TAG C9.25
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC281, The PacMan Nebula in Casseiopeia
This is my first shot of NGC281. I attempted it a couple of years back, but came up essentially empty. Normally, the Casseiopeia Milky Way is not available until autumn, but I […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC 6888, The Crescent Nebula in Cygnus, from Coyote Lake, CA
In retrospect, I probably should have shot RGB from the dark sky site and left Ha for the backyard. In addition, it was very windy, so I probably should have dumped Cassie […]
Astro knowledge / Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
M57, The Ring Nebula in Lyra
The C9.25 finally brings some pixels to this tiny object. Shooting with a DSLR brings a different perspective on “useful astronomy targets” compared with most dedicated astrocams. In the beginning, there was […]
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 […]
General / Maintenance / Observing Reports
Working for the weekend
I had a few things to do before getting started tonight. First, I replaced the brass worm gear with a steel one. This one is Art’s spare, which he used successfully for […]
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 […]
Copernicus, Feb. 26, 2010
Copernicus and Kepler are my two favorite craters on the moon. They actually work a little better when you can see some context, but there you go. Here is Copernicus, a very […]
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.