Category: Astronomy Projects

  I spent a few hours at the UCAO with Aiden and George Allman. Skies cleared around 9 pm and we got 2 hours of good viewing before we called it quits. Sky viewing quality was not great. After the storms passed, there was still a lot of turbulence in the atmosphere and some haze. We could see the lightning flashes from the storm to the west echoing across the whole sky from the residual…

I first began observing at the University of Colorado Alpine Observatory (UCAO) in 2013. It is an observatory, located at the Mountain Research Station about 7 miles north of Nederland, CO. Prof Alan Kiplinger is the founder and observatory director, shown here next to the Meade LX200 12-inch telescope. During 2017-2018, I was too busy to do any observing. I just started visiting the observatory again on Aug 2, 2019. By attaching my Canon D60a…

The first step in taking astrophotographs is connecting your camera to the telescope. I have a Celestron Nexstar Evolution C6 and a Canon D60a. The telescope has a 2-inch connection at the bottom of the optical tube at prime focus. The connections between this aperture and camera is with two pieces, both available on Amazon. The first piece is what connects to the base of the telescope. This is the one I use for my…

My favorite internet radio station is Jango. In addition to being able to select specific styles, and it finds selections and plays them, there are no commercials and its completely free. What is a radio station doing in my astronomy column? And why did I even list it as one of my favorite free software tools? When I am outside at night observing, with just me, my telescope and the clear night sky, what could…