Camera / Deep Sky / Long Exposure Photography / Techniques

So many wheels…

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It’s been a few nights of unguided astronomy, as I get my feet under me with new gear. The ASI294 continues to make life easy, as it just plugged in where the […]

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Camera / Gear

A new camera for Hilltop Observatory

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I finally bit the bullet and picked up a “real” astro camera, a ZWO ASI294MC Pro. It’s a cooled one-shot-color camera with similar FOV to the Canon T3i that it’s replacing. I […]

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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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