TAG Veronica
General / Maintenance / Optics / Techniques
Rainy weekend, perfect for maintenance
I had a bunch of maintenance piling up in the obvservatory, so I decided to do some of it since it’s raining all weekend. I spent a little time getting the mount […]
Gear / General / Maintenance
Orthogonality – Veronica’s rings
I dropped off Veronica’s tube rings at a local machine shop this afternoon. I am trying to make sure that the scope is perfectly parallel to the mount plate. I doubt it […]
Deep Sky / General / Long Exposure Photography / Observing Reports
Welcome back, Veronica — and welcome back, awful guiding problems
Well, it was clear tonight. That’s about the best thing that happened tonight. The scope booted up and is working eh, ok. The polar alignment is off, and I never did check […]
ATM / Electronics / Focuser / Gear / General / Maintenance / Observing Reports / Optics / Techniques / Technology
Murphy was an optimist.
Clear Sky Clock said it would be cloudy all night, so of course it stayed 90% clear until about midnight, when it socked in. But I’m getting ahead of myself… I decided […]
General / Maintenance / Observing Reports
Cloudy.
There were high, thin clouds all night. Only the brightest stars were shining through. So I decided to spend the evening preparing for better nights. I mounted the DAs on Veronica, so […]
Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography / Maintenance / Optics
RCC first light
The camera is out there capturing an unguided shot of M42 for the RCC’s first light image. …and here it is. As usual, it’s another M42. This is 30 frames, 2 minutes […]
Focuser / Maintenance / Optics
At long last, progress
Well, it only took 5 months, but I finally got Veronica to focus using the new RCC and the off-axis guider! It’s for real this time. The problem has been stated and […]
Focuser / Gear / Maintenance
New Equipment – The next setback
Buoyed by my success at getting the new coma corrector to focus using the shortened focuser, I tried it again with the “production” focuser, which is 3/8” taller. I recollimated as far […]
Astro knowledge / Focuser / Gear / Maintenance / Techniques
New equipment works, finally.
In order to get the new coma corrector working with the OAG inline, I had to try a lot of things before I found the right set that shoved the focal plane […]
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” […]
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.