TAG Nebula
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
M16, The Eagle Nebula in Sagittarius
I shot this on the third night of GSSP 2010. This is 1h 20m total exposure, four 20m subframes, shot with Cassie/350D. Scope was pointed West at the time.
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
M20, The Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius
I shot this on the third night of GSSP 2010. This is 1h 20m total exposure, four 20m subframes, shot with Cassie/350D. Scope was pointed West at the time.
Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
GSSP Night 3
After two nights of unmitigated success with Pumpkin, I decided to “zoom in” a little (well, a lot, really), and put up Cassie on the third night of the star party. Mounting […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
IC1848, The Soul Nebula
I shot this on the second night of GSSP 2010. This is 2h total exposure, six 20m subframes, shot with Pumpkin/350D.
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
The Veil Nebula in Cygnus
I shot this on the second night of GSSP 2010. This is 1h total exposure, three 20m subframes, shot with Pumpkin/350D.
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Rho Ophiucus region
I shot this on the second night of GSSP 2010. This is 1h total exposure, three 20m subframes, shot with Pumpkin/350D.
GSSP Night 2
With no polar alignment or setup required this evening, this was my first “full” night with Pumpkin. I started around dusk with some exposure bracketing on Rho Ophiucus, a nebular area of […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
IC1805, The Heart Nebula in Casseiopeia
I shot this on the first night of GSSP 2010. This is 1h 20m total exposure, four 20m subframes, shot with Pumpkin/350D. I lost one frame to sunrise and one to a […]
GSSP Night 1
We left the house around 8am, 4 people, with a packed trailer, Skybox, and “way back”. We headed north via Chico and Susanville. Let’s call it “the scenic route”. The drive was […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
The Veil Nebula in Cygnus
The Veil Nebula is a stark test of your optical system. There is a huge brightness range among the various pieces. The size of the object is pretty staggering, too. And there’s […]
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.