Category: Astro knowledge
Astro knowledge / Gear / General / Maintenance
Preparing to go unplugged
As a test run before the Golden State Star Party this year, the family and I are going camping for the weekend at Coyote Lake. I haven’t been camping in quite some […]
Astro knowledge / Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
M57, The Ring Nebula in Lyra
The C9.25 finally brings some pixels to this tiny object. Shooting with a DSLR brings a different perspective on “useful astronomy targets” compared with most dedicated astrocams. In the beginning, there was […]
Astro knowledge / General / Observing Reports
Pointing East vs West
For some reason, I have always had trouble trying to shoot objects to the West (with the mount tracking things as they are setting). I have tailored my whole astrophotography psyche to […]
Astro knowledge / Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography / Technology
M87, Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo
I have avoided the Virgo Galaxies for years. The reasons are many, but chief among them is that a lot of the Virgo galaxies are elliptical, which essentially means that they look […]
Astro knowledge / Observing Reports
Stoically suffering for my art
The astronomy gods are doing their “New Telescope Curse” thing. To the plants and flowers, you’re welcome. To the soggy inhabitants of the SF Bay Area, I told you so. (: After […]
finding OAG guide stars
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbarchive/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1691614/page/413/view/collapsed/sb/9/o/all
Astro knowledge / General / Maintenance / Optics
Guiding — um, oops?
After speaking with Art tonight about my guiding workflow, it seems that I have been doing things… in a manner which would probably give me problems if I tried to do longish […]
Astro knowledge / General / Observing Reports
Holiday stars
It rained in Clearwater for the first couple of days we were there, and was cloudy for another day before it got real clear and cold. The moon went from nice 4d […]
A Smattering of MaxIM logs
These are some MaxIM logs from the past few runs.
Astro knowledge / General / Observing Reports
Milky Way naked-eye from SotoGrande, Spain
Went out to dinner with coworkers last night. Went to a restaurant that is in a village on the outskirts of Algeciras. Not many people live around here anyway, and even fewer […]
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.