Don’t Miss Jupiter!
Equipment Review: Rowan AZ100
The Rowan AZ100 is among the pinnacle of Alt/AZ mounts, and depending on your needs, it may be the pinnacle.
Hello My Old Friend
Visiting our Closest Galactic Neighbor…
Enjoying Your Time At the Eyepiece
Links for a practical guide to visual astronomy
Spring Galaxy Challenge – Status: Complete!
For the last few weeks, I’ve been working on the Spring Galaxy challenge provided by the Astronomical League. Utilizing no less than three telescopes and four different magnifications/eyepiece configurations, I got to compare the views under some pretty nice spring skies. The three scopes I used were: my 12″ Meade Lightbridge, a Takahashi Fc-76DS, and a Takahashi Fc-100DZ. All provided wonderful views, but I found myself impressed by the 76DS the most. Even with the extra inch of aperture that the 100DZ afforded, I felt as if the 76DS really had no business being as bright and sharp as it was. Don’t get me wrong, the 100DZ was equally good, but compared side by side, I’d say one would be hard pressed to discern which telescope was being used.
Here are three photos of the setups used:
Lunchtime Solar Astronomy
Sol 4.14.22
Photon Philosophy
Photons bounced around in this alien star for a hundred thousand years or so…
ORION – A Completed Project
A Giant 2.5 Gigapixel image of the Orion Constellation by Matt Harbison.
The Marathon Sky Survey
A new project begins…
Happy Holidays!
I don’t -for one second…
The Deep Dark Sky
Here come the cool crisp fall nights! For the last few weeks I’ve been working on a portion of the Constellation Cygnus. Specifically a 12 […]
Rock & Roll
My recent upgrades to my well-loved dob.
Weird Solitude
This past summer I read John Van Dyke’s book: The Desert. It really sat with me because of his beautiful language describing the desert. I must say I was excited to finish the book after the first few pages. There’s a loyal dog (Cappy)
The Seagull Nebula IC-2177
Data acquired from February 22, 2021 through March 8, 2021 in Marathon, Texas I’m happy to reveal the first mosaic image taken remotely out of […]
Just Out of the Visible Spectrum
I’m having so much fun on my new (to me) telescope system. Not only is it FAST- it’s WIDE! Giant swaths of the sky are […]
Here’s to Perseverance
Today’s the day. Nasa’s new Mars rover touches down! Or- at least I hope it does in one piece. So many things have to go […]
The Long Ride Home
Sleet, snow, ice, and freezing fog, Oh My! We have started our twenty hour, two day, trip home. It’s a LONG ride for sure… luckily […]
All Systems Go!
To say that I’m excited would be an understatement. The upgrade in the observatory is proving to be a game changer. Extremely fast glass, giant […]
Catching Photons
Twice a year, I drive out to Marathon Texas to maintain a telescope I’ve had the privilege of installing and controlling in the Marathon Remote […]
Grand Plans
Yes I did. I had grand plans. Recently I finished a five year project in Orion. On the way to completion I had many problems and […]
A tale of two LRGB filter sets…
Which filters should I buy? Which filters are right for my telescope? The simple answer is- it’s complicated. You’re going to need to do some […]