MOST RECENT
Electronics / Maintenance / Mount / Observatory / Technology
NJP Power up
My mount, 04026, and I have had a pretty good run together. I had to swap out the motors and brain a couple of years ago, when the main motor controller board […]
Image Processing Workflow
The pretty pictures that show up on this website take a little work to produce. Just getting the camera to take a photo is quite a process, with balance and alignment and […]
Long Exposure Photography / Maintenance / Observatory / Technology
M42 gets the Plate-Solved treatment
Oh, it’s starting to get fun, now. The dome is ludicrous, but it works. I set up SGPro for a series of 20m subframes. All guided and focused and stuff. The next […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC2174, The Monkey Head Nebula
I think I’ve finally gotten a decent shot of this object. What with one thing and another, I always seem to miss being able to give this guy the full treatment. I […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
IC2177, The Seagull Nebula
Here’s a first! There are lots and lots of winter nebulae, but somehow I have never spent any time digging deep into Monoceros (the Unicorn!). With halfway-decent shots of The Pleiades and […]
Astro knowledge / Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography
Planes. Grr.
For how big the sky is, and how small an area I am capturing, I sure do catch a lot of airplanes. The astronomy gods chuckle.
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
IC405 and IC410, Nebulae in Auriga
Grand tour of the winter nebulae netted me another first, a pretty pair in Auriga, the Charioteer. I should probably make a pass through with Cassie someday, to get a little more […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC2244, The Rosette Nebula
With the dome control back up and running, I set up for shooting, and The Rosette Nebula is turning into an old favorite. I didn’t want to stay up too late, so […]
ATM / Electronics / Observatory
Motor Control Box, in progress
Well, I had to let a beautiful, moonless night go by, because the dome has no way to open. Grumble. I have had a very productive Christmas vacation this year, but getting […]
ATM / Electronics / Observatory / Technology
Desk upgrades
I really like the observatory desk. It’s of a postwar-era “built like a tank” style that has always appealed to me, and the buttons and circuit board were 😮 (have I posted […]
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.