Observatory Update

At long last I'm updating my blog.  I've been active in astronomy but have neglected to update this blog for over a year now.   At a later date I'll post some of my recent adventures (pre-DSSG trip to White Horse Christian Camp and a trip to Casa Mano Prieto).  For today a simple post to show the completion of a project, long overdue - Completing the underground cable piping from the pier to the office.  When I built the observatory I installed the piping at the pier and ran it underground to just outside the office wall.  And there it sat for 2 years while I draped cables across the floor.  Finally today I got out the shovels and routed the pipe up through the office floor.  It was not nearly as hard a job as I anticipated.

Next I fished the 2 USB cables (camera & focuser) and ethernet (mount) through the pipe and into the office.

Here you can see the pipe extends about 1' above the office floor and beneath the desk.

So now my cables are conveniently laying on my desk top waiting to be plugged into my laptop for an observing session.  

Since no astronomy blog post would be complete without at least one astro image, here is my image of NGC 1514, The Crystal Ball Nebula in Taurus.  I took this with my Explore Scientific 127 CF at prime focus with my ZWO ASI071MC-Pro camera.  The image is 11 x 5 minutes with no darks or flat frames and no post processing.  The image was taken at Casa Mano Prieto in Fort Davis, Texas on Oct. 14, 2018.

Till next time.