Yearly Archives: 2020

Astronomical Events – Then and Now

 in Blog  tagged Christmas Star / conjunction / jupiter / Saturn / Total Solar Eclipse

A few days ago (Dec. 14th) there was a total solar eclipse visible across South America.  Reports from Chile were disappointing, as unexpected clouds blocked the view.  Fortunately, things were a little better in Argentina, where my friend, Leo Cavagnaro, was in just the right spot to see and photograph it.  He reports that it was very windy, and this was due to the same weather system that brought the clouds over Chile, but it was mostly clear where he was.  In the above photo, taken during totality, the Moon neatly blocks the view of the Sun, but we can […]

Introducing Power*Star

 in Blog  tagged announcement / distribution / hub / new product / power / Power*Star / usb / USB3

If you’ve been following this blog you already know that I’ve been working (for what seems like years, but was really just 10 months) on a new product, which I have named ‘Power*Star’.  In my earlier posts I told you about the process of designing and manufacturing the product, and now that it’s almost ready to ship it’s time to tell you what Power*Star is all about. The core functionality of Power*Star (abbreviated P*S) is quite simple:  It provides a central distribution point for both the power (mostly 12VDC) and data (USB) typically needed for astrophotography.  In the most basic […]

How It’s Made (W.O. style)

 in Blog  tagged CNC Router / dovetail / laser engraving / PCB / Power*Star / printed circuit board / saddle / test fixture

  While waiting for a Covid-19 vaccine, if you’ve already watched everything on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, etc., you might want to check out “How It’s Made” on the Discovery Channel.  In this blog I’ll do a similar treatment of what I do to fabricate the enclosure for my new product, Power*Star.  The product isn’t quite ready to ship yet, so I’ll leave the product description for a later blog.  I and a colleague have been working pretty much non-stop on this since February, and the vast majority of that work would not be terribly interesting, and perhaps difficult to […]

What I Did Last Summer

 in Blog  tagged Power Hub / project / shipped

In my most recent (but far too long ago) post I shared the news that I have been working hard all year on the design of a new product called “Power Hub” for one of my clients.  I’m thrilled to report that the first batch of production units has now shipped.  The above photo is actually just an accessory for the product, the power cable.  I selected it as the featured image here just because it’s an attractive image.  What you are seeing here is 2 stacks of red and black cables on a glass table top, lit by a […]

A Star is Born

 in Blog  tagged Feather Touch / Power Hub / PowerHub / Starlight Instruments

  Not the kind of star I usually talk about – a YouTube star!  Today I recorded a talk with Simon Tang of Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope.  OK, so I’m not really a star (yet), but it was fun.  You can find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH-lMi4eOL8 (my appearance starts at 4 hours, 15 minutes in – it’s a very long video). It also explains why I’ve been so busy for the last 7 months:  I’ve been developing a new product for Starlight Instruments (AKA Feather Touch), one of the most highly regarded manufacturers in the astronomy business.  The product is called […]

First Star Party of 2020

 in Blog  tagged comet NEOWISE / ion tail / SkyView Acres

It’s very strange, and more than a little sad that my first star party of 2020 was in mid-July!  I did some imaging in January, of course, from southern California, but that doesn’t really count.  Last weekend I and a record number of other astronomers and imagers met at SkyView Acres in Goldendale, WA.  Many of the folks there had already seen and/or photographed comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3), but it was the first time for me, so I spent some time on it each of the 3 nights there. In it’s current location, this comet is not a great target:  […]

Comet NEOWISE

 in Blog  tagged C/2020 F3 / comet / NEOWISE

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately (and I admit that it sometimes feels like that these days), you’ve probably heard about and seen images of comet NEOWISE.  I haven’t had a chance to get out to photograph it myself, but hope to next week.  Several of my astrophotography friends have captured it, and one of the best so far is the above photo by Bruce Alber.  This was captured less than a week ago from Dalles Mountain (in Oregon), in the early morning.  He used a Canon DSLR and zoom lens (I’m not sure at what focal length), […]

I Didn’t Know!

 in Blog  tagged climate change / closest planet / facing / greenhouse effect / radio astronomy / radio telescope / tidal lock / venus

Although it has been known for about 50 years, I had never heard it until this was on APOD a few days ago (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200603.html).  Venus is a rocky planet, like Earth, but is covered by thick clouds that obscure all details of the planet’s surface.  But using radio telescopes, astronomers were able to “see” some details, which pretty soon led to an amazing discovery:  Venus always shows us the same side.  More specifically, Venus’ orbit and rotation are synchronized with Earth such that every time Venus is at “inferior conjunction” (when it is closest to us), the same side of […]

New Toys for Quarantine

 in Blog  tagged Epson / Fusion-EMS / Glowforge / laser cutter / laser engraving / toys

  There have been some pretty clear skies here lately, but I still haven’t done any astrophotography since January, and it’s not because of “social isolation”, I’ve just been working non-stop on a couple of new product development projects. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about these new products.  It’s not that I want to keep them secret, but they are products I’m developing for other companies, and my agreements with them do not allow me to talk about it.  But I can tell you about some new tools I’ve acquired to manufacture these products. Above is the Glowforge laser […]

Still Here

 in Blog  tagged coronavirus / desperado / desperate imager / Eagles

It has been over a month since I last posted here, and I don’t have any new photos to share with you – sorry!  It’s not because the coronavirus has slowed me down.  I’ve been staying home almost entirely, and as far as I can tell, am still healthy.  Some people have actually had more time available for hobbies since the virus has caused closures and lock-downs all over the world.  And all too many people no longer have jobs to go to.  In my case, I have been very busy developing some new products, and would have had pretty […]