01/15/2026 – M81 and M82
January 16, 2026Very 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…
Category: Galaxies
SeeStar EQ Mode, M33 on 11/01/2025
November 2, 2025Pretty 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…
09/20/2025 – SeeStar EAA… Just Having Fun Looking Up.
September 20, 2025Finally 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…
04/27/2025 – Hickson 44 Galaxy Group
April 28, 2025Wow! 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…
03/03/2025 – The Leo Triplet
March 4, 2025Little warmer than last night, but still cool in the mid-to-upper 30s. Bit more of the waxing Crescent Moon, but not enough to be a bother. Earlier in the day I swapped out scopes on the mount, putting the SVBONY 102ED back…
02/25/2025 – Some SeeStar EAA – Capturing a Few Messiers
February 26, 2025Set the SeeStar up just before dark. Updated the app and the firmware, then adjusted the level. Nice clear night in the low 50s, dropping into the mid-40s as the Sun went down. I started capturing Messier objects just after 7 PM….
01/01/2025 – First Light of 2025 – Galaxies M 81 and M 82
January 2, 2025Happy New Year!!! First light captured in 2025 on a cold clear night. A thin waxing crescent Moon in the west set shortly after the Sun. For this session I swapped out the ZWO Duo-Band filter for the SVBONY SV240 Multi-Narrowband filter…
11/24/2024 – Triangulum with the AT66 and SV240
November 25, 2024Nice night to grab some light from a far away place. Cool in the low 40s (upper 30s by the end of the night), very nice an clear with no Moon. The plan for the night was to shoot a galaxy, something…
10/06/2024 – Andromeda with the AT66ED
October 7, 2024Forecast looked ok and it was dark and clear when I started the polar alignment routine. There was a little sliver of a waxing Crescent Moon setting in the West. I had a little trouble with the Autofocus routine in NINA. The…
09/09/2024 – The Triangulum Galaxy
September 10, 2024Another clear night. That’s two in a row! Clear and cool, a little bit of haze off to the east, that cleared up a bit later. Another nice night to look up. This is the first time I have done an “unattended”…