ARCHIVE April2010
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography / Mount / Telescope
Veronica gets a shot at the NJP
Buoyed with the success of the NJP with Pumpkin, I decided to start upping the ante. Pumpkin was mounted offset to one side, but I decided that Veronica should be balanced over […]
Gear / Mount / Observatory
NJP First Light
ad Astra Observatory is back online. With the newly-leveled mount, I worked the polar alignment some more. It still needs tweaking, but once I gave up on PemPro (which has never really […]
Gear / General / Maintenance / Mount
Settling in
The paint is dry on the pier topper, so I remounted it in the observatory. As I put in each part, I checked that each was level. As I suspected, the top […]
Gear / General / Maintenance / Mount
Setting up for the long haul
I headed out to the observatory this morning to level the pier. I had originally planned on it being a quick task, then ready for tonight (which is supposed to have some […]
General / Maintenance / Techniques
I want my WCS
Polar alignment still sucks. Once I get the mount aligned, everything will be fine. Until then, it’s a bunch of hooey. I need to get the mount level, because, as usual, it’s […]
General / Maintenance / Mount / Techniques
Which way is up?
I spent the night polar aligning the NJP. Man, I love the sound of the mount as it slews. It’s… hard to describe. The polar scope (and its attendant app) got me […]
Strange Celestial Noises
Every mount has a different characteristic sound to it. The CG-5GT was very loud and coffee-grinder-y. The G-11 spooled up fast and had a quieter but very distinctive whine. The NJP is […]
Gear / Maintenance / Mount
Fits and starts
As with any new piece of gear, the NJP is going to take a little work to get it up and running in the observatory. I knew that I was going to […]
Dawn breaks on the NJP Age
…at Ad Astra Observatory. The new mount showed up in 3 hefty boxes from FedEx and USPS yesterday. Here’s the very large and heavy NJP head. The signed certificate from the factory […]
Always darkest just before the dawn
The dawn of the NJP Age is coming. The mount is in transit, should arrive tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed that it will be a “drop-in” solution. I worry that the […]
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.