Astronomy Articles

In this section of the site you will find the Articles and "How To's" I have written on General Astronomy, Astro-Photography, and Telescope Hints and Tips. Most of these were written as a result of either questions from others or just an attempt to document methods and ideas I have picked up over the years. It is my hope that you may find something here useful and if so, I hope you will drop me a line and let me know. If you find something that you think needs correcting, please let me know about that also, I look forward to hearing from you either way.


LightBox Construction Project

This document contains detailed measured plans, parts lists, and construction detials for building a lightbox for taking flat frames when imaging. These plans are for a lightbox to fit a 90mm refractor but could be adapted to virtualy any size telescope.
Dew Shield Construction Using Reflectix Insulation

Details on how to make an inexpensive but very effective dew sheild using relfectix Insulation.
Drizzle Your Way to Beautiful Images - Part 1

This document covers the basics of the Drizzle technology as it is implemented in the Meade Envisage Software. In Part 1, I cover what Drizzle is and how it works as well as how to use Drizzle during image capture with the Meade DSI.
Drizzle Your Way to Beautiful Images - Part 2

This document continues covering the details of using the Drizzle technology as it is implemented in the Meade Envisage Software. In Part 2, I cover how to use Drizzle during post-capture to process images taken with your Meade DSI.
DSI Article for German Astro Magazine - May 2005

This is an article I wrote that was published in the May 2005 German Astonomy Magazine "Star Observer". In German, the article is titled "Der Deep Sky Imager von Meade - Astrofotografie fur jebermann" which translated is "The Deep Sky Imager by Meade - Astrophotography for Everyone". this is the English version.
High Gain vs Zero Gain DSI Imaging

This article describes tests I performed to compare the dynamic range captured by imaging with the DSI Pro II at the standard 100% Gain vs using Zero Gain.
Meade DSI III First Look

This article covers my findings from testing the new DSI Pro III camera. Details are provided on the chips, software, and my general impressions of this fantastic new imaging product by Meade Instruments.
Polar Alignment for Meade Scopes - Part 1

This is the first in a series of articles on how you can get the most out of your Meade telescope. In this article, I discuss the basics of Polar Alignment and show 1 way of getting your scope polar aligned quickly and accurately each time you set up. Future articles will discuss other methods as well, look back here for them in the coming weeks.
Polar Alignment for Meade Scopes - Part 2

This is the Second in a series of articles on how you can get the most out of your Meade telescope. In this article, I continue the discussion of Polar Alignment and show a second way of getting your scope polar aligned quickly and accurately each time you set up.
Building Mosiac Images in Adobe PhotoShop

This article will walk you thru the process of creating mosaic images in PhotoShop. The basic steps for creating a Lunar mosaic are described along with a final section on the specifics of creating an LRGB image as well.