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Software deep dives, equipment reviews, tutorials, imaging sessions, and field notes — everything published on Mac Observatory.
102 articles
The RedCat 51 has reached its final form
I’ve finally finished getting all the pieces together for this little scope. Pictured here is the William Optics RedCat 51 refractor telescope,Celestron CGXmount,
William Optics RedCat 51
I’ve been really interested in theWilliam Optics RedCat 51since the original announcement. A few web bloggers got ahold of early versions of this scope,
Mac Observatory is on Instagram!
I finally set up an Instagram account. I’ll be posting my images there, but will still post them here on the site as well.
Using Astro Pixel Processor to calibrate and integrate multiple imaging sessions
The beautiful thing about astrophotography is that the effects of imaging are additive. You can essentially shoot the same object, night after night, even with
Breathing new life into M101
One really cool aspect of imaging deep sky objects is that the photons of light come into the camera randomly. This makes it possible to
Imaging Star Clusters with the AT6RC and the ZWO ASI071MC-Pro
I spent a few nights this week trying out my color camera, the ZWO ASI071MC-Pro on the AT6RC. I really love the pixel scale achieved
Imaging M51 Whirlpool Galaxy with the ZWO ASI071MC-Pro
After a rocky start with my EdgeHD 11 telescope, I decided to move the main imaging camera over to the AT6RC telescope I have. It
Celestron EdgeHD 11"
Going Big The EdgeHD 11" represents a significant step up in aperture and focal length from the 6" Ritchey-Chrétien I had been using.
First light with the EdgeHD 11"
It’s been a few weeks since I picked up the used EdgeHD 11” SCT. And in that time I made some final hardware decisions
AstroPixel Processor 1.072 Released
The latest version of Astro Pixel Processor has been released. Lots of support for Sony cameras has been added. Improved Drizzle/Bayer Drizzle. Lots of
KStars/EKOS 3.1 is released!
An update to my current favorite imaging platform has been released. In this release there’s a bunch of 3.0 fixes as well as
Celestron CGX and EdgeHD 11" Schmidt Cassegrain
GOING BIG This past holiday, I received a Celestron CGX for Christmas. You might have seen photos of it pop up on some of my