These images were taken with a Starmaster 18″ Dob (cellular mirror) with a Sony A6000 camera at prime focus. They were taken from my property near my home in the Houston, TX area. I bracketed the images with shutter speeds but still required some simple post image Photoshop processing to bring out some detail. It was an incredibly stable atmosphere and I took multiple images with the moon drifting by to assemble a composite of the whole moon that night.
Here are some of my woodworking projects. I love working with walnut and jumped at the opportunity to replace a jewelry cabinet that my wife ordered through the mail. It was a total piece of junk so she designed one with the size and features she wanted for me to build. The cabinet took me two months to complete (weekends and some nights – I’m slow) and because it was made with walnut, cost way more than the mail order junk but she likes it.
The makeup stool also turned out nice and actually matches the cabinets in our bathroom. That was a total accident because I don’t stain anything I build. I apply either a clear oil or a matt finish polyurethane. If it sustains damage like vacuum cleaner collisions, I simply throw some clear polyurethane on the damaged area and it matches the rest of the piece without the pain of having to match a difficult stain.
The clocks are just samples of some clock cases I built for movements I purchased without cases. I hate the Vienna regulator clock (last picture) because it was made with mahogany and I hate working with mahogany. I was already committed halfway through the project and had to finish using the same wood. Not going to happen again.
This set of images were taken using my Stellarvue SV80S at prime focus using a Sony A6000 camera on a tripod in my driveway at home. The camera was set to take 5 images of different shutter speeds to bracket exposure. I was focusing on the moon to prepare for a Lunar eclipse event later that night. I noticed a brown streak in the sky headed for the moon and started taking my programmed sets and lucked into some images of a jet plane leaving Houston headed for the west coast. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart. BTW, it clouded up later that night and the eclipse was not visible. That didn’t hurt my feelings because I’m not a fan of lunar eclipses and prefer my jet occultation.
The second set of pictures is my second observatory in the same area with Shuttleview Observatory. It’s not remotely operated from home but is on a locally high hill and has an incredible view of the 360 degree horizon. The 3rd image is a daytime random view through the open shutter. The observatory consists of two rooms; a computer is located in a temperature controlled warm room and there is an attached two-story structure that houses a 12″ Astro Tech RC mounted on an Astro Physics 1200 non-goto mount. Views from up here are simply breathtaking.
Images taken with Stellarvue SV80S and Nikon D7100 at prime focus. Camera was set to take 5 image groups at different shutter speeds to bracket exposure. My wife and I barely got into position and setup in time to take the images. There was a bad rainstorm where we originally intended to set up so we checked the weather radar and saw there was some chance of clearing to the west. We finally stopped when the eclipse was at 30%. Conditions were hazy but got good images despite the conditions. We were in the parking lot of a small church. God provides!!!
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