Pinwheel Galaxy M101 imaged with an 8 inch SCT at 1140 mm focal length, an ASI 533MC astronomy camera with UV-IR filter, DIY reducer, and tracked with a restored Vixen Great Polaris mount. M101 has a very low surface brightness. Use the stars near Alcor and Mizar of the Big Dipper to find M101.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Eagle Nebula M16 imaged with an 8 inch SCT, an ASI 533MC cooled astronomy camera, and dual band H-alpha and O-III filter. I used a restored Vixen Great Polaris tracking mount and an off-axis guider with ASI 174MM guide camera. Use the bright stars of Sagittarius as pointers to find this target.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Sombrero Galaxy M104 imaged with a Celestron 8 inch SCT at 1140 mm, and an ASI 533MC astronomy camera. I used a restored Vixen Great Polaris mount and an off-axis guider with ASI 174MM guide camera. M104 is in the constellation Virgo, near the bright stars of Corvus. This galaxy is relatively bright and easy to find.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
M13 Globular Cluster in Hercules imaged with a Celestron 8 inch SCT at 1140 mm, and an ASI 533MC astronomy camera. I used a restored Vixen Great Polaris mount and an off-axis guider with ASI 174MM guide camera. This target is bright and easy to find with just a finder scope.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Trifid Nebula M20 imaged with a Celestron 8 inch SCT, an ASI 533MC cooled astronomy camera, dual band H-alpha and O-III filter, with an ASI 174MM on an off-axis guider. The dark dust lanes that divide the nebula into three sections are visible in this photo. This photo was imaged and tracked using a restored Vixen Great Polaris mount.
Related link:
OnStep DIY Go-to Telescope Controller
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) imaged with a Celestron 8 inch SCT at 1140 mm, and an ASI 533MC astronomy camera. I used a restored Vixen Great Polaris mount and an off-axis guider with ASI 174MM guide camera. This target is bright, easy to find, and should be visible even in the finder scope.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Dumbbell Nebula M27 imaged with a Celestron 8 inch SCT at 1140 mm focal length, OIII and H-alpha dual band filter, and an ASI 533MC astronomy camera. I used a restored Vixen Great Polaris mount and an off-axis guider with ASI 174MM guide camera. To find M27, use the bright stars of Aquila and Cygnus as pointer stars. This target is bright, easy to find, and should be visible even with small telescopes.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Whirlpool Galaxy M51 imaged with an 8 inch SCT at 1140 mm focal length, an ASI 533MC astronomy camera with UV-IR filter, DIY reducer, and tracked with a restored Meade LXD75 mount. M51 is relatively bright and may be visible through a small telescope. Use the stars of the Big Dipper to find M51.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
To find the Crab Nebula, locate Auriga first and then scan the region south of Auriga, near the bright star in Taurus. A narrowband filter helps in increasing the contrast between the nebula and the sky (such as using a 12 nm OIII for visual use, or 6 nm dual-band OIII and H-alpha for photography). Due to the nebula’s small angular size, a telescope with 4 inch aperture or larger with relatively long focal length is recommended for this target.
Crab Nebula M1, unguided image with an 8 inch SCT at 1140 mm focal length on a DIY reducer, an ASI533MC cooled astronomy camera, dual-band H-alpha and O-III filter, and a Meade LXD75 mount.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
The moon imaged with an 8 in SCT with 0.75x DIY reducer and a Canon 50D camera. Registering and stacking done in SIRIL.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
This a test image of Jupiter using a Celestron 8 inch SCT on a Meade LXD75 tracking mount. This is a stack of 1500 frames imaged with an ASI 533 camera and a UV-IR filter through 4x Barlow lens. Sharpcap was used in recording RGB24 AVI file. Stacking done with AutoStakkert and wavelets adjustment in SIRIL.
Jupiter imaged with a Celestron C8, 1500 frames
Related link: Jupiter video with Celestron 8 inch SCT at 1440p
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
I have installed a dovetail clamp to my Vixen Super Polaris mount. This modification allows easier swapping between mounts and telescopes, since my two other telescope mounts (Meade LXD75 and Vixen Great Polaris) both have Vixen-style dovetail clamps.
I removed the bar that the telescope’s saddle originally attaches to then drilled and tapped holes to fasten the dovetail clamp to the mount with screws. This clamp will be carrying a very light payload, just a 114 mm Newtonian reflector for visual use.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Rosette Nebula imaged with a Sky-Watcher 100ED with a DIY focal reducer, ASI 533MC cooled astronomy camera, dual band H-alpha and O-III filter. Guided tracking using an ASI 174MM with 50 mm f/4 guide scope and a Meade LXD75 mount.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Earthshine can be best observed when the moon is in crescent phase. The moon’s darker surface becomes visible as it gets illuminated by sunlight reflected off the Earth. This photo is a stack of 25 images at 15 seconds each, imaged with a Sky-Watcher Equinox 100ED and an ASI 533MC astronomy camera on a Meade LXD75 tracking mount.
