Exploring the Suffolk Virginia Night Sky – Astronomy, Astrophotography, Telescopes, EAA – Planets and Stars and Nebula and Galaxies – Looking, Learning, Sharing… Let's see what we can see…
Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy (N.I.N.A.) is a free, open-source software suite for astrophotography that allows users to automate many tasks for capturing images of the night sky.
I picked up the Gemini Automatic Star Focuser Pro for the AT66ED so that I can change scopes between the SV503 102ED and the AT66ED without having to remove and refit the electronic focuser. I have used the focuser for a couple…
Nice clear night. Still doing a lot of tinkering and testing with the AT66ED setup. The plan was to work on getting the focus configuration dialed in and I was able to do that. Then I decided to gather a couple hours…
This is a really neat project which is integrated directly with Nightime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy (NINA) using a plugin. To enable this integration simply install and configure the Lightbucket plugin. Once the Lightbucket plugin configured with an API key the information about…
Another 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”…
Nice clear night, a little on the cool side for this time of year with the temperatures in the low 60s. A 29% waxing crescent Moon was setting. First time in a couple months I have had the SV503 102ED out, I…
The NINA Imaging Dashboard provides a one stop display of command and control information for a NINA imaging session: gear connections, camera control, mount information, guiding statistics, image statistics and history, focus, sequence progress, and more. NINA’s Imaging Dashboard is also very…
Mostly clear, highs in the upper 60s, and a light breeze. A nice night even with a very bright 91% Waxing Full Moon. Despite the Moon I really wanted to capture some light. 06/19 is a holiday, so I could stay up…
It is helpful to have current weather information during an observing session. I typically record the current temperature, humidity, and cloud cover in my observation session logs. Weather data can be obtained from a few different sources. In this post I am…
First light and a chance to test out my sequence using the NINA mini-pc build sequencer on 5/31/2024 shooting M 94, the Cat’s Eye Galaxy. The NINA sequencer is somewhat complicated but extremely versatile. There really is a lot to this astrophotography…
Very nice clear night with no Moon and temperatures in the upper-to-mid 50s F. This was my first night out using NINA to control the gear and the imaging sequence. It was also the first night out after tuning up the EQ6-R…