Hello My Old Friend
Visiting our Closest Galactic Neighbor… … Continue readingHello My Old Friend
Enjoying Your Time At the Eyepiece
Links for a practical guide to visual astronomy … Continue readingEnjoying Your Time At the Eyepiece
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: … Continue readingSpring Galaxy Challenge – Status: Complete!
Photon Philosophy
Photons bounced around in this alien star for a hundred thousand years or so… … Continue readingPhoton Philosophy
ORION – A Completed Project
A Giant 2.5 Gigapixel image of the Orion Constellation by Matt Harbison. … Continue readingORION – A Completed Project
The Marathon Sky Survey
A new project begins… … Continue readingThe Marathon Sky Survey
Happy Holidays!
I don’t -for one second… … Continue readingHappy Holidays!
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 panel mosaic of the region
Rock & Roll
My recent upgrades to my well-loved dob. … Continue readingRock & Roll
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) … Continue readingWeird Solitude
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 my new Takahashi system. Learning
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 available with just one exposure.
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 right (and not wrong) that
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 we enjoy the company! Follow
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 sensor tech, and precision tracking
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 Imaging Observatoy (or MaRIO). It’s
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 failures. It took all of
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 research to find the best