Related link: Moon imaged with a Celestron C8 SCT
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Flame and Horsehead Nebula in the constellation Orion imaged with a Sky-Watcher Equinox 100ED refractor at 608 mm focal length on DIY reducer, an ASI 533MC cooled astronomy camera, a dual band H-alpha and O-III filter, and an ASI 174MM guide camera. Tracking was done using a Meade LXD75 mount with DIY controller.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Pleiades M45 imaged with a Sky-Watcher Equinox 100ED, an ASI 533MC astronomy camera, and an Meade LXD75 mount.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Orion Nebula M42 imaged with a 4 in refractor at 608 mm focal length, an ASI 533MC cooled astronomy camera, dual band H-alpha and O-III filter, with an ASI 174MM guide camera. This is a test image taken with a DIY focal length reducer.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Helix Nebula imaged with a modified Sky-Watcher Equinox 100ED, ZWO duo nebula filter, and an ASI 533 astronomy camera at 608 mm focal length using a 0.67x DIY focal reducer, guided with a 50 mm guide scope and an ASI 174MM guide camera.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
I have recently acquired a Meade LXD75 mount without a polar scope. I noticed that a small finder scope could fit in the polar scope slot, thus, serve as an improvised polar scope.
DIY polar scope using a repurposed finder scope
I looked for a small finder scope and it so happened that an 8 x 20 Celestron finder fits the slot. I have made some modification in the finder scope’s barrel to make sure it clears the polar scope slot. Notice that the finder scope’s barrel has been modified, with a smaller barrel diameter towards the objective lens, otherwise it would not fit all the way through and protrude too much.
A repurposed 8 x 20 Celestron finder scope used as a polar scope
I tested the improvised polar scope on a clear night to see if I would be able to spot Polaris and roughly polar-align the telescope. While it lacks a star map overlay, a usual feature in a standard polar scope, it has a cross hair for tracking the position of Polaris relative to the position of the mount’s RA axis. An app such as the Stargate PA can be used to determine Polaris’s position relative to the cross hair, for more precise alignment.
Polaris as seen through a DIY polar scope. To see an overlay showing the north celestial pole, click here.
A polar scope can only help in rough polar alignment, perhaps good enough for visual astronomy. For astrophotography, a more accurate polar alignment method is needed such as the drift alignment method. In drift alignment method, when the telescope is pointed and tracking a star in the east, minimize the north-south drift in the eyepiece by adjusting the polar axis higher or lower (altitude adjustment). When the telescope is pointed and tracking a star in the celestial equator (near meridian), minimize the north-south drift by adjusting the polar axis to the left or to the right (azimuth adjustment).
I have also installed a Kenko polar scope to a Vixen Great Polaris (GP) mount. I modified the polar scope’s coupler to fit the Vixen GP mount. Instead of the standard threaded coupling, I used three screws to attach the polar scope onto the mount. A separate set of centering screws allow alignment of the star map overlay with that of the actual stars in the sky.
Kenko polar scope attached to a Vixen Great Polaris (GP) mount
A polar scope is helpful in aligning the mount’s polar axis with that of the Earth’s axis of rotation, but it lacks the precision required for astrophotography. When imaging at longer focal lengths, I recommend not relying on a polar scope, but instead use the declination drift alignment method for polar alignment. It looks at two stars, one in the eastern or western horizon, and another in the meridian near the celestial equator, allowing for better polar alignment even without the view of Polaris.
Star chart from a 1990 polar scope still works!
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
The original controller of this Meade LXD75 mount has failed and a DIY OnStep controller was used to repair the mount and restore its tracking and go-to capability. I have installed RA and declination motors and used an Arduino microcontroller to control the motors. Just like the mounts typical of this class and era, it has a 144:1 main shaft gear reduction, and looks very similar to the Vixen Great Polaris mount. It takes 144 full rotations of the worm to rotate the RA or declination shaft 360 degrees.
I used NEMA 17 stepper motors on an L-brackets with 16-teeth and 60-teeth pulley and belt drive system for each axis. The total steps are 200 steps * 60/16 reduction * 144/1 teeth worm drive with 1/64 micro-stepping, at 6, 912, 000 per 360 degrees, or 19,200 per degree.
The mount uses an Arduino Mega 2560 as the main controller board, a pair of LV8729 stepper motor driver, and an HC-05 Bluetooth module (which connects to the OnStep Android app). It is powered by a 12V 12A power supply. To watch a video of this Meade LDX75 OnStep conversion during testing, click here.
Related link:
DIY Controller for Vixen Great Polaris Mount
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Night Sky in Focus 