Category: Solar System Photography
Pretty conjunction tonight
Venus and Mars have been putting on a show for the past month or so, and once a month, the Moon drops by for a visit. I missed it last month, don’t […]
Achievement Unlocked!
The Junior Astronomer has now earned the title Junior Astrophotographer. First, let me say that this photo took a long time to process, because somehow my lunar processing mojo went out the […]
Camera / Gear / Solar System Photography
Jupiter April 9, 2016
Jupiter has been making a really nice pass lately, just parked in the sky under Leo’s hindquarters. It’s been a long time since I did any planetary photography of note; with the […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography / Observatory / Solar System Photography
Hilltop Observatory – First Light
We did it! It’s been a long hard journey, with lessons learned, and ducks carefully put into rows. Four years of design and development all came together tonight. The sky was even clearer tonight […]
Astro knowledge / General / Observing Reports / Solar System Photography
Transient orbital effects
I have to say that, as a rule, I’m generally not into transient astronomical phenomena. The fact that I can observe and photograph the same, unchanging objects year after year is very […]
Gear / Solar System Photography / Telescope
Trixie the Astrograph — first light!
I had a few small tweaks to do, and I was ready to roll with Trixie 2011. I focused the camera on the moon; this involved no small amount of gymnastics, as […]
Saturn, Feb. 26, 2010
I haven’t done any solar system photography in several years. In particular, Saturn has been a no-go for several years straight. This is a combination of my focus being on DSO photography, […]
Bay of Rainbows, Feb. 26, 2010
The Sinus Iridium, or Bay of Rainbows, is a pretty feature that I found by checking it out in the finder. I had fun trying to ID all the lunar features that […]
Plato, Feb. 26, 2010
Plato is another favorite crater. It’s such a contrast to the surrounding area, and very round and flat. Apparently, being able to pick up multiple craterlets inside Plato is a test of […]
Grimaldi, Feb. 26, 2010
After shooting the few large craters that I can identify, I started looking for other interesting craters, assuming I could look them up and ID them online. This is Grimaldi, which 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.