About AmAstro

AmAstro is my Amateur Astromonmy page and is deticated to sharing my images. Most of the images are captured from my small private observatory located on the outskirts of Halifax, UK. While the location is not ideal (not within a 'dark site') my use of narrowband images and specialist colour filters and a specialist astronomical imaging camera have resulted in the images you see here. 

The majority of images presented here are captured using my observatory setup which comprises of a 10" Meade LX200 SCT equitorial mounted and fitted with Starlight Xpress guide and imaging cameras. The setup also incorperates a motorised focuser and filterwheel. See observatory page for images of the setup. 

Apart from opening the roof on the observatory, the setup is now predominatly remote controlled. The advantage of this is that on cold winter nights, the telescope can be controlled remotely and from somewhere warm. 

Moon Phase

ISS Spotter

Sky Quality (Tess-W photometer)

AmAstro has recently purchased a Tess-W photometer with the aim of contributing sky quality data to the "stars4all" project being run by LICA laboratory at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 

The data collected by the Tess-W photometer at the AmAstro Observatory will be sent to and collated by the Stars4all project team and contribute towards their reseach into light and sky-quality.

The Tess-W Photometer at the AmAstro Observatory is just one of many in a growing network of Tess-W photometers around the world, all contributing to the stars4all project. 

As an aside to the stars4all project, AmAstro, in collaberation with the Astronomy Centre Todmorden, plan to reseach the difference in sky quality at the same altitude but in different settings. The AmAstro observatory is located at an altitude of 296m on the edge of an urban conerbation wheras the Astronomy Centre, Todmorden Observatory is located in rural moorland at an altitude of approximately 300m. Being at approximately the same altitude but in different urban/rural settings, this should give interesting comparisons between the sky-quality of the two locations. 

In the coming months AmAstro hopes to reference the Tess-W sky quality readings against the all-sky camera images. The aim of this is to provide a visual reference against the sky-quality readings for the Tess-W photometer. 

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