Category Archives: Astronomy

Feeding my cluster habit

Messiers 3 and 5 have become something of a fixation in my attempts to do some DSO imaging with the 127 Mak, but this night they were joined by the second Messier cluster in Hercules, M92. I think these may … Continue reading

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Modded PST fitted to a dovetail

Someone suggested to me that Munsen rings might be a good way to fix my PST to a dovetail. As they looked far more straightforward than having to turn some fittings from solid aluminium I thought I’d give them a … Continue reading

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Another accidental ISS

It seems as though sometimes you just can’t keep these people out of your images…

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Another crack at M3 and M5

The same details as my previous attempt the day before, but I think these ones are a little better. Focus is sharper, I think, and the colours have come through better.

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Widefield Bootes and Hercules

The night preceeding my M3 and M5 efforts I managed a couple of widefield images of the constellations Bootes and Hercules using just the 450D with the stock 18-55mm lens focused at around 25mm focal length according to the EXIF … Continue reading

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Another couple of 127 Mak Messier objects

Hot on the heels of my “success” with M13, I decided to have a try at M3 and M5. I suffered the same problems with unusable subs for exactly the same reasons: it’s really pushing the mount too hard to … Continue reading

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Coronado PST “Stage 0.5” mod

A short while ago I purchased a slightly damaged PST for solar Ha viewing. Not wishing to stump up the price of a Tal 100RS just yet, but wanting to make life somewhat easier for imaging and not being entirely … Continue reading

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DSO Imaging with a 127 Mak

It’s often said that slow focal ratio telescopes are unsuitable for DSO imaging and in the general case I’d probably agree. However, having seen a few other imaging attempts with a 127 Mak I thought it might be interesting to … Continue reading

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Ghosting problem on Moon images solved

I hope I have now resolved my problem with ghosting appearing on lunar images with my 450D. I finally had a night with a clear period long enough to take subs of the Moon at multiple exposure times. First I … Continue reading

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My first piece of astronomy-related lathework

I’ve been wanting to tinker with Mire de Collimation to collimate my dob, but I didn’t have any handy way to fit a webcam into the eyepiece holder without removing the lens. So I found a lump of waste (and … Continue reading

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