Category: General
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 […]
General / Maintenance / Mount / Techniques
Which way is up?
I spent the night polar aligning the NJP. Man, I love the sound of the mount as it slews. It’s… hard to describe. The polar scope (and its attendant app) got me […]
Gear / Maintenance / Mount
Fits and starts
As with any new piece of gear, the NJP is going to take a little work to get it up and running in the observatory. I knew that I was going to […]
General / Maintenance / Technology
Mac vs PC for astrophotography
With the observatory down for another week or so, I have been considering re-trying the Mac Mini out as an observatory server. I started researching Mac astrophotography software, with disappointing results. Here […]
General / Maintenance / Observatory
Ad Astra Observatory goes “dark” temporarily
Well, the mount upgrade is finally underway. The G-11 sold over the weekend, so the NJP will be on its way soon. What this means to me, of course, is that I […]
El Nino and mount sales during tax time
This has been the wettest winter since I’ve lived in CA. We need the rain. But it’s decidedly odd, seeing rain deep into March and possibly into April. Despite the “unsettled” weather […]
General / Maintenance / Techniques
Trixie in collimation
Ah, maintenance. Things you do on sunny days and cloudy nights. I spent some time getting Trixie in collimation today. It came together pretty well with the Catseye. It’s clear that the […]
General / Maintenance / Techniques
Bob’s Knobs
I spent a long time collimating Veronica the other day, with the new autocollimator I bought. That experience convinced me to buy Bob’s Knobs for Veronica and Cassie. I knew I would […]
Thrashing about
I haven’t posted in awhile, and the reason is because everything is up in the air in my astronomy world right now. I have finally lost patience with the G-11, and have […]
Everything went right last night
FocusMax worked. PemPro worked. Guido worked. I shot M106 (through Pumpkin — tiny, tiny) until the mount hit the safety limit, 150m total or so. Then, since it was still clear (although […]
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.