MOST RECENT
Trixie 2017 and 04026 — Together again
The skies cleared a little just at dusk today. It’s been raining hard for several days, I wasn’t ready for any sky tonight. 4th NJP counterweight was in the travel gear from […]
Trixie Rebuild 2017 – Result!
And that is how we do that. I drilled all the clamp holes in the pole seats, and installed them. One by one, the bar clamps were replaced with something a little […]
Trixie Rebuild 2017 – a moment to reflect
In order to install the new pole seats, it was necessary to dismantle quite a bit of the LTA. Both plates came off, and I’d been clever the way I installed the […]
Trixie Rebuild 2017 – Tubes!
It’s always nice to work with a friend. C_ is in town for the weekend, and came out to help me get the truss poles cut to length. As an aside, always […]
Trixie Rebuild 2017 – Truss!
Of all the parts of amateur telescope making, for me the absolute most satisfying one is cutting truss pole clamps. It just epitomizes the whole process to me; there are dozens of […]
Trixie Rebuild 2017 – We have focal length
I needed one more calculation, before I can put Trixie all back together again. The new upper cage has changed the length of the upper truss poles, so they need to be […]
Trixie Rebuild 2017 – getting closer
I had been vacillating on the Trixie build; I knew that I needed to complete the focuser board in order to really move forward, and I also knew that I could finish […]
Trixie rebuild 2017 – Parts is parts.
I have decided to keep the LTA as-is (I had considered moving the middle ring, but pole seats take a Lot of mental effort to do correctly, so I’m going to stick […]
Observatory gets a new nametag
Ad Astra Observatory at Hilltop finally got an official sign. I’d been using one I’d had lying around; it was a test cut on a piece of scrap wood. So, once I […]
Hilltop Observatory Control Panel, thoughts on design
Here’s what I have: Here’s where I’m going with it: I know, not a big delta. I even have all the mointor-y bits working, just need to mount the screens and … […]
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.