News
How far has the construction of the observatory progressed? What problems did we encounter and how did we solve them?
Optics
How does one grind, polish and figure telescope optics at home?
Observatory
The observatory dome, telescope mount, optical tube assembly and instrumentation.
Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
The ASA DDM 160 mount, controlled by Autoslew, was tracking on the comet for ten minutes. The monochrome Apogee U16M camera made two minute exposures five times consecutively through red, green, blue and luminance filters.
M13 Globular Cluster in Hercules
Twenty-five thousand light-years distant and 150 light-years in diameter, Messier 13 is one of the brightest globular star clusters in the northern sky. It contains around 300 000 stars. Stars in the cluster's core are spaced less than 0,3 light-years apart.
This photo was taken while the winter sky was flooded with the bright glow of a 98.5 % moon only 86 degrees away at an altitude of thirty degrees.
Date: 12 Feb 2017
Loc: Rennesøy, Norway
Telescope: Esprit 120 ED 840 mm f/7
Camera: Apogee Alta U16M
Mount: ASA DDM160
Exposure: LRGB 20/20/20/20 min
CCD-temperature -30 C
Processing: Maxim DL 6