Stargazer95050's articles with the keyword: astronomy

In PART #1, ipernity.com/blog/stargazer95050/4689836 I described the reasons for choosing the Chevy Astro (cargo)-van as the basis for my modifications. And I was able to find one that already had a good amount of camping modifications -- Here I want to show the choices & modifications needed to further optimize the storage & still have convenient access.

This is a list of observations & experiences I have made while building my van. The main use will be to transport my equipment & myself and to get some rest before or after an astro-photography session. Of course, I also will use the van for extended roadtrips and sleep in there, but not all the time. It won't be a mobile home and no #vanlife -- the ASTRO is too small for that. It is more like a sturdy tent on wheels. And my goal was to build it on a small budget (< $4,000) and not use a large RV (mobile home), big van or SUV. Feel free to add your comments & experience with other models.

To begin with, you can use any tethering software -- only later will you use the advantages of solutions tailored to astrophotography. Here I'll discuss both options.

The Moon not only is a stepping stone for humankind's exploration of the universe. The Moon also is a good stepping stone for your astrophotography and often the first distant target people shoot.

Plate-solving is useful -- especially when you use it to correct a telescope's position in real-time . You also can feed the solver an existing photo and manually read the results but using the output can be cumbersome. Manual copy & paste coordinates of input fields of tools like Stellarium helps, but that approach isn't very user friendly. Here's a different take on this -- solve the image and instantly get the sky map of that region. Again, this is using mostly freeeware tools.

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.

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.

Supernovae are among the most powerful events in our universe and they emit unimaginable amounts of energy. And long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away that has happened but it took 11.5 million years and only now does this energy reach us, some of it visible to our eyes. Look up at the sky & search for the M82 "Cigar Galaxy" -- it will be over in a few weeks.

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

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