TAG IDAS LPS
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M45, The Pleiades Cluster in Taurus
M45, The Pleiades, Open Cluster/Reflection Nebula in Taurus Second try at M45 with the new 66mm refractor. Still a little noisy; under a very bright waxing gibbous moon. 2 hours of integration […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
B33, The Horsehead Nebula in Orion
Pumpkin first light. I was wrapping up for the night, knew I had the FOV to sort of aim in the general area and probably get my target, and shot one 3min […]
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 / Optics
M42, The Great Orion Nebula
A ho-hum version of M42. The FOV on Pumpkin is really too side for this target (I had the whole Sword of Orion in the FOV. vertically.) but I was having fun […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M31, The Great Andromeda Galaxy
At long last, I have a scope that can give me a shot at M31 again. This is a “test shot” from the first light of Pumpkin, the new 66mm refractor. There […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M27, The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula
I’m having trouble getting the G11/SCT combo to work shooting to the East, for some reason. So, I decided to “make lemonade” and shoot to the West instead. This neatly avoids the […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
M57, The Ring Nebula in Lyra
First attempt at the Ring Nebula. The Ring Nebula has always been a little out of my reach, photographically. At 1′ in diameter, it’s a really, really small object. The Nikon D70’s […]
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 / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
IC 5146, The Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus
First shot at the Cocoon. Apparently, there’s a dark nebula in the area, too, and I probably got it, but I’ll have to go look at the full frame again. There’s probably […]
Astro knowledge / Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography
NGC 7293, The Helix Nebula in Aquarius
I’ve been having trouble with my setting circles lately. But once I got them dialed in, this object was pretty easy to find and photograph. For some reason, the image appears slightly […]
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.