Astro knowledge / Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography / Optics

M27, The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula

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It was this image that convinced me that I needed to do the filterectomy on the Nikon D70. According to S&T, The Dumbbell, The Coathanger, and Albireo form an equilateral triangle.

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Long Exposure Photography

The Dark Horse – Milky Way near Sagittarius

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A widefield shot towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy in the vicinity of Scorpius and Sagittarius. Note the “Dark Horse” Nebula, an extensive dust cloud that resembles a rearing horse. […]

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Gear / Long Exposure Photography

The Great Rift – Milky Way from Cygnus to Aquila

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A widefield shot of the Milky Way galaxy in the vicinity of Cygnus the Swan and Aquila the Eagle. Note the “Great Rift”, an dust cloud that blots out most of the […]

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Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography

M20, The Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius

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Shot while up in Shingletown, CA during July 2005 and finally(!) processed and uploaded in August 2006…

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Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography

M8, The Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius

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Shot while up in Shingletown, CA during July 2005 and finally(!) processed and uploaded in August 2006…

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Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography

M16, The Eagle Nebula in Serpens

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Shot while up in Shingletown, CA during July 2005 and finally(!) processed and uploaded in August 2006…

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Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography

M31, The Great Andromeda Galaxy

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Shot while up in Shingletown, CA during July 2005 and finally(!) processed and uploaded in August 2006… This image is in grayscale because the original had messed up colors from amp glow.

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Techniques

Polar Alignment Calculations

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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 […]

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Gear / Observatory / Telescope

Special Guest Star takes the mount at Hilltop O

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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 […]

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General / Maintenance / Observatory

Dome shutter is motorized again!

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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 […]

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ATM

Trixie 2017 – tube mods

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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 […]

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