Posts
Groundbreaking! Building the Astro Shed
This post isn’t about astrophotography, but rather a place to do it from. My yard is pretty much out of the question, trees all around, with only a view of the northern sky. You know what else is north? Uptown Charlotte. I was thrilled when I learned that our local astronomy club had an observatory with much darker skies than I have.
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Finally got back out under the stars
It’s been quite a while since I was able to get out to the observatory and actually manage to capture some photons.
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First Light with the Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4, Paramount MyT, and Atik 16200 Mono
After waiting so long for the equipment, I finally had all the pieces of the puzzle. Miraculously, the first Saturday (July 14, 2018) after finally getting the last piece (another counterweight) it was clear with a fairly new moon. I packed up the family truckster with my stuff (I really should take pictures along the way!) and headed out to the observatory.
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The Mount: Paramount MyT
I ordered pretty much the entire rig at the same time– the mount, OTA, camera, filter wheel, filters, guide camera, tripod, and an extra 10 lb weight for good measure. I already had a guide scope that I planned to use. About half of the equipment was in stock when I ordered, but I was aware that my mount wasn’t going to arrive at the same time as everything else; it was quoted as about a six-week lead time.
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Power, Control, and Dew, oh my!
The last chunk of stuff from the initial bullet list (see “Pulled the trigger…”) I want to talk about together.
I needed a way to control all of this stuff
I needed a way to power all of this stuff
And definitely needed a way to prevent dew from wreaking havoc on everything
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