Showing posts with label equipment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equipment. Show all posts
Friday, July 1, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Akule 1st light!
Technically 2nd, but 1st under the stars on the mount.
I've since moved the focuser to the underside and don't need to get as high on the ladder or could even user a shorter ladder or step stool.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Akule Sonotube Tubework v1
I had to reposition the secondary spider 2x times...
and no, no paint on the inside!
net-net focus is achieved for all my wants
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Custom mirror cell adapter ring
Big huge thanks to Emerson Sox for the help designing and building this work of art!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Jupiter 20091002
Yes, my C8i SE Single Armed Fork decided to take a break. Ironically just after I got the CGE mount back! The power wasn't getting to the hand controller just at the end of this session and the mount is on it's way to Celestron from out of warranty repair. :(
Good news is the seeing was pretty good.
Not much else going on other than the Z-shaped / Zorro in the upper left!
Wish my mount a speedy recovery, The OTA will ride the CGE for a while... *sob* *sob* I'll have to one scope it for a while! :)
Friday, September 18, 2009
I got my CGE back!!!!
I was very excited to get my CGE back from repair at Celestron and as luck would have I got a good 3 nights out of 4 of clear skies and an old moon!I was tough getting back into the swing of things, but I'm happy to have it back. The last night I split my time between the C8i SE (Orange tube on your Left) and the CGE with the DSO rig (White scopes on your Right).
As the haze and clouds began to build this last night I took off my DLSR from the white, DSO setup and had to pose as I was so excited to have both out and running at the same time.
I was sitting in an observing chair that I won from the SCT User Contest 2008 (http://www.darkatmospheres.com/contest/2008/). It's actually a great chair!!
Now to process all my data! :)
Mike
Sunday, July 12, 2009
How I got into Astronomy...
Like a few kids I was given a gift of a small refractor when I was a around 7 years old or so, I really don't remember. I do remember not really knowing what to do with it other than look at the moon. I really miss or am sad that I didn't know enough or wasn't fast enough to get out and look for Halley's comet! :(
I lost interest until high school, when I resurrected that old 50mm red Tasco but got frustrated by lack of tracking on planets at high res... my folks helped me find a nice 60mm on an equatorial head (Japanese model that simply said astronomy on it or something!) I still have that one and have let the kids abuse it a bit time and again when they can stay up late...
In suburban Buffalo high school (North Tonawanda SHS), I decided to 'get a degree in astronomy' and go to state school for college on Long Island at SUNY Stony Brook. I found out the hard way studying astronomy is all physics and physics is all math. Then while I was an undergrad research assistant, I realized that I had to get a PhD just to follow the scientific process of acquiring mass amounts of boring data only to have it painstakingly reduced just in effort to hold up and go look at this chart ... we still need more data.... BORING!
at that time in the mid to late 90's the Internet thing was taking off, so i hit the IT circuit in the NYC area for the years following graduation.
Living in the NYC area had me longing for a larger scope, but I knew it wasn't worth the effort with all the Light Pollution.
Then in '03, desiring to start a family and a quieter life like I had growing up in Buffalo, wife and I moved to RTP with Cisco (I've been employed at Cisco since '00)
THEN, I got serious about a scope again, I had my eye's on the compact 8" SCT design for years and the C8i fit my need for lightweight portability. I got it in time for the '05 Mars opposition and have learned a HUGE amount since then.
I do enjoy this as a hobby a bit more than as a career! :) Although, some days I do wish I got paid for it!
Mike
I lost interest until high school, when I resurrected that old 50mm red Tasco but got frustrated by lack of tracking on planets at high res... my folks helped me find a nice 60mm on an equatorial head (Japanese model that simply said astronomy on it or something!) I still have that one and have let the kids abuse it a bit time and again when they can stay up late...
In suburban Buffalo high school (North Tonawanda SHS), I decided to 'get a degree in astronomy' and go to state school for college on Long Island at SUNY Stony Brook. I found out the hard way studying astronomy is all physics and physics is all math. Then while I was an undergrad research assistant, I realized that I had to get a PhD just to follow the scientific process of acquiring mass amounts of boring data only to have it painstakingly reduced just in effort to hold up and go look at this chart ... we still need more data.... BORING!
at that time in the mid to late 90's the Internet thing was taking off, so i hit the IT circuit in the NYC area for the years following graduation.
Living in the NYC area had me longing for a larger scope, but I knew it wasn't worth the effort with all the Light Pollution.
Then in '03, desiring to start a family and a quieter life like I had growing up in Buffalo, wife and I moved to RTP with Cisco (I've been employed at Cisco since '00)
THEN, I got serious about a scope again, I had my eye's on the compact 8" SCT design for years and the C8i fit my need for lightweight portability. I got it in time for the '05 Mars opposition and have learned a HUGE amount since then.
I do enjoy this as a hobby a bit more than as a career! :) Although, some days I do wish I got paid for it!
Mike
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Astronomy - Equipment - DSO Setup
My new CGE setup:
CGE Mount (not CGEM and not CGE-pro)
Meade LXD55 6" Mak-Newt with custom focuser and rings
102mm Achromatic retractor for guiding and or imaging.
*Not shown* 60mm finder with diag and eyepiece.
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