Author Archives: Michael Foegelle

February 7th, 2026 As usual, I didn’t accomplish as much as I hoped in the time I had.  I had to finish prepping the rail pockets in the observatory, starting with cutting off all of the remaining screws.  Next, I … Continue reading →

January 31st, 2026 It was still rather muddy, and I had some maintenance to do with the cows and electric fences that the deer regularly tear up, but after that, I managed to get some work done on the observatory … Continue reading →

December 31st, 2025 I decided to go ahead and do something I didn’t do previously, which is to level a pad under the rail system.  That should make it easier to install each rail using the bucket on the tractor … Continue reading →

As mentioned in the last post, in late October the roof bound up on the rail system when opening.  I just happened to be there when I was opening to hear a long wood on wood squeal as something dragged … Continue reading →

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, although there have been quite a few pictures added and corresponding posts on Cloudy Nights.  I’m going to attempt to summarize the events of the past year first, then bring you … Continue reading →

My initial setup had too much back focus from the focal reducer, resulting in distorted stars around the edge of the field of view.  The off-axis guider pick-off mirror was also shadowing the image, resulting in unusable images.   My initial … Continue reading →

After the solar eclipse in April, it took me quite a while to get around to putting the observatory back to it’s normal nighttime viewing state.  Unfortunately, then something went wrong with the serial interface between my controlling computer and … Continue reading →

I’ve managed to generate new darks and debayer all of the frames from my QHY-247C on my AT-80LE.  I’m post processing these in Photoshop and have processed the six 6-millisecond frames from totality.  I have six times that with exposures … Continue reading →

Unprocessed and not deBayered, but here was totality!  Watch for updates in the coming week or two!

It’s still not looking great for Monday, but we’re so borderline it’s painful.  The Clear Sky Chart is showing a tiny gap right around the start of the eclipse and clouding back up after totality.  However, this morning vs. last … Continue reading →