Every day our eyes catch the light of our memories – time spent with family, the journey to work, a special holiday, a beautiful sunset or a dark starlit night. Each image captured is a picture drawn in light – a photograph: only to be lost in our minds or forever forgotten. Nearly two hundred years ago a small group of amateur scientists achieved what had eluded mankind for centuries – the ability to capture a permanent record of an image seen by their own eyes – a moment in time frozen onto a surface. They had discovered Photography. They were the ‘Catchers of the Light’.
Showing posts with label equipment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equipment. Show all posts

Monday, June 24, 2019

Via Lactea Observatory


View of the interior

Via Lactea Observatory


Almost 18 years ago,i embarked on a very special, difficult and demanding journey in the world of astronomy and especially in astrophotography.
Through the light pollution of Athens, the whole venture seemed almost impossible.

Watching the first shadows of nebulae and galaxies appearing on the computer screen, the pictures of planets with their moons floating into space and the spectacular formations of craters and canyons of our moon, i realized that this is was makes me feel complete, that this is what I love doing.
After long hours of studying and investing a lot of time and money, i believe that i have managed to have a decent course in the field of astrophotography. The only problem that was holding me behind was the lack of a permanent observatory.

Completely by chance i had the opportunity to meet two lovely people , Kostas and Spyros Tsekas. Without their voluntary offer, i would have never managed to full fill my dream and have my own observatory today.I would also like to thank all my friends, relatives and fellow villagers that helped me complete the observatory.
And of course I would like to thank my wife Alice that without her encouragement and understanding I wouldn't even have dreamed of turning my dream into reality.

The Observatory is located in Kristallopigi Paramithias in Thesprotia , where I have settled permanently with my family the last two years. The purpose of the observatory is the dissemination of amateur astronomy in the province of Epirus, through seminars and night sky watching.

Good luck to all with clear skies

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

W.O FLT110 focuser upgrade


The Feather Touch FTF3025 Focuser from Starlight Instruments, is a major upgrade from the stock W.O focuser.
Replacing the original focuser on my FLT110 with the Feather Touch unit required about 5 minutes.
The fit and finish of the Feather Touch was something that had to be used to be appreciated!!!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Williams Optics FLT 110 CCD Inspector Results

Field Curvature Map



3-D Viewer - Edge view



3-D Viewer


These are the typical CCDInspector2 results with the SBIG ST10XME camera used on the FLT110 OTA with TMB dedicated field flattener.
These examples were taken from an imaging session of M27 through the Baader Planetarium luminance filter.
The results show a very flat field.The sensor size is 14.9 x 10 mm with 6.8x6.8 microns pixels.

The CCDInspector2 from CCDWare is a wonderful program!!!!


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Sunday, June 21, 2009

My current astrophotography setup



Sky-Watcher EQ6 PRO

William Optics FLT110 triplet air-spaced APO lens TMB design

Dedicated TMB field flattener

SBIG ST10XME with CFW9

William Optics ZenithStar II 80mm Doublet ED

Meade DSI

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My current astrophotography setup