Category: Observing Reports
Camping under dark sky, night two
On the second night of camping, I decided to mount Pumpkin, to make things a little easier on myself. The wider field made framing a lot easier, although focusing was a challenge […]
The Rig goes native
I am spending the weekend camping at Coyote Lake, near Gilroy, CA. This is the second time I’ve been camping here, but the rig has changed significantly since last time. In fact, […]
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 […]
Ennui
New moon is either tonight or last night. I’m never entirely sure. But essentially, it’s, like, moonless out there. I think it’s been clear the last 2 or 3 nights. I haven’t […]
Last(?) rainstorm of the season
After a cloudless week, the longest stretch since autumn, I left town for a couple of days, only to come back to clouds on Sunday. There were clouds and a bunch of […]
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 […]
Lament of the sleep-deprived
Believe me, there are worse things in the astronomy hobby than being so tired that you just can’t face another clear night. Normally, when the moon is bright in the night sky, […]
Still learning the mount
I tried some new stuff last night and screwed myself up. I was all mounted and focused, so I decided to work a nice easy object, and chose M81. M81 was near […]
ad Astra Observatory Star Party
My little observatory had a lot of visitors tonight. Nine adults. Seven kids. Two toddlers. The food was great, the company was excellent, and the skies cooperated. The skies were clear, a […]
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 […]
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.