Category: ATM
Trixie rebuild — Design ideas
Trixie definitely needs to be rebuilt. The 3-strut system is not working. So I am going to rebuild and try to fix two main problems. 1) flexure — replace strings with struts […]
8″ scope mods
I have several birds and several stones and I am thinking about applying the latter to the former in a particular way. Here’s what I’m talking about. Veronica is an 8″ f/5 […]
Trixie’s Last Stand
Trixie is listed on Astromart right now, probably won’t sell; who wants a project scope? I think once the dust settles from the new mount purchase, and I get my photography back […]
ATM / Camera / Gear / Technology
“Little” is the new “guidescope”
I love it when a plan comes together. I picked up a new autoguider over the weekend. I also picked up a second 9×50 finder about 2 weeks ago. I only needed […]
ATM / General / Maintenance
Here be dragons.
I am at a point in my astronomy that I really need to be careful what I’m doing before I proceed with any tuning. I’ve been able to get away with tweaking […]
Making an eFinder
How to make an eFinder from a 9×50 finderscope, in several easy steps.
ATM / General / Maintenance / Optics
Trixie post-collimation
I spent some time this afternoon tuning Trixie. The collimation job is a but tougher with the open-frame scope; each turnbuckle is a collimation adjustment point. It took a lot of tweaking […]
ATM / General / Maintenance / Observing Reports
The Astronomy Gods cut me a break
I can’t believe it. You would not believe how hard it was raining today. There was standing water on some of the stuff inside the observatory where it blew in the roller […]
Trixie goes Steampunk
I decided to use large turnbuckles to stiffen Trixie’s lower half, between the bottom and middle rings. The mod turned out OK; I still have to worry about over-tightening things. But Trixie […]
Trixie rebuild – parts on-hand
I decided to move forward with the strings concept before trying to do a total rework. Things ended up being kind of expensive anyway; the parts to finish off the strings turned […]
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.