Category Archives: Astronomy

Registax 6 Tutorial

I use Registax for stacking video frames for planetary imaging, but the learning curve is steep and many online tutorials are out of date because the UI seems to change quite significantly between releases. I was pleased therefore when someone … Continue reading

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Jupiter, Venus and Mercury

A poor quality photo, I know, but I was grabbing a few seconds when I should have been doing something else so had to make the best of it. Jupiter is at the top, separated from Venus by what appears … Continue reading

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127 Mak Star Test

There were patches of blue sky this evening, but plenty of thin cloud too, Jupiter and Venus were visible before sunset though, so I decided to get the Mak outside cooling and hope we’d have enough clear sky to do … Continue reading

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EQ3-2 DEC Drive Gearbox Stripdown

With a new DEC motor drive in place, I decided I’d take apart my old DEC drive gearbox to see if it could be improved at all. Once split from the motor I used two pairs of pliers to hold … Continue reading

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EQ3-2 DEC Motor Strip-Down

Having done a fair bit of work trying to improve the motor drive for my EQ3-2 mount I wanted to look particularly at the DEC motor to see if I could improve its performance at all. It’s had a tough … Continue reading

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127 Mak Collimation

I’ve been doing a fair bit of fiddling around with my 127 Mak recently. The initial reason for this was that the mirror had become loose on the carrier mechanism, meaning lots of trouble getting reliable focus. To fix this … Continue reading

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Observation Report, 18 Feb 2012

My plan for this evening was to spend a bit of time collimating the 127 Mak having had it in pieces a week or so back and then attempt some imaging of Mars, but strong winds made that completely impossible. … Continue reading

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EQ3-2 Polar Scope Illuminator

I’ve read a few posting by people who have made polar scope illuminators for their EQ5 mounts and as I find aligning my EQ3-2 very awkward thanks to the lack of illumination of the reticle I decided to attempt to … Continue reading

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Mains Power for Skywatcher Motor Focuser

Now I have the motor focuser on the 127 Mak I decided it might be useful to be able to power it from the mains when the opportunity arose. I had a rummage around for a suitable power connector socket, … Continue reading

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EQ3-2 Mount Tune-Up (Part Three)

My EQ3-2 mount came with a pair of motors installed for the RA and DEC axes. I’ve had no major issue with the RA motor, but backlash in the DEC axis was very bad. Up to now my experience of … Continue reading

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