TAG Veronica
ATM / Gear / Techniques / Telescope
Veronica – collimation problems
Veronica has never quite recovered from the Frankenstein act I pulled on her when I was trying to get the RCC working, and she has one remaining thorn in her side, a […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
Last minute scramble
I’m in the process of changing houses. Among all the other concerns, this means that Ad Astra Observatory at Newark, CA is nearing the end of its run. I’ve had a lot […]
ATM / Gear / Mount / Telescope
Veronica Dob conversion
Veronica is now a Dob/Equatorial Newtonian! I have been wanting to do this for years. I am forever sitting around on a nice night, camera cranking away on the mount shooting something, […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC6939, Open Cluster in Cygnus
Again, Cygnus is not really my first thought when it comes to open clusters (at least, not ones that seem to have no nebulosity surrounding them). But this cluster could rival anything […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC6946, Spiral Galaxy in Cygnus
Cygnus is not generally the area of sky you think of when you think “hey, showpiece galaxy”. But here you go. NGC 6946 has been dodging me for years, so I decided […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography
NGC4565, Edge-on Spiral Galaxy in Coma Berenices
Normally, I don’t go in much for edge-on galaxies. I just don’t think that I really get enough pixels to work with for the amount of effort that goes in. But NGC4565 […]
Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography / Maintenance / Observatory / Observing Reports
Five hours of Guided images
…with zero dropped subframes. I spent a little time refining the polar alignment last night. I am still getting some drift while running unguided; I calculated it to be about 6′ from […]
Deep Sky / Gear / Long Exposure Photography / Mount / Telescope
Veronica gets a shot at the NJP
Buoyed with the success of the NJP with Pumpkin, I decided to start upping the ante. Pumpkin was mounted offset to one side, but I decided that Veronica should be balanced over […]
8″ scope mods
I have several birds and several stones and I am thinking about applying the latter to the former in a particular way. Here’s what I’m talking about. Veronica is an 8″ f/5 […]
General / Maintenance / Techniques
Bob’s Knobs
I spent a long time collimating Veronica the other day, with the new autocollimator I bought. That experience convinced me to buy Bob’s Knobs for Veronica and Cassie. I knew I would […]
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.