It has been a while since a review. Here is a quick writeup of the Shelyak LISA Spectrograph, a product that has been available for some time now, but only within my reach this month. It has been a pleasure working with it, and it's not my first experience with Shelyak Instruments, a company based... Continue Reading →
Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction 21st December 2020
The date has come and gone, but the weather was the trickiest part of the event: we had a large cloudy set of systems across much of the northern portion of the USA, though we had almost exactly 30 minutes of clear skies here in Exeter, NH to see the conjunction in all its glory... Continue Reading →
A 360 Degree Tour of the 0.7m Dome
The new 0.7m telescope dome is up and running at Phillips Exeter Academy. There is still some serious testing to do in order to prove out the various bits and pieces that all have to integrate together: mount control, focus control, heaters, fans, pointing models, dome control, linking dome to the telescope, imager and filter... Continue Reading →
Cleaning Time!
Every observatory needs basic maintenance, and those here at PEA are no different. I usually cringe at the thought, but cleaning is a part of the requirement... not that I dislike cleaning. I actually really find it meditative, and a clean observatory dome makes me smile. The cringe-feeling comes from the prospect of kicking up... Continue Reading →