Image of the day

Captured by
Jay Messeroff

Barnard 72 Snake Nebula

About Astromart

My Account

New to Astromart?

Register an account...

Need Help?

Posts Made By: Ryan Billinger

September 27, 2003 05:51 PM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

Wood Pecker

Posted By Ryan Billinger
I really wanted to take advantage of my new telescope so I decided to take pictures of birds.

Taken in my back yard with a 10" skywatcher, 10.5mm Pentax and my new webcam.

October 7, 2003 04:43 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

I need some help

Posted By Ryan Billinger
Hi I purchased an skywatcher 10" newt. about a month ago. It has an Eq 6 mount. I want to buy an auto guilder so I can take pictures. Does anyone know what autoguilder would work best with the mount I am using.

October 22, 2003 10:52 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Home-made motofocus

Posted By Ryan Billinger
After waking up at 4:30 in the morning the other day I was frustrated with focusing saturn because every time I touched the scope saturn would jump around making focusing nearly impossible. The next day I decided to build a motofocus since they cost to much to buy. I had an old servo that had enough torque to turn the focus nob. I then machined the pulleys and made a control box with a regulator circut that turned the 12 V into an adjustable 1 - 6 V for speed control. The total cost of this project was about $30 and three hours of labour. The finished product turned out better then I could have imagined. Now all I'm waiting for is a clear night.

March 11, 2004 08:12 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Great Observing Site Outside Toronto

Posted By Ryan Billinger
I found an excellent place for viewing the sky about 40 minutes North-East of Toronto. It is just off the HWY 115. I am currently a student at Trent University and have noticed this stretch of highway every time I go up to Peterborough as being the darkest sky I have seen close to Toronto. There are no large towns for about 30km and the sky is incredibly dark. I also found a great spot to set up as well. It is a dead end road surrounded by a field with two communications antennae (great cell phone reception). I am going to post a map incase you are interested in checking this spot out. I highly recommend it and you might see me there in the coming months.

March 14, 2004 07:10 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Field rotation??

Posted By Ryan Billinger
Hi.. I was out last night photographing the beehive cluster with the 10D at prime focus with the lx200 10" GPS SMT. After developing the image I noticed that the stars at the top were round while other stars seemed to be in a circle. Was this problem caused by field rotation or maybe colmination. I am not using a wedge and I read in the manual that it may have been caused field rotation. Could someone please give me some advice on what the problem would be. Each image taken was a 2 minute exposure. I will include the image so you can see what is happening.

September 20, 2004 10:04 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Please help Me

Posted By Ryan Billinger
Hi. I recently purchased a Losmandy G11 for my 14" Meade. I have taken the mount out a few times, but have not precisely polar aligned it. Last night I polar aligned it and noticed a rather substantial error in the drive. I was using a barlow and 12mm illuminated eyepiece to polar align the mount. The star was drifting back and forth (see attachment) along the same path for as long as I observed it (about 30 min). It took about 30 sec to go up and down along the line. I know that all drive systems have errors, but this error seems rather large. The attached file accurately shows the distance the star moved across the cross hairs. Can anyone tell me what is going on.. Thanks Ryan B

September 27, 2003 06:08 PM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

Wood Pecker

Posted By Ryan Billinger

October 23, 2003 05:17 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Home-made motofocus

Posted By Ryan Billinger
yea.. it's from my old glider that my cousin sat on a couple years ago.

March 6, 2004 04:03 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

NGC 1566

Posted By Ryan Billinger
Beautiful image great job!! when the skies in Toronto clear up I'm going to chase down some NGC's

March 12, 2004 02:21 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter, the painful way

Posted By Ryan Billinger
Great picture for a Nikon 4300... It seems a bit bright though.. You might consider changing your shutter speed.. I'm looking forward to shootng jupitor with the 10D if the sky decides to clear up.. Its been cloudy for weeks here in Toronto.. I'm not sure if nikon offers and automated timer hand units for the 4300.. It will save your hands from freezing.. I bought one from canon and it will take 99 consecutive pictures at any speed or length and interval.

Funding Member

Telescopes, Astronomy, Binoculars

Sponsors


View all sponsors

Search