TAG Cluster
Alas, mostly cloudy.
Third night in a row in the observatory — it was pretty cloudy tonight. Suckerholes all night and all over. I had a visitor — my neighbor has been showing an interest […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC6939, Open Cluster in Cygnus
Again, Cygnus is not really my first thought when it comes to open clusters (at least, not ones that seem to have no nebulosity surrounding them). But this cluster could rival anything […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC6946, Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus
Cygnus is not generally the area of sky you think of when you think “hey, showpiece galaxy”. But here you go. NGC 6946 has been dodging me for years, so I decided […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M35, Open Cluster in Auriga
First time shooting M35. I don’t particularly dig open clusters (with the exception of The Pleiades), but I needed something to shoot for a little bit before Orion rose high enough for […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M45, The Pleiades Cluster in Taurus
First light with Pumpkin, the new 66mm refractor. It’s been awhile since I hand-focused, and I really need my diffraction spike focusing rig. This little scope has plenty of FOV to spare, […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M13, Globular Cluster in Hercules
M13, Globular Cluster in Hercules First light for the new 8” SCT. Could probably get some more detail, but not bad for a first shot. This shot was unguided, mostly because I […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
M3, Globular Cluster in Canes Venatici
After great success with M13, I decided to turn my attention to other Globular Clusters, or at least ones that get lots of press. So, I tried out M3 again. Just a […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
M45, The Pleiades Cluster in Taurus
M45, The Pleiades, Open Cluster/Reflection Nebula in Taurus Finally got back around to some of the winter objects. Picked up some decent nebulosity.
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M13, Globular Cluster in Hercules
M13, Globular Cluster in Hercules This is a fairly large stack (70 2-minute images), all taken unguided from my new G-11 mount. The mount is really a big improvement over the CG-5GT. […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M13, Globular Cluster in Hercules
M13, Globular Cluster in Hercules (the autoguider at Ad Astra Observatory is operational!)
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.