Bicycling in County Mayo, Ireland
Welcome to my website. I am a retired science and technology writer and editor with experience in the physical sciences, particularly physics, astronomy, optics, lasers, and electro-optics. My lifelong passion for astronomy has inspired me to update my 50-year-old home-built reflector telescope with a more portable computerized system and a digital camera for astrophotography.
Campground observatory in the Sierras
The system is designed for remote off-the-grid operation and features a 130-mm APO refractor, 80-mm guidescope, Losmandy G11 equatorial mount, Canon 60Da DSLR camera, 100-W solar panel, 800-Wh battery power supply, and a laptop computer loaded with software to control everything.
New ultraportable astrograph
Recent equipment additions include an ultra-portable rig featuring a 90-mm Askar FRA 500 flatfield astrograph equipped with an off-axis guider, automatic focuser, filter wheel, and a dedicated ZWO ASI1600-MM Pro astronomy camera, all riding on a ZWO AM5 strain-wave mount. The whole rig is controlled by an onboard ZWO ASIair Plus and weighs just 33 pounds.
Awesome site
Will spend more time and look for updates
Thanks, Tim. I plan to have more deep-sky images soon. And next month I’ll be in Oregon for the solar eclipse. Let’s hope for clear skies.
great photos. really looking forward to looking at eclipse photographs.
It is a privilege to see this work, which involves months of planning, hundreds of miles to get to a viewing site, and an all-night commitment. Let alone the chance of getting clouded out, and very cold temperatures on the mountain top. The energy invested is reflected in the quality of this photography. Spectacular.
I swear I did not self-post that comment. 😉 Thanks, Jay. That means a lot to me. You really get it!
THANKS FOR SHOWING ME YOUR 2017 SOLAR ECLIPSE PHOTO HANGING ON THE WALL TODAY. IT’S BEAUTIFUL! LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING MORE OF YOUR PHOTOS IN YOUR GALLERY SECTION.
Thanks, Glenn. I’m happy that I could show you a 24″ x 36″ metal wall display. Metal prints offer an ideal medium for this kind of photography. The images just pop.