Category: ATM
Trixie rebuild – how to stop flexure
in Albert Highe’s article, he mentions that the reason the 3 tube straight truss design works for him is because it is a Dob. For an Equatorially mounted scope, I think I […]
ATM / Electronics / Focuser / Gear / General / Maintenance / Observing Reports / Optics / Techniques / Technology
Murphy was an optimist.
Clear Sky Clock said it would be cloudy all night, so of course it stayed 90% clear until about midnight, when it socked in. But I’m getting ahead of myself… I decided […]
ATM / Electronics / General / Maintenance
Taking the show on the road — what I really accomplished
So I picked up a deep cycle battery at Costco. It’s fairly light for its size, which makes me wonder about the plates inside, but 115Ah and pretty cheap, so that’s nice. […]
Electronics / General / Maintenance
Taking the show on the road — batteries, solar panels, and Arduino
After the powertank debacle of the past weekend, I’m beginning to think that maybe I need to maintain a battery setup in the observatory, so that when I go on the road, […]
ATM / Electronics / General
Once more into the breach – new Gizmo on the way
When I started doing DSLR astrophotography, I quickly found that the on-camera limitation of 30sec exposures was frustrating. So, bulb exposures are necessary. At the time, nothing existed to easily interface my […]
G-11 maintenance – Amperage and worm adjustment
I spent the better part of the weekend trying to get an amperage reading off of the mount. According to a knowledgeable fellow G-11 owner, if the RA worm is properly adjusted, […]
Creating a lightbox for flats
I finally knuckled under to the pressure of the dust bunnies and decided to shoot “flat field” frames with my astrophotos. A “flat” is a photo of an evenly illuminated surface. Since […]
Re: Future Design for the Losmandy
Art Morton wrote: LiteScope Very pretty. Some of these designs only work if you’re in alt-az, where you can control which direction things are going to rotate. I need to get Trixie […]
Lightbox for taking flat-field frames
Check out my new astro toy. I made it myself, as you can see. Cost me ~$15 (that’s half structure and half electronics). Took 2 evenings (could have finished in an afternoon […]
ATM / Observatory / Technology
Re: Remote capable
Art Morton wrote: > You are almost to the point where you could image from Germany. Almost. I would need to put in some ethernet power and a garage door opener for […]
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.