Apologies for the sparse posting of images over the past months. A combination of travel for work and an accident with the 8" F/2.6 astrograph have required temporary refocus away from imaging.

After nearly 4 years of unfailing service without ever needing collimation I damaged the 8" F/2.6 astrograph by dropping it on the rear camera interface. Needless to say it required realignment. The realignment involved the disassembly and interferometric adjustment of the 10" secondary mirror. This was followed by several iterations of fine adjustment using a Zygo interferometer and field imaging trials. I am pleased to report that after several months of weekend work the overall performance is better than ever and the astrograph has been returned to service.

...Once again...

These deep sky images were taken using home made optical systems and SBIG STL-11000 M cameras, stretching the limits of camera and site. Imaging with fast astrographs requires adventures to dark sky sites, the desert in winter and the mountains in summer.

Thanks for stopping by I hope you enjoy, and if you have the time I'd like to hear from you.

 

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Clear Sky Clocks

Sponsored by HBAstro

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Huntington Beach

Cima

Desert Center

Black Rock Ranger Station

Kennedy Meadows

 

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images and text © 2006 -2009 Dave Erickson

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