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Software deep dives, equipment reviews, tutorials, imaging sessions, and field notes — everything published on Mac Observatory.

109 articles
Revisiting IC 417 on the ES 102mm
Imaging

Revisiting IC 417 on the ES 102mm

I decided to revisit IC 417 but this time with a wider field of view. The image was previously taken with my AT6RC, and it

Jan 7, 2019 1 min read
Narrowband Imaging IC410 and IC417
Imaging

Narrowband Imaging IC410 and IC417

Over the last two weeks, I’ve had 3 imaging nights. KStars & EKOS 3.0 were released which fixed a ton of long standing

Dec 28, 2018 1 min read
KStars/EKOS 3.0 released with new features
News

KStars/EKOS 3.0 released with new features

The team behind KStars and EKOS have been busy wrapping up anew versionof their imaging software just in time for the holidays. There’s a

Dec 23, 2018 2 min read
13 Panel Mosaic of the Moon
Imaging

13 Panel Mosaic of the Moon

Yesterday, I had a few hours of clear sky, and got out my AVX along with my Celestron C5, and ZWO ASI224MC camera. I was

Dec 17, 2018 2 min read
HD 14771 and Galactic Friends
Imaging

HD 14771 and Galactic Friends

I managed to produce a neat image over the last two nights. I centered the star HD14771 to place NGC 891 in the lower right

Dec 6, 2018 1 min read
iObserve gets a new release, now with Mojave Dark Mode support
News

iObserve gets a new release, now with Mojave Dark Mode support

A little over a year ago, iObserve saw its last update. The developer (Cedric Follmi) had put the Mac iObserve application on hold to devote

Nov 21, 2018 1 min read
Observatory for Mac updated to Mojave with dark mode
News

Observatory for Mac updated to Mojave with dark mode

Observatory 1.4 was just released, and fully supports MacOS Mojave, including dark mode! The complete release notes with all changes listed arehereon the Code

Nov 8, 2018 1 min read
How to take easy flats using an inexpensive light source.
Tutorials

How to take easy flats using an inexpensive light source.

Here’s my setup at 5:30 am this morning. Taking good flats is key. I had been using the dawn sky to shoot flats

Nov 4, 2018 2 min read
Pacman Nebula captured with EKOS, and processed in PixInsight.
Imaging

Pacman Nebula captured with EKOS, and processed in PixInsight.

I managed to get a few clear nights last week. Just two in fact. So, knowing I had only two nights to image, I focused

Oct 15, 2018 1 min read
Astro-Tech AT6RC
Reviews

Astro-Tech AT6RC

Hubble at Home The Astro-Tech AT6RC is probably the most economically viable Ritchey-Chrétien telescope money can buy at roughly $350. Its dual-hyperbolic mirror design eliminates

Sep 14, 2018 1 min read
Tutorial for Astro Pixel Processor to calibrate and process a bi-color astronomy image of the Veil Nebula
Tutorials

Tutorial for Astro Pixel Processor to calibrate and process a bi-color astronomy image of the Veil Nebula

To get started, you'll need to have taken a full set of light images to process. In addition you will need darks, flats,

Sep 10, 2018 11 min read
Astronomy and astrophotography planning with AstroPlanner on the Mac
Software

Astronomy and astrophotography planning with AstroPlanner on the Mac

Overview of AstroPlanner AstroPlanner is a complete system for tracking observations and planning out nightly viewing or imaging sessions with your equipment. It also offers

Sep 3, 2018 4 min read