MetaBlog Update #13 July 24, 2024

A quick update on what has been going on at Cosgrove’s Cosmos after now reaching the 3rd anniversary of its launch!

MetaBlog Update #12: Dec 18, 2023

Another full year has gone by and I thought I would share a year-end update on this strange, strange year!

MetaBlog Update #11: July 24, 2023

Another full year has gone by and Cosgove’s Cosmos is now two years old!

Metablog update #11 provides some background of what has been happening with Cosgrove’s Cosmos over the last quarter of a year!

This is a very different kind of post for me. A sudden health issue will keep me from starting this year’s imaging projects for a while. I wrote this to let people know what was happening - hoping that sharing my experience might be helpful to others.

MetaBlog Update #10: March 23, 2023

As winter winds down and spring is in the offing, the promise of clear skies cannot be far away!

Metablog update #10 provides some background of what has been happening with Cosgrove’s Cosmos over the last quarter of a year!

MetaBlog Update #9: Jan 1, 2023

We have wrapped up 2022 and are just starting out the first days of 2023, and I am way overdue in sharing an update on what has been happening with the website!

So here is Metablog Update #9!

I’ll cover the news of the past 5months as well as my entry into the video space!

Some poetic thoughts about the night sky and the role of photography.

You are awash in a sea of photos emitted from every observable object in the Universe - all at the same time….

Having trouble getting GPU Acelleration working with your AI-based Pixinsight Tools? This might just help!

I’ve been asked by many people what the impact of recent wildfires in Canada is on my Astrophotography.

In order to understand the answer to this question, one must have an appreciation for when Astrophotographers are able to capture data!

Can they just go out any night? Nope!

So lets talk about how Astrophotographers determine what nights are good for data capture and then we can better understand how wildfire smoke plumes come along and make things more difficult!

Astrophotographers love to share their images, and getting published in a major Astronomy Magazine is the ultimate form of sharing!

Several people have asked me to write a post about how went about getting published. I am far from being an expert in this area, but I am happy to share what I do, and what seems to work for me!

Follow these tips, and you may well soon see your own images in print!

After writing about how to use deconvolution in 7-part series with an additional two follow on articles, I am writing my 10th article o and probably my last on Deconvolution.

discuss