Rim Shot

I took this shot of the moon at Rancho Venado a couple of months ago. It looks like the sky is smiling!

You might ask "hey, where are all those cool new shots with your cool new astro rig?"

Patience, Grasshopper (this reference only works if you were alive and watching TV in the 70's).

I am still putting the system together and waiting for parts:
1) guidescope 2) guide camera 3) extender tubes 4) additional hardware/cabling, etc.

But I have been making excellent progress! I've set-up the new scope several times and tested computer control via The Sky Six software (very cool!), and have solved both AC and DC power solutions. Once I get ALL parts together, I will post the finally assembly.

This is actually a good time of year to be working on gear since the Spring is a lackluster time for the sky (at least for wide field targets). Always interesting stuff up there, but it is relatively sparse right now. Where did all the stars go? I'll tell you...

As you may know, the night sky changes throughout the year -- slowly drifting westward and disappearing over the horizon while new stars rise higher and higher from the east. After a year we come full circle. The most dazzling time of year is Summer and Winter. Why? Because that is when we are looking along the galactic plane of our Milky Way galaxy.

In the summer we look towards the hub of our galaxy and you can see the spiral arm of the Milky Way under dark skies. Within this spiral arm lies a plethora of amazing sights! In winter we are looking towards the outer spiral arms, away from the hub, but still a vast cornucopia of celestial jewels. But in the spring and fall we are looking 90 degrees perpendicular to our galactic plane and out into deep space -- a relative desert. Out there are mostly galaxies and star clusters. Very far away and very tiny. These can be great to image, but require a MUCH longer focal length scope -- these are not wide field objects. Since I'm currently setting up to shoot wide field, I don't have many targets right now. But summer is fast approaching, then I will be shooting like a banshee!