When I was imaging the Whirlpool galaxy, I didn’t get too far before my secondary mirror was completely coated in dew. I also noticed that even dim stray light would affect the background of my images. So, I needed to solve these problems. A commercial fabric light shroud is available… Continue Reading... "Light shroud and dew shield"
I’ve been working on designing and building an equatorial platform for my telescope. The idea makes sense to me, and there is a lot of trigonometry involved! I’m hoping I got everything calculated and built correctly the first time. I’ll go into more detail on it in the future, once… Continue Reading... "First prototype of the equatorial platform"
I recently learned about camera internal filters, and I might not want one for astrophotography. Basically, cameras tend to have an IR and UV cut filter that also cut some red from the pictures to match how our eyes see red. While good for daytime color photos, this greatly increases… Continue Reading... "Camera modifications"
Well, it took me a while, but I finally figured out what all this buzz is around “collimation.” I am no expert on this, but I wanted to record my discoveries for future reference. Simply put, collimation means making sure that you primary mirror is pointed at the center of… Continue Reading... "The art of collimation"
