I have come across a Tamron SP 70 to 210 mm zoom lens which I plan to use for taking wide-field images. I used a DIY adapter to attach the lens to an astronomy camera. I took images at various focal lengths (70 mm, 135 mm, 160 mm, and 210 mm) and found out that … Continue reading Lagoon and Trifid Nebula
Trifid Nebula M20 captured with a Vixen R114 reflector, an ASI 533MC cooled astronomy camera, dual band H-alpha and O-III filter, with an ASI 174MM guide camera on a 60 mm f/5 guide scope. The dark dust lanes that divide the nebula into three sections are visible in this photo. This photo was imaged and … Continue reading Trifid Nebula M20
Eagle Nebula M16 captured with a Vixen R114 reflector, an ASI 533MC cooled astronomy camera, dual band H-alpha and O-III filter, with an ASI 174MM guide camera on a 60 mm guide scope. This is one of the bright deep-sky objects in the Milky Way region, in the part of the sky where you can … Continue reading Eagle Nebula M16
Lagoon Nebula M8 captured with a 4 in refractor at 565 mm focal length, an ASI 533MC cooled astronomy camera, dual band H-alpha and O-III filter, with an ASI 174MM guide camera. This is the brightest deep-sky object in the Milky Way region, in the part of the sky where you can also find the … Continue reading Lagoon Nebula M8
I have built a controller for my Vixen Great Polaris mount using the OnStep go-to telescope controller developed by Howard Dutton. I used an Arduino Mega 2560 as the main controller board, a pair of LV8729 stepper motor driver, and an HC-05 bluetooth module (which connects to the OnStep Android app). I also built a … Continue reading DIY Telescope Controller | OnStep
I have recently acquired a Vixen R114 Newtonian reflector (114 mm aperture, 900 mm focal length at f/7.9) on a Great Polaris equatorial mount. The mount does not have motors, but I have converted it into a fully-automated go-to and tracking mount capable of unguided exposures of at least 60 seconds (field-tested without guiding). The … Continue reading Vixen R114 on Great Polaris Mount
I have performed filter modifications on a number of DSLR cameras (Canon 450D, 700D, 1200D, 500D, 1000D, 1100D, Nikon D3100, and Fuji X-A1) for me and my colleagues. It involves the removal of the stock UV-IR filter, making the camera more sensitive to H-alpha wavelengths. This modification is helpful only when shooting targets with H-alpha … Continue reading DIY DSLR Filter Modification
Night Sky in Focus 