Author Archives: james

Observation Report, 20 July 2012

Posted on July 21, 2012 by james

With almost horizon-to-horizon blue skies yesterday evening I gambled on putting out both the 127 Mak on the EQ3-2 so I could polar align it for any solar imaging that I can find time for, and the ST120 with its … Continue reading →

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Dovetail Adaptor for Old EQ3-2 Mounts

Posted on July 12, 2012 by james

My EQ3-2 is one of the older models that has fittings for scope rings, but doesn’t have any form of dovetail clamp. The new models have both. I prefer to use dovetails as it makes swapping scopes around between mounts … Continue reading →

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Solar PV Generation Update, July 2012

Posted on July 3, 2012 by james

Unless you have some strange rain fetish, June has been an awful month weather-wise. There’s been hardly a single day here when it didn’t rain and even when rain wasn’t falling the sky has been mostly cloudy. According to the … Continue reading →

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50mm Binocular Objective Finder Howto

Posted on June 28, 2012 by james

My second right-angle finder based on a binocular objective is now built (if not yet cosmetically finished) and this time I’ve taken photos so I can now document the construction process. My aim was to make a functioning right-angle finder … Continue reading →

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Revisiting Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude

Posted on June 23, 2012 by james

Back in March I tried checking stars in Usra Major to get an idea of the naked eye limiting magnitude (NELM) for my home. The seeing wasn’t great that night, but I obtained a figure of 5.55 for NELM. Earlier … Continue reading →

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Xbox Live Camera Base Removal

Posted on June 23, 2012 by james

If you’re modding the Xbox Live camera for astro imaging then the base is just one more thing to get in the way. Here’s how to remove it. I’ll assume you’ve already got the front shell off to start with. … Continue reading →

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Fan-Cooled Xbox Live Camera Howto

Posted on June 23, 2012 by james

I modded a second Xbox Live camera to add a fan today and this time took photos, so here’s how it’s done. This one is slightly different from the first in that I’ve not chopped down the lens housing to … Continue reading →

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It’s mid-summer, so where’s the Sun?

Posted on June 20, 2012 by james

Someone was asking today why the sky is so bright at night at this time of year, so I had to have a think about where the Sun actually goes… So we’re clear what I’m talking about, let’s say you’re … Continue reading →

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Observation Report, 19th June 2012

Posted on June 20, 2012 by james

Well, it’s been a full month since I last got out with a telescope thanks to the weather, which has been on the wrong side of depressingly atrocious for all of the last four weeks. Despite feeling fairly tired therefore, … Continue reading →

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May 2012 FIT Payment

Posted on June 18, 2012 by james

At the end of May we received our second FIT payment, somewhat less than the first as expected. It does mean however that about 4.3% of the installation cost is now covered. Unfortunately the late Spring and early Summer months … Continue reading →

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