Category Archives: Astronomy

Star Adventuring

Posted on April 25, 2018 by james

My new-to-me, but used, Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount has arrived! As discussed in another post, the plan is to use this on a Neewer Carbon Fiber (sic) 65 tripod to mount a TS Photoline 72mm OTA and Canon 450D, possibly … Continue reading →

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Baader D-ERF for PST stage 2 mod arrives

Posted on April 22, 2018 by james

A small but nonetheless vital, not to mention expensive, element (*cough* 🙂 of my stage 2 PST mod has now arrived — a 75mm Baader D-ERF that I plan to fit inside my Evostar 100. The filter arrived in a … Continue reading →

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Tripod for Skywatcher Star Adventurer

Posted on April 22, 2018 by james

Reading around to pull together ideas for a tripod for the Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount (particularly with a view to airline travel), a number of people are apparently using the Zomei Z888C carbon fibre tripod and it did indeed look … Continue reading →

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PST stage 2 mod

Posted on April 21, 2018 by james

A few years back I modded my Coronado PST solar scope to remove the “black box” and replace it with a proper focuser. Since then a potential “stage 2” mod has always been nagging at the back of my mind, … Continue reading →

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TS Photoline 72mm OTA unboxing

Posted on April 21, 2018 by james

In a blatant attempt to stop the sunny weather clear in its tracks I recently ordered a 72mm TS Photoline OTA with the intention of being able to take it on holiday flights in my hand luggage. I was therefore … Continue reading →

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First results from the micrometeorite collector

Posted on January 19, 2017 by james

A couple of years ago I posted about making a micrometeorite collector that used a neodymium magnet to capture magnetic material in flow of rainwater from our house roof. Months later we removed the magnet from the collector and collected … Continue reading →

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Trouble never comes alone

Posted on November 8, 2014 by james

Just as I thought I had a temporary resolution to the previous problem with oaCapture, another one gets thrown in my face 🙁 Inclusion of the cfitsio library causes binary portability problems left, right and centre because the libraries have … Continue reading →

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Just when the finishing post is in sight…

Posted on November 8, 2014 by james

I thought I was going to be able to finish off everything for the new release of oaCapture today, but just at the last moment I’ve found a problem with the support for the Starlight Xpress filter wheel. I’ve written … Continue reading →

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The joy of supporting filter wheels

Posted on October 22, 2014 by james

I’m working on support for filter wheels for oaCapture at the moment.  I’ve had a few hardware niggles that I’ll document separately, but just getting the code right is proving something of a struggle.  Every time I make a change … Continue reading →

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Astro EQ conversion of EQ3-2 (part 5)

Posted on October 17, 2014 by james

Once the RA motor mounting was sorted I started on the DEC bracket which is somewhat simpler, being made from a section of 4mm thick aluminium angle. Again there’s only one bolt for fixing to the mount, so the bracket … Continue reading →

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