This is how the twin observatories are positioned in the garden at the New Forest Observatory.
Spent today (between the showers) fitting the all Aluminium pier to the concrete support base. Contrary to what it looks like in the photo – the top of the pier is perfectly flat and horizontal.
The “Last Post” guys did a really great job on the octagonal decking, fast, precise and accurate. A really excellent job and I’m very pleased with the result. So I now have a 12-foot wide octagonal deck ready and waiting … Continue reading
Today the decking experts from “The Last Post” arrived first thing to get on with the octagonal deck build. They came armed with the most formidable piece of sawing kit I’ve seen – but boy does it cope with the … Continue reading
As per usual, the skies simply don’t get dark enough this time of year for me to bother imaging deep-sky objects. I will probably try to get some ultra-wide-field Milky Way shots using the AstroTrac and the DSLR this year … Continue reading
I have finally found someone that will build the 12 foot diameter octagonal wooden deck for the mini-WASP array at a price that doesn’t require me to take out a second mortgage. Clearly the economic climate isn’t so bad that … Continue reading
Today I removed the Sky 90 from the C11 and replaced it with a little Celestron refractor that I use as a guide scope. The Hyperstar III has once again been fitted to the C11 for some phenomenally fast (f#2) … Continue reading
Huge thanks go to Terry Platt and Michael Hattey of Starlight Xpress Ltd who made me a deal I simply could not refuse on imaging cameras, a guide camera, and filter wheels. Thank you for sponsoring the mini-WASP project guys … Continue reading
The imaging object of the month for May 2011 is a Messier object, Spiral Galaxy M106 in Canes Venatici. I particularly like this galaxy and have imaged it several times – it looks to me like a piece of celestial … Continue reading
Here are the two sets of narrowband filters from Ian King Imaging. The filters in separate boxes are the H-Beta filters – those in the set of 3 are the (Hubble) H-Alpha, OIII, SII narrowband filters. All sitting on top … Continue reading
