Stargazer95050's most commented articles

It is not enough to understand astronomy -- I can't think of any other photography subject so depended on good weather. Guess why astronomers wish each others "Clear skies". To avoid unnecessary trips only to find the sky cloudy, it is useful to learn how to read various weather reports & maps. And if you are lucky, you may even find a suitable weather webcam nearby.

Collimating a reflector telescope may not be a "want to" but more of a "have to do" task to get better results. This article is a summary of my experiences and not an all-out instruction on how to handle each & every scope. If you find any mistakes or have corrections & suggestions feel free to comment or email me

For this article, I use the eclipse on April 15th 2014 as an example and as a location I have picked San Francisco. The path of the moon & the timing is dependent on your own location and you will have to make adjustments for that. Here are some examples and a bit of background of the various attempts : www.ipernity.com/doc/stargazer95050/album/389379

There are many different ways to enjoy the beauty of the night sky and in this series of articles I want to share some of my experiences. From simple visual observation to increasingly challenging astro-photography setups.

Observing stars becomes easier if you don't have to constantly make adjustments. This is even more important, if you want to make long-exposure photos of the sky. The solution is simple & elegant -- the Earth rotates around it's axis and if you counteract that rotation, you keep looking at the same position in the sky. There are different names for solutions to do that, most notably an "equatorial mount". Barndoor- and other star-tracking accessories all use the same principle and require the same preparation steps -- THE POLAR ALIGNMENT

The power requirements will change as you progress from using a tripod + camera to a (small) tracking telescope with a SLR and up to a more complex setup using auto-guiding (with a laptop), a larger mount, CCD-imager & dew- heater(s). In this article, I describe the more successful implementations & outline the way, technological improvements have kept up with the increasing demand for DC power for a mobile telescope setup.

Today's GOTO telescopes are a great help to novice stargazers and a timesaver to more seasoned astronomers. Pushing a couple of buttons and you can command the telescope to move from one star to the next nebula. Yet that hand-controller interface isn't very intuitive to use to beginners and it would be a lot nicer if you could simply use star maps and point & click

In the previous blog entry, I talked about the GOTO capabilities and the usefulness of computers to provide sky maps and provide easier accessible telescope controls. All those solutions are "blind" and here I will explain how to setup a combination of tools that will utilize your existing mount+camera setup and provide you with feedback on the telescope's actual position. And also automatically correct the position..

Hooking up a SLR to a telescope can yield good images. But they still can be improved. And using a more specialized CCD-camera for astronomy is one possibility to do that. Here some of the challenges that will await you.

The tools like Vixen POLARIE, iOptron SKYTRACKER and the ASTROTRAC all have their use and fans. And they are capable to move a small camera setup and effectively eliminate startrails. They are small and comparatively easy to use but are quite expensive for what they can do. They also have limitations and here I want to point to the benefits of a real EQ mount. Some of these mounts cost about as much as any of these devices once you add up all the costs for the additional accessories.

GOOD PREPARATIONS are in my opinion some of the best ingredients to any successful venture, astrophotography & otherwise. If I have to tell you WHY you want to look at the stars, you've comet to the wrong place to find an answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. SCOUTING WHERE to shoot is one important step : /stargazer95050/657919 DECIDING WHAT objects to photograph : /stargazer95050/704191 PLANNING WHEN to shoot is another : /stargazer95050/659063 DECIDING WHAT equipment suits the task best : PRACTICE HOW to shoot is just as important : /stargazer95050/657921

Here is the "dream" solution" a high-capacity Li-Ion battery with regulated & protected 9V output capable of delivering 5A and a connector to match the Nikon body (that package would need to include a small AC-adapter to recharge the battery) Compare that to the most practical, cheapest yet easiest & most reliable solution : /stargazer95050/31956033 any 12V battery -- preferably _NOT_ Li-Ion because most of these batteries have limited output current and require very special charge…

A standardized image format is something most users take for granted -- JPG, GIF, PNG and even TIFF are household names when it comes to (web)-images & editing. If you use a dSLR, you have gotten used to adding a tool or two, to process the Nikon or Canon RAW formats. With the astronomy cameras, the formats & necessary conversions become a real mess -- especially if you use a one-shot color "OSC" camera.

I am only recommending items I think they are useful -- it doesn't mean I have purchased & tested each & every item. I will explain, why I think this is a good (or a bad/expensive) choice. Please don't take this "shopping list" too literal -- it is a list I've compiled from my own experience with the CGEM & iEQ45 and I want to point out important accessories you may miss during your 1st or 2nd round of shopping. Disclaimer : These are my personal opinions -- I have received no compensation for this blog entry

As you browse through telescope selections, you inevitably come across all kinds of telescopes and may wonder why I never mention these. Here I'll talk about the differences between VISUAL OBSERVATION and ASTRO- PHOTOGRAPHY. Visual observation is just as amazing as astrophotography and I suggest you do BOTH. The requirements for visual observation are more relaxed compared to astro-photography and if photos are your main goal, you always can swap the camera for an eye-piece and go visual. The opposite move, using a telescope setup intended for visual use to do photography, isn't that easy.