Author Archives: james

Garden Visitors

Posted on March 12, 2013 by james

My daughter wanted to photograph some birds for her wildlife club at school and had been trying with a compact camera but not had a huge amount of luck. To make things a bit easier for her I set up … Continue reading →

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New Toy in the Workshop

Posted on March 12, 2013 by james

I’ve been wanting to learn to use one of these for ages and of late it would have been a benefit in a number of projects to be able to create small metal parts, so my Christmas present to myself … Continue reading →

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Auriga and Cancer Wide Field images

Posted on March 12, 2013 by james

The Messier objects in Auriga were some of the first I ever saw through a telescope and it took me ages to find them with my ST80, so I’ve been itching to get a nice wide field view of them … Continue reading →

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First ASI120MC images

Posted on March 12, 2013 by james

A montage of images from my first decent run out with the ASI120MC (in the 127 Mak). Clearly I was a bit heavy-handed with the gain and the equatorial belt is a little burnt out, but ok for an unfamiliar … Continue reading →

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The Meme Must Die

Posted on February 28, 2013 by james

I can’t claim not to have repeated this one a few times myself in the past, but I know better now and I’m seeing it regurgitated so often that it’s time to make a stand. Much of my knowledge of … Continue reading →

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Examples of DSLR Exposure Times for Lunar Imaging

Posted on February 21, 2013 by james

I was struggling a few days ago with some images I’d taken of the Moon because they looked really poor after stacking and sharpening. I’d been experimenting, trying to get a better histogram fill for the images by increasing the … Continue reading →

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Mounting a DSLR on a Telescope Mount

Posted on February 21, 2013 by james

Someone was asking how they could mount their DSLR on a telescope mount such as an EQ3-2 or EQ5. I do this for my wide field images. Here’s how. I have a short dovetail (about 15cm) to which I have … Continue reading →

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New Kid on the Block: The ASI120MC

Posted on February 21, 2013 by james

I’ve been pondering on a dedicated planetary imaging camera for a while. The SPC900 is exceptionally good for what it is, especially as I paid only £5 for mine, but being USB1 the frame rate is limited to 10 fps … Continue reading →

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Red Dot Rifle Sight as a Finder

Posted on February 21, 2013 by james

One of my RDFs died recently. It seems to be something they do. Anyhow, I had a red dot rifle sight sitting around doing nothing, so I removed the mount from the RDF and cut a plate from a bit … Continue reading →

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A Short “Great Red Spot” Animation

Posted on February 21, 2013 by james

From the same night (just a little later) as my previous Io transit images, watch the GRS as Jupiter rotates:

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