Observatory / Telescope
Special Guest Star takes the mount at Hilltop O
The Astro Jedi needed somewhere to store his light sab—- I mean, bucket, and I was only too happy to accommodate him. I have decided that I need to come to a […]
General / Maintenance / Observatory
Dome shutter is motorized again!
I finally decided to bite the bullet and fix the shutter motor. Things went sideways last winter, and I’ve been opening the shutter manually (and tying it shut with rope, so we […]
Trixie 2017 – tube mods
I finally got around to cutting the MTA-UTA tubes to length; the only eyepiece that would come to focus with the focuser spacer in place is the Televue 55mm Plossl. If I […]
MOST COMMENTED
Observatory
Observatory 2.0 – Time has come today!
General / Maintenance
First Light, a deeper look
Mount / Observatory / Telescope
Observatory 2.0 – Result!
Observatory
Observatory 2.0 – The Pier goes in
Gear / General / Maintenance
Martin Farmer Wormblock installation notes
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC2244, The Rosette Nebula
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Another beautiful night.