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Orion Skyview Deluxe 90mm f/11 refractor

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After purchasing my Orion Skyview Deluxe I thought I would share my thoughts on it. Imaging can take many hours without touching anything. You just sit there. Sometimes I read, sometimes I watch TV, sometimes I browse the internet. Why not look around at the sky? So I found an Orion Skyview Deluxe on the bay that I liked, first because it was a refractor and I really like my refractors, second because it was kind of a classic from the 1980s or 1990s, and thrid because it was Orion and I really like my Orion stuff. I managed to… Continue reading

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Andromeda Galaxy, M31, First Deep Space Object

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Here is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31 Galaxy) and that makes it official, after a couple more orders from Orion to get things I didn’t think of the first time, and a lot of time practicing with the scope and connecting it all to a new netbook, I am an astrophotographer (albeit a pretty crummy one, heh). Crummy or not, I am really excited to be able to create images of these beautiful objects millions of light years away. Without further ado, here is Messier 31:   It takes an amazing amount of work to get one image. My first few… Continue reading

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First light

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First light it seems is the term used to describe when your telescope gets to go out and be used for its intended purpose for the very first time. A few days ago I received a bunch of boxes from Orion and quickly set about assembling things. I did have to make one phone call, read a bunch of directions and play with things a while but I finally got things running where I think they should be. I Joined the North Houston Astronomy Club (they have a dark site in Montgomery and somehow are tied to SHSU’s observatory here… Continue reading

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Decisions made, packages arrive!

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After spending more time than I care to admit reading, comparing and discussing different options I made a decision. I also came to realize that third party sellers may have idiots working for them that have no idea what they are talking about. When I called around talking to vendors there were two that really stuck in my mind, funny enough they have almost the exact same domain name, telescopes.com and telescope.com. Here are their stories (dong dong): Telescopes.com is a company named Hayneedle. They sell just about everthing, but have one website devoted to telescopes. They sell Celestron, Meade… Continue reading

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This time I am doing things different

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I have decided I want to get back into astronomy, specifically astrophotography. I will not make the same mistake I made last time of getting a scope because it was “highly recommended” and “what the vast majority of newcommers start with”. I am fortunate enough to have some money to throw at this and want something that will do a good job. I don’t want compromises. OK, I realize everything is a compromise, but I want something designed to do exactly what I want it to do, and do it well. I am lucky in that this time not only… Continue reading

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Beginning astronomy, and astrophotography

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Whether you are beginning astronomy, beginning astrophotography, or both, you will sympathize with much of this. We all seem to start in a very similar way and this is my story. My fascination with all of this started as a kid, as I am sure it did with most people. Since I was born around the time of the great race to the moon it was only logical that I was star struck (pun intended) with everything space related. In that time it was hard not to be. Model rockets were all the rage, and everything was advertised in some… Continue reading