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"
I watched a video on image processing, and it motivated me to try again with my image of M42. The first step was to mess with the levels in a more careful way. I would start by moving the middle clamp setting closer to the peaks in the histogram. This… Continue Reading... "Trying again with M42"
Two days ago, we had a “super” moon. It was so bright, I could barely even look at it through the telescope with both a moon filter and light pollution filter in. The camera loved it, however. ISO at 100, shutter at 1/50. The false red color is due to… Continue Reading... "“Super” moon"
Also during my first trial run of the veritable “light chariot,” we were able to easily find M42 in the Orion constellation. It very clearly presented itself as we trained the largest eyepiece I had on it. I had never viewed a nebula before on my own, so it was… Continue Reading... "First view of M42"
The first night I was able to use the telescope, the moon was mostly full. Of course, I had to photograph it a bit to test everything out. My focusing skills are undoubtedly poor, but I managed a few decent shots that I was able to stack together. Continue Reading... "First shots of the moon"
I’ve always been interested in astronomy. When I was younger, I started attending an astronomy club at Quail Hollow park in Hartville, Ohio. I had a basic refractor telescope that I received as a child, and I tried my damnedest to use it effectively. The organizer of the astronomy club… Continue Reading... "Hello world!"
