Category: Maintenance
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 […]
Gear / General / Maintenance / Mount
RA drift
The NJP is displaying some RA drift. It’s easy enough to guide out, but it’s definitely strange. I need to gather more data. But I think that what I’m seeing is that […]
General / Maintenance / Observing Reports
Bahtinov Mask, Business trip, and clouds
I have a trip coming up tomorrow, so I was thinking about resting up before it. But then I got a crazy idea, and decided to follow through on it. I want […]
minor maintenance
I rebalanced the scope so that it’s balanced rather than purposely off-balance. I also added a 12v fan to the scope to hopefully help control dew. We’ll see if it does anything. […]
Gear / General / Maintenance / Mount
NJP Meridian Flip madness
I hacked my mount today. It was a small hack. Just two parameter settings. But I believe it will give me an important piece of functionality. Where to begin? The NJP, like […]
General / Maintenance / Techniques
WCS lesson
After getting the mount “close” last night but then moving the pier topper and redoing, I took a couple of runs at polar alignment tonight, too. One thing I definitely learned is […]
Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography / Maintenance / Observatory / Observing Reports
Five hours of Guided images
…with zero dropped subframes. I spent a little time refining the polar alignment last night. I am still getting some drift while running unguided; I calculated it to be about 6′ from […]
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 […]
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.