Category: General
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
S&T galleries
A, I’m continually irritated at the S&T galleries which are festooned with guys with $50K setups; this doesn’t really make it feel like taking astrophotos is something that can be accomplished by […]
modded DSLR IR response
The February 2009 issue of S&T, pp. 81, has a side-by-side photographic example and explanation of the UV/IR cut filter in DSLRs. The UV/IR cut filter that comes with the camera is […]
Whence C9.25?
I decided to upgrade the C-8 to a C9.25. As a photographer, I need different lenses to do different work. The 8” is awesome down to ~10′, but below that, it’s pretty […]
He hasn't marked it "Pending" yet, but
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=605811 is my new scope. I got the go-ahead for an IOU from SWMBO, selling the C-8 and the DSI and the broken 300D should cover most of it. I have been […]
Starfield memorization: M51
In an image of M51 taken near Feb 5, 2009 (todo: find this image), there is a really pretty blue star that’s very nearby the galaxy. I’d like to use that star […]
Re: success! M51 full calibration
Art Morton wrote: > The silly little galaxies are quite visible too. (: I hardly ever see shots of M51 with the little guys showing. Also, I *never* see shots with that […]
Gear / Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
Re: So, what is skyglow? Must need a dark site
A, Sigh. I wonder what I would have done if I’d started doing astronomy now instead of 4 years ago. This guy went from a Canon 400D + Orion ED80 + Orion […]
Astro knowledge / General / Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
Re: So, what is skyglow? Must need a dark site
Art Morton wrote: > awesome photo not shot by me > > The way you get dark sky in the Bay Area is to get to the top of a local foothill […]
Focuser / Maintenance / Optics
Re: scope getting dialed in
Art Morton wrote: > With a couple more moon nights you will have a perfectly calibrated G-11 I hope so; It really is a lot of new stuff to learn. Someday I’m […]
Deep Sky / Gear / General / Long Exposure Photography / Techniques / Technology
what a night
Yesterday afternoon, I industriously cleaned all my camera optics (CCD, MPCC both sides, IDAS-LPS both sides), and was convinced that this would be good for my flat field. More on this later. […]
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.