The Pleades (M45) November 11, 2007
Posted by kevin in : Clusters, Nebulae, Astrophotography , 1 comment so farWhile waiting for IC434 to come up I spent a few minutes taking a LRGB of M45, the Pleades. This one is a total of 8 minutes and came out OK. Basic calibration was performed but no flats have been applied.
L: 2 minutes R: 2 minutes G: 2 minutes B: 2 minutes
Click the image to view the binned 2×2 image at 2004 x 1336 resolution.
Still Chasing the Horsehead (IC434) November 11, 2007
Posted by admin in : Nebulae, Astrophotography , 1 comment so farMy favorite season for astrophotography is back. As those of you who have followed my astroimaging pursuits know I have been chasing the elusive Horsehead Nebulae for almost 10 yers now. I have finally have my dream system of the Takahashi FSQ-106ED, Losmandy G-11, and the SBIG STL-11000M and am starting to get a few decent frames. This image is a total of 45 minutes in Ha combined from nine five minute subframes. I still haven’t mastered flats so none were applied to the image. I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I did taking it.
Click the image to view the 3×3 binned version with a resolution of 1336×890.
Site Update September 9, 2007
Posted by admin in : Quick Bits , add a commentI finally got around to rebuilding my servers and deploying the “Small Moves” blog. I had been hosting it over at Wordpress.com for a bit so it was a simple matter of just importing the XML to get things back in plce. I still need to relink the pictures so it may be a few more days before I get everything back up to 100%
FSQ-106ED Still Not Shipped June 11, 2007
Posted by kevin in : Astronomy Equipment , add a commentI called Brian over at TNR this morning to confirm one of the items on the order and checking on shipping and got the bad news that the new FSQ-106ED still hasn’t shipped. They have the order from Oceanside Photo & Telescope but TNR (takahashiamerica.com) won’t ship it until they get a check from OPT. I think the folks at Oceanside Photo & Telescope are great and am really aggravated with Texas Nautical for not trusting their dealers.
The bottom line is that I have to wait at least another day before the scope will even ship… and of course the weather is great now. I guess it will arrive just in time for me to go out of town for the weekend.
Arrrrrgh!
UPDATE: I called Craig at Oceanside and he called Art at TNR and got everything squared away so that the order shipped today. I’ve made several purchases recently from the fine folks at OPT and I can’t say enbough good about them. If your considering an astronomy purchase I suggest you give them a try. Â
FSQ-106ED Update June 8, 2007
Posted by kevin in : Astronomy Equipment , add a commentSo I went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered the new Reducer and the Extender Q for the new scope. I’m not sure how much I’ll use the reducer but I’m pretty excipted about the Extender Q for visual use. I had planned to wait but then I saw Art’s post on the Yahoo UncensoredTak group stating they had both in stock so I figured why not go all in. Along with the SBIG STL-11000M I now have the dream imaging setup. I’ll be using the Losmandy G11 w/Gemini for the mount for now and then may upgrade to a Takahashi mount sometime in the future.
I’ll post pics of everything when it all shows up. I hoping to see it Monday but I think Tuesday is going to be more likely.
 Clear Skies,
-KevinÂ
New Takahashi FSQ-106ED is Shipping June 7, 2007
Posted by kevin in : Astronomy Equipment , add a commentI just got the call from Chris over at Oceanside Photo & Telescope that my FSQ-106ED (aka The New “Q”) is being shipped today. I hope to have it on Monday and will post some pics just as soon as it arrives. I still need to figure out which adaptors I need so that I can use it with the SBIG STL11000M.
I’m waiting to hear back from Chris and see if the new reducer and extender are also available.
More to come…. Clear Skies!Â
The New Mount is Here January 4, 2007
Posted by kevin in : Astronomy Equipment , add a commentAfter a L-O-N-G delay and a few hiccups the new Losmandy G-11 Gemini mount is finally here and working. If you read the previous entries you know that UPS was holding my mount hostage for nearly two weeks in a cold dark trailer in Commerce City, CO. It was finally set free and arrived on Tuesday 01-02-2007. It was a great start to the new year, or was it? of course not. it arrived OK but was missing the counter weight shaft so was basically useless. The fine folks at OPT came thru again and after a quick call that was answered personally by Craig (the owner) everythig was arranged for them to overnight me a replacement shaft no questions asked. I really can’t overstate how great the whole team out there is .Â
Now that its all here, assembled, and ready to go the snow is once again headed to Colorado. The skies are cloudy and the stars are hidden. If I ever get a chance to point it at something other than a wall, ceiling, or window I post a review. Hopefully that night is coming soon.
Clear Skies,
-Kevin
Happy New Year! January 1, 2007
Posted by kevin in : Uncategorized , add a commentWishing all of you the very Happiest of New Years and Clear Skies!
How UPS Stole Christmas (aka UPS SUCKS!) December 31, 2006
Posted by kevin in : Astronomy Equipment, Uncategorized , 3commentsAs I mentioned in a previous post I finally decided on the Losmandy G-11 mount with the Gemini goto system for my newest mount. I ordered it on December 18 and it was supposed to arrive here on December 22 just in time for Christmas.
Well that hope has long since passed and I’m not too confident that it will ever get here. As you may know Denver had a bit of a blizzard on te 20th & 21st and that seems to have casued UPS to come apart at their seams. The highways were pretty much shutdown in the Denver metro area on Wednesday evening and again all day Thursday with mostly normal travel resuming on Friday. That day and a half of limited travel has casued UPS to now be over a week behind. The matter was compounded by UPS taking Sunday and Christmas day off while Fedex and the USPS both worked to get caught up. Both of those carriers were out on Christmas day with their Santa hats on making their rounds. It is now New Years Eve, nine days after my new Losmandy G-11 was supposed to be delivered and it STILL sits on a trailer at the UPS Commerce City facility waiting to be unloaded. I’ve talked to almost everyone at UPS about the issue and it just goes nowhere. Not only are they behind but the LAID OFF their seasonal help and ran at reduced capacity all of last week. They then decided that they were not going to do their afternoon sort yesterday and are closed again today and are taking tomorrow off. All of this will result in them *hopefully* starting to unload the trailers for packages on Tuesday 01/02/2007 that were scheduled for delivery LAST FRIDAY. Let me say that again, ELEVEN days AFTER the package was supposed to be delivered they are going to try and get the trailer unloaded. I understand poor weather and that it casues some delays but this is totally unacceptable in my opinion. In comparison the USPS is now completely caught with their deliveries and are operating normally.
I can’t think of anymore to add at the moment except that UPS SUCKS! Its a free country and I have right to say it.
I’m so mad about it now that I’m trying to find out if I can just refuse the shipment and order the Takahashi that I originally wanted anyway.
Merry Christmas December 24, 2006
Posted by kevin in : Uncategorized , add a commentMerry Christmas to all of the astronomy community. Hopefully you all received lots of new toys for your telescopes and cameras and maybe even a new telescope. More importantly I hope you all receive clear skies for the coming new year.
 Merry Christmas,
 Vela Astronomy
