The rig is indeed heavy, computer driven with electrical dew/frost prevention and USB cameras.. not something to leave out in the rain. When I first started out in the hobby I kept the telescope and gear in my basement. As I progressed to more advanced techniques, the setup time increased until I was at the point of having to spend a good hour and a half getting everything set up and the scope polar aligned (very precisely)..

When we moved out of town into a rural area with dark skies, it was worth the investment to have the observatory built. Now I just roll off the roof, power up the laptop and start collecting photons. Much nicer and as a result I use the gear more (setting up and breaking down each session was a real pain in comparison).

Here is a photo of 'mission control'.. in the Winter I just get everything running and then head back to the warm house, keeping an eye on things via RealVNC.

Wow, no wonder you get some great shots. I am just curious, how much was that entire thing?

Ah, makes sense then. "Your half?"

Deceptis, it wasn't cheap, but then again, it is by no means a top end setup either. You can put as much or as little into the hobby as you want. I buy almost all my gear second hand to keep the costs down. A new 10in LX200R would cost in the region of $4K but I paid less than half that for my older LX200 'Classic'. A rig like mine would cost no more than a PPL (that would be for the main scope, guide scope, two cameras and the observatory). I met a guy the other day who has more invested in a single RC helicopter than I have in that scope. I guess that is a similar thing, ie you can sink a lot or just a little into it. Boys and their toys .

RS, my half, because the other half of the observatory houses my wife's 16in Dobsonian Reflector (another heavy piece of kit). She is into visual observing in a big way whereas I rarely actually look through a telescope.

Great pics Paul, thanks!

Did you manage to catch sight of Mars recently? Its as close as it ever gets to Earth at the moment IIRC.

Paul, I like the first shot better, the contrast seems to be higher.

Is this primarily an emission or reflection nebula? From the colors, I would assume both, but I don't know.

edit: Went to APOD, and see it is a reflection nebula, so now first is definitely more to my liking, very nice! What kind of exposure times were involved?

Kendo, I haven't shot Mars this time around. It is just past opposition right now but it wasn't as close this time around as in previous years (2003 and 2005 were good years for Mars imaging).. here is one I took of Mars back in 2005:




LJ, the NGC1977 image is a combination of almost 90 x 2 min exposures (30 for Luminance and about 20 each for Red, Green and Blue)..

I am hoping to get some clear skies soon so I can start my Exoplanet project..

Wow, those are nice Paul! My son is a runner and I sent him this address to look at them, because he visited us recently and said that running at night, which he often does due to work and art schedule feels like running in outer space.