Steve Paxton's photos

The playground has these but more about the town I will have to get a photos off.

The new spider and collimation is paying dividends.This is 98% the way there in terms of star quality and focus. For the very first time i have been able to collimate the mirrors with the eyes while on the mount so it closer. you have seen this galaxy before but not in so much detail. This is well worth looking at the photo large. QHY 183C -10c 103 shots 5 min over two night. MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Prima Luce Essato Focus Optolong LeNhance filter, Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps

A small part of the Small magellanic cloud off to one side. This is after I installed a new spider that is solid and is not like a piece of string. the instal was no fast easy step either all 4 vanes have to be at 90 degrees to the tube they sit in. compare the one piece machined spider to the one that was in the scope that looks like string. part of the problem with a Newtonian is the spider that holds the secondary mirror it moves. The new one piece does not stays in the same place. To try and get things right a new camera that looks down the focus tube. Ocal Camera trying to get it illuminated correctly has been a battle but I hit on the idea of using the tracing board I use to light the flats. It worked better that what I was doing before. What are you looking at the whole inside of the mirror train just as the camera that takes the photo above does. The green circle is generated and fitted perfectly to high inside the focus tube more or less the area where the pink lines end. The green circle is shrunk down to the size of the secondary mirror to get it round to match the circle generated. The red circle is the reflected rear mirror in the secondary mirror get that to fit concentric to the green Next you see that there is a small blue circle inside you can see the small "red" camera and its sensor taking the photo. you can also see a small Nuclear symbol that sits on the "center" of the mirror.he pink lines cross at the center of the camera not quite the supposed center marked on the mirror. then to fine tune you use two cat eyes much easier to use after this alignment. small steps till I get it right. It getting easier and it works the shot above is. QHY 183C -10c 163 shots 5 min over two night. MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Prima Luce Essato Focus Optolong LeNhance filter, Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, PTgui, Ps

The interior of the Crown Hotel Perth. Looks B/W but its not.

Its interesting I can find no reason for the Name and I can say did not hear any frogs while we were out there. I did not put this panorama together. But with the Flu( We had the great grandchildren for all of last week, you guessed it they had the flu) and had my head in the telescope for most of the day (more to follow). I wanted to sit at the computer and listen to music and do something different so I put together and edited the photo I had left behind.

I had some issue's with the 8" telescope I did wonder if it was from the camera , So I went old school. This is the nikon rig with the 300mm D lens and the 1" sensor camera QHY183C , this is pure old school no auto focus but a manual focus with a mask. Passed with flying colours you cant get more positive proof than this. The 8" is up for a major upgrade that will be a whole different set of photos. Yes you have seen this area Before. Same lens different sensor, dont think any of this is easy it always comes at a cost. QHY 183C -10c 92 shots 10 min two night shooting. MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Optolong LeNhance filter, Nikon 300mm D F4 set to F4 Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, PTgui, Ps

We got here just as the sun was setting so I tried to race out a panorama of the place in the last bit of daylight. Don't think those rocks are small the big middle one is taller than a house.

One of the shots better in narrow band filters, this will get revisited. I chose this target as it had a very bright double star and it would show just how well collimation Really is. Most of what you are looking at is Dust and no stars I ran into the problem of not enough stars to properly plate solve. DO look at this on black you will get a better idea. QHY 183C -10c 55 shots 5 min . MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Prima Luce Essato Focus Optolong LeNhance filter, Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, PTgui, Ps

I was asked to please bring my camera to school. My fav a huge crop out of the original file. Book week Students and teachers had to dress up from a Character from a book. Mary Poppins just in front "Where's wally" in the Red and white. The white hair and beard was "Gandalf" from Lord of the Rings and "Harry Potter" bottom Left..

But it's got blue string. All thats left of one of the grape vines but a very new looking string.

This was a trial to check collimation and to see just how well the "flocking " that was put around the top of the Telescope tube worked. The flocking is suppose to stop light scattering and enhancing contrast - yes that worked. Ocal collimator line things up better than by eye. - it sure did . This is in the top part of the big cloud in the PIP below. QHY 183C -10c 55 shots 5 min . MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Prima Luce Essato Focus Optolong LeNhance filter, Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, PTgui, Ps

This is the result of the strong winds plus another thats the same lower field.

We were warned that we have to prepare for a real spring storm. 100 km/h wind and total downpour. I had just finished cleaning kindy and went to take these two photos of the sky. Less than 30 min after this shot the heavens opened we had a "white out" no vision for less than 2m for a very long time. I did not stay at school left came home roads covered with trees and lots of branches. this was our first spring storm It lived up to what was predicted. The day turned very dark enough that the car lights automatically turned on. From the radar we got off lightly the southern tip of western Australia coped the major brunt of this storm front. All I had was my phone to capture the scene. The school will be a total mess tomorrow from fallen branches and leaves. the effect the storm had on the trees.

I was asked dont work please bring your camera and capture shot that show action of the day. I took 678 photos all JPEGs not one edited just handed to the school . The Kindy came and started the day but as it was a running race all faces full shot its never going to be posted by me. there are more constraint for the school who can be seen and who can't so they get the lot lock stock and barrel. I wore on both days the cloths they normally see me in around the school working in general the two days went off with out a hitch but for Wednesday light rain and very cold winds. the day was broken into a round robin of events that had to be done one after the other. I posted this one as the faces is hidden and have distance.

I was asked dont work please bring your camera and capture shots that show action of the day. I took 626 photos all JPEGs not one edited just handed to the school . there are more constraint for the school who can be seen and who can't so they get the lot lock stock and barrel. I wore on both days the cloths they normally see me in around the school working in general the two days went off with out a hitch but for Wednesday light rain and very cold winds. the day was broken into a round robin of events that had to be done one after the other. I post this one as the face is hidden in paint.

The Big Grain Man sits in the heart of Carnamah with a sign underneath saying, ‘Rock Solid,’ expressing that they’re a rock solid community. The sculpture was created by Robert Hitchcock in May 2004.

Part of the foreshore display in Esperance. The Big Whale Tail in Esperance celebrates the Southern Right Whales, which travel along the local coastline during the winter months. It also represents the strong connection between Esperance and the ocean.

The Title seemed very fitting for the 24 Km of dirt road to get to the winery.