Category: General
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 […]
Photos from Ad Astra Observatory at Frosty Acres
… better known as the Golden State Star Party (GSSP) 2010. While I still have your attention, here are the nightly Observing Reports: GSSP Night 1, Saturday GSSP Night 2, Sunday GSSP […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
NGC 7023, The Iris Nebula in Cepheus
I had a clear night on my hands and was thrashing about looking for something to shoot. I decided to shoot this target more or less on a whim. I have to […]
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.