Hersey – The Suffolk Sky

Astrophotography with Google Gemini AI

January 20, 2026 by Hersey

It’s Monday and it is a holiday so no work today. While I was enjoying my coffee on a quiet morning I did a little tinkering with Gemini, an AI assistant from Google, wondering what kind of things it might tell me…

No comment

01/15/2026 – M81 and M82

January 16, 2026 by Hersey

Very cool, fairly clear… a few thin clouds here and there early in the night, over all a very nice night to look up. Before dark I cooled the camera to -10 C and shot some new bin1 3 minute darks. Once…

No comment

Been a bit… 01/12/2026 M42 The Orion Nebula

January 13, 2026 by Hersey

It has been a good while since the last time I was able to capture any far off photons with the SV503. I broke the scope down and stored it away in the Astro Shed just before we went down to Ocracoke…

No comment

SeeStar EQ Mode, M33 on 11/01/2025

November 2, 2025 by Hersey

Pretty nice night. Clear, cool, bit of a bright Moon but that’s fine. I decided to set out the SeeStar S50 to give EQ Mode a try. After dark I switched the SeeStar into EQ Mode and preformed the polar alignment. Picked…

No comment

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch from 10/13/2025

October 19, 2025 by Hersey

Not in the Suffolk Sky, but still pretty neat. We were down in Ormand Beach, FL for Biketoberfest. For the past 24 years or so we have road down to Biketoberfest and every year we check the launch schedule. We have been…

No comment

SeeStar Tip: How many stacked frames?

October 1, 2025 by Hersey

Short post, but a great SeeStar tip. During my last SeeStar session I was broadcasting on the Night Skies Network and chatting with Mark from Yowah Australia and he showed me this handy tip for seeing how many frames you are discarding…

No comment

09/20/2025 – SeeStar EAA… Just Having Fun Looking Up.

September 20, 2025 by Hersey

Finally a mostly clear sky! It has been a few months since the Southeastern VA sky has been without clouds or a bright Moon. Since I have been traveling a bit the main scope is still packed up, so I put the…

No comment

AllSky Camera 3D Printed Mount for the SV305

August 10, 2025 by Hersey

I have tried a number of different ways to mount the SV305 into my All Sky Camera enclosure. This 3D printed bracket has been working well for the past year or so. I can’t remember where I found the original design… but…

No comment

All Sky Camera – Image Overlay

August 6, 2025 by Hersey

It has been a minute, actually a lot of minutes. I have not captured any light from far away things since the end of April. The Suffolk VA skies have just been pretty terrible this summer… not to say there have not…

No comment

04/27/2025 – Hickson 44 Galaxy Group

April 28, 2025 by Hersey

Wow! I did not realize it had been so long. I have not gathered any light through the scope in nearly 2 months. Glad we got a nice clear night to change that. I decided to try for Hickson 44 which is…

No comment