Category: Observing Reports
ATM / Gear / General / Observing Reports / Telescope
Trixie the Dob – suddenly, everything is like clockwork
Epiphany is a wonderful thing. You thrash around for a long time, trying to figure out the solution to a wooly problem, and then all of a sudden, it comes to you. […]
ATM / Gear / General / Observing Reports / Telescope
Trixie the Dob – first light!
Well, nobody can say I didn’t pay my dues on this one. Between weeks of rain and countless trips to the hardware store, I think I earned myself a little starlight. After […]
Astro knowledge / General / Observing Reports
Quelling nonbelievers
It has been preternaturally clear in Northern California this winter. It was cloudy when we returned from Christmas (rained for most of the drive). It stayed cloudy until the Saturday morning when […]
ATM / Gear / General / Observing Reports / Telescope
Trixie rebuild 2011 – first light
With the OTA all together, I spent some time collimating. With Cheshire collimation complete, I tried the autocollimator again. I totally lucked out! The two images that you are supposed to line […]
Astro knowledge / General / Observing Reports
Planetary re-discovery
I was up very very early, walking the dogs. Champ asked to go out around 4:30. It was a very cold (around 20°) but crisp and clear night. The crescent new-minus-3-days moon […]
A few last Perseids
I arrived at the dark skies of Clearwater, WA in a heatwave yesterday. It was in the high (!) 90s all the way through Oregon and into WA. The skies were nice […]
Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
GSSP Night 4
The second night out with Cassie was only slightly less frustrating than the first. I don’t know whether there was a slight drop in the seeing or what, but when I really […]
Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
GSSP Night 3
After two nights of unmitigated success with Pumpkin, I decided to “zoom in” a little (well, a lot, really), and put up Cassie on the third night of the star party. Mounting […]
GSSP Night 2
With no polar alignment or setup required this evening, this was my first “full” night with Pumpkin. I started around dusk with some exposure bracketing on Rho Ophiucus, a nebular area of […]
GSSP Night 1
We left the house around 8am, 4 people, with a packed trailer, Skybox, and “way back”. We headed north via Chico and Susanville. Let’s call it “the scenic route”. The drive was […]
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.