Jun 122016
 

Questar makes a really good wedge and pier assembly, but 1) It’s over $1600, and 2) I already have an AstroTrac wedge and pier.

So, with a piece of 1/4″ thick 6061 aluminum and a little CNC mill work, the Questar and the AstroTrac are now joined.

Here’s the basic plate:

The right portion attaches to the AstroTrac wedge, and the left to the base of the Questar.

This little loop is for the AstroTrac’s polar finder scope. The three small holes will have 1/8″ diameter neodymium magnets epoxied into them for securing the polar finder.

Here it is completed and all together:

And a better view of the plate from underneath:

The scope’s center of gravity is almost perfectly over the wedge, and the polar finder is invaluable for setting up the Questar.

 Posted by at 1:25 am
Jun 222015
 

This was a relatively faint aurora. Shows up well in photos, but hardly visible to the naked eye. Taken from Mount Pack Monadnock, New Hampshire. That’s the moon setting on the left, and lights from Manchester on the right.

 Posted by at 10:41 am
Nov 302011
 

The elusive green flash captured in 2006 from Key West.

About 5 Minutes Out

As the sun gets low in the sky, its light is refracted through a thicker and thicker section of the atmosphere. Eventually, the atmosphere not only refracts the light but begins to disperse it. Redder colors towards the horizon, and greener near the sun’s top.

As the last bit of sun vanishes below the horizon, there is a fraction of a second when only the green portion is left.

The Green Flash

For many years, the Green Flash was only observed visually and was thought to be a complimentary color after-image on the retina caused by the disappearance of the bright red sun below the horizon. Only after the invention of color photography was the Green Flash captured on film and its true nature understood.

 Posted by at 3:53 am
Nov 232011
 

This shot was taken in central Nevada while on vacation. it is REALLY dark there – to get this detail in a 2-minute exposure. The foreground is illuminated by starlight, and Wendover Utah, about 30 miles away.

Southern Milky Way

 Posted by at 5:53 am
Jun 232011
 

I travelled to Dubai to cover the June 15th Total Lunar Eclipse live for SLOOH. Here is my setup on the hotel balcony.

Even though it was the wee hours of the morning, the temperature was still in the low 100’s. A nice place in general, but don’t visit there in summer. Step outside and you literally burst into flames.

Dubai Eclipse Setup

 Posted by at 2:55 pm
Feb 282011
 

Just finished updating all the mineral photos (bigger, cleaned up backgrounds, better color balance, etc.) and also posted several new ones including the first attempt at photographing a fluorescent piece.

Drill down to the photos by name or by location.

 Posted by at 3:53 am
Jun 042010
 

I just got a new scanner which is able to handle medium format film, so I have started scanning in old negatives taken with my Mamiya C220 and Pentax 6×7.

These aurora were from the summer of 2004 and were taken from Miller State Park, on Pack Monadnock Mountain, New Hampshire.

May 152010
 

After several trips down to Florida and many launch scrubs for weather and other issues, we finally got a payoff!

This was recorded in 720p HD with a Pentax K-7 DSLR mounted on a William Optics APO Refractor.

For the full effect, make sure you watch it in 720HD mode, full screen.

Here’s the setup; mine on the right and Tom’s on the left. The big fuzzy grey thing is just a windscreen for the video microphone.

Imaging Setup for Shuttle Launch