Review: Terrans Industry OnStep V4 kit for CG5
For a few years I’ve been accumulating the bits required to create a much more portable setup for my venerable old CG5 mount. This mount was purchased in about 2002…
Limits on use of spherical mirrors on Newtonian telescopes
(Reprinted from David Knisely, Prairie Astronomy Club, Inc. to ensure it doesn’t disappear into the ether) In a Newtonian telescope, a parabolic mirror is usually used, since thatsurface focuses light…
Casting A Tile Grinding Tool
Today I cast a tool to use to grind my 10″ mirror blank, something I haven’t done in a looong time. But it went pretty well. The one unusual thing…
Truncating a Telescope
So the conclusion of my experimentation with the 10″ F/4.7 on the NEQ6 is too long, too heavy. So it’s off the mount, being replaced by my 8″ SCT with…
Kiln Controller Progress
Well that was easy, the kiln-controller software installed on a base Astroberry Server image no problem at all, simulation working just fine. I like Astroberry because it has a very…
Glass Project Phase 1
I lucked into the purchase of an old kiln, 17.5″ inside diameter, with good fire brick and elements for $50Cdn on Kijiji! So, I’ll be working on the electronics to…
Building a RoboScope
I was fortunate enough in November 2021 to happen upon a fantastic deal ($900CDN) on a used 10” F/4.7 (254mm/1200mm) reflector on a Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro mount (see below). This…
9″ F/5 Splitring Telescope Project
A small project I will probably have to get back to (after 20 years!) is a 9″ F/5 splitting telescope project. This project is a bit of a prototype for…
Drumming it up
After some discussions on Cloudynights.com ATM forum I decided that trying to bend my own plywood would involve a lot of trial and error so I just went ahead and…
Rebuilding the NTT16
So as the summer solstice approaches and I don’t use my astronomy time in my shed with a 10″ in an NEQ6 taking pictures, it’s time to start working on…