TAG Target Selection
Astro knowledge / Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Veronica's Last Stand — the final straw
In a last-ditch effort to make Veronica work with the mount, and since it’s Friday night, I decided to really tweak the scope before starting up, then do a series of “test” […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Veronica's Last Stand — playing with exposure length
I only have a few more things I can try before I have to give up on Veronica as an imaging scope on The Lemon-i. Tonight, I added a 2.8x “Klee” Barlow […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Fall preview – NGC7635
Cepheus is still a little low in the sky to get a full treatment. But I wanted to see what would happen if I shot an object that was low enough that […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Veronica not showing her full potential — NGC 6888
I’m having a tracking problem with the mount. This is all eerily familiar. Things run fine for a couple of hours and then the wheels fall off. This results in only being […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Working my way through a "zoomed" set of the images from last month — Sh2-101
Saturday was cloudy, but Sunday night was clear, so I set up the scopes for another night of photography. I decided to shoot Sh2-101, The Tulip Nebula. I am still working on […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
The Astrophotography Moon is back — Veronica gets a chance at Ha
Now that the Gemini mount is back in service, I decided to try out higher-magnification photography with the new Ha filter. I had a little maintenance to do first; focusing both cameras […]
Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
In search of more Cygnus nebulosity — Sh2-115, 116, and 112
It was cloudy on Saturday night, but Sunday night I decided to try out another run at the Cygnus Milky Way. I have a decently large target list of nebulae that are […]
Pumpkin hits FOV limit – IC1396
I went off in search of more Ha targets in Cygnus tonight. Among “famous” astrophoto targets, IC1396 is one of those huge targets that defy most attempts to capture them in one […]
Going off-script: More Ha in Cygnus
I am attempting to work my way around Cygnus, and intended to shoot the region near Sadr (IC1318). This region is large enough that even Pumpkin can only capture a piece of […]
Cutting swathes through the summer Milky Way
The shutter was open for about 4 hours total last night. These have had darks and bias subtracted but no flats (my flat box is dead). This is all through the Ha […]
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.