Brogdon Observatory

Orion Nebula from March 12th

Brogdon Observatory — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:45:46 +0000

Drift Alignment Completed

Brogdon Observatory — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:58:23 +0000

Managed to have a cloudless evening last night, so I was able to finish with the drift alignment.

Drift alignment basically is a procedure for aligning the axis of my telescope mount with the axis of the earth.

That way when I turn on the clock drive on the mount, the mount will keep the object that I have the telescope on centered in the eyepiece for as long as I want.

Did a little broadcasting of the moon, Jupiter, Saturn and the Orion Nebula last night. I had removed the stock ir (infrared) filter from the camera the other day to allow more of the colors that the stock filter blocks out.

The video and broadcasting portion of what I’m doing is fairly new to me, but it is coming along. Previously most of what I had done in my observatory consisted of taking photos with a dslr camera and just viewing through different eyepieces.

Drift Alignment

Brogdon Observatory — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 13:13:03 +0000

Worked on drift alignment last night. Weather was un-cooperative. Managed

to get the azimuth fairly well adjusted, but will have to try another evening to

get the elevation adjusted.

Orion Nebula

Brogdon Observatory — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:17:29 +0000

This image was taken from my live broadcast this evening

9.25″ sct @ f6.3 with samsung sdc-435 camera

M42

Saturn from February 25, 2011

Brogdon Observatory — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:49:18 +0000

Took this image last night with the 9.25″ SCT 2X barlow and Meade pc-usb camera

Saturn from February 21, 2011

Brogdon Observatory — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:03:47 +0000

Took this image with the webcam

More Broadcasting

Brogdon Observatory — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:15:16 +0000

Did some more broadcasting last night. Started off with Jupiter, then went to the trapezium in Orion.

Finished off the evening with a low on the horizon view of Saturn.

Second broadcast

Brogdon Observatory — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 12:17:17 +0000

Did another broadcast on nightskiesnetwork last night.

Also, updated this page with a link to my observatory construction. It can be found

on the right side of page under the blogroll

Night Skies Network

Brogdon Observatory — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 07:53:00 +0000

well tonight was my first night broadcasting on the night skies network. What a blast that was. People all over the world were able to watch my live video broadcast from my telescope. Spent alot of time on the moon as well as Saturn. Also got to watch a little bit of Jupiter. I was using a webcam tonight, but plans are in the works for being able to do some deep sky objects with the live video also.

if you are interested in seeing what alot of folks are doing live then check out the following link

http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com

If a person has a live feed going on, their station will be listed in red.

If you see Brogdon Observatory in red click on the link and stop in.

Also, a big thanks to all who are helping in this area with my startup.

The Dumbbell Nebula

Brogdon Observatory — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 02:09:03 +0000

This image was taken September 8, 2008

M27