TAG FS-2
Tuning up the mount
Now that the moon’s big again, it’s time for a little maintenance. I had two main things on the to-do list. First, the new drive system has been making a constant high-pitched […]
Camera / Gear / General / Maintenance / Techniques
Starting to get used to the gear
There are a lot of variables in astronomy in general, and in astrophotography in particular. This must be aligned to that must be set like this… so that the rig will just […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography / Mount
Yet Another Test Shot of M42
This was from the final day of shooting before I figured out the configuration for the mount setup (first, connect as LX-200 and set the serial port with arrow keys, not the […]
Gear / Mount / Observatory / Technology
Lessons learned
Well, I had 2 clear nights over the weekend, and came up empty for a new photo — I got lots of data last night, but the object is big and dim, […]
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.