Category: Astro knowledge
The moon is in Taurus
I’m certain that I’ve posted about the Zodiac and the planets before, but to briefly recap, the Moon passes through all of the constellations of the Zodiac every month. Almost all human […]
Astro knowledge / General / Observing Reports
Nice short session
After several days of clouds, and with a freak hailstorm this afternoon, the storm blew itself out for a bit, and we got clear skies for an hour or so right after […]
Astro knowledge / Blog / General
A night of thrashing
One reason that I like to leave my equipment all set up and ready to go is because it seems like it takes a couple of nights for the gear to all […]
The Gemini Triplets.
We have another new constellation here at Hilltop Observatory. It was not our first, but it was The Junior Astronomer’s first that she named by herself. She is a Gemini. The Sun is […]
Astro knowledge / General / Observatory / Observing Reports
Star party at Hilltop O
We hosted guests this evening at The ad Astra Observatory at Hilltop, Woodinville, Wa. B_, R_ & M_ stopped by for a really pretty and clear, but brr cold night at mid-winter. […]
The Wolf Moon, January 11, 2017
All of the full moons of the year are named. I don’t know all of their names, Harvest Moon comes to mind, but like there are 12 or 13 of them, and […]
Astro knowledge / Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography
Planes. Grr.
For how big the sky is, and how small an area I am capturing, I sure do catch a lot of airplanes. The astronomy gods chuckle.
Astro knowledge / Blog / Gear / General / Maintenance / Observing Reports / Techniques / Telescope
Back to basics.
I used to be good at this. Omg, gaggle of geese flying over. Local dogs wigging out. But, I digress. I got Really good at planetary, but had higher hopes, and this […]
Astro knowledge / General / Techniques
Stumbling towards plate solving
I planned to solve all the images I’d shot so far, so that I have good data about where the telescope has ben drifting about. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until halfway […]
What does an arcsecond look like? xkcd to the rescue!
http://xkcd.org/1276/ I believe the most interesting object on the page is “Betelgeuse”. Note that Betelgeuse is 643 light years away (that’s 643 * 6 trillion miles), but is so big (if it […]
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 […]
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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.