2018-09-28 photos  (pm)

Have installed FocusMax V4 and getting some VCurves to build the focus profile.

While we have made great progress installing and testing out the new camera, I wanted to share a few images from both to highlight some of the capabilities of what can be done with the wonderful equipment at this amazing dark site. The initial astrophoto team will be working with the data and practice scheduling targets with the system.

CCD with 16" f/8.9 RC:

2018-07-25 Where is Smokey the Bear when you need him?

Forest fires are raging in western Canada, with nearly 600 fires in British Columbia and northwestern Alberta. The dry conditions experienced here continued all the way down the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas. Lightning, dry conditions, and people appear to be the cause of many of these fires.

2018-06-28 to 2018-07-01 General Assembly 2018 - 150th celebration

In Calgary, Alberta, the RASC executive director Randy Attwood and RASC outgoing president Colin Haig (your author) shared more about this special 150th project with a few hundred people in attendance at the conference.

On June 30th, Paul M sent us two images taken the previous night. 

2018-05-30 Software Bug Squashed

A particularly odd software problem was traced to an operating system update. Uninstalling the update and applying the component pieces manually solved the issue.  This wasted nearly a full week tracking down the root cause.

2018-05-29 SBIG CCD Camera ordered

We got started with a borrowed SBIG STL-11000 full-frame CCD camera (thank you Stef C. !). This has helped us with testing and alignment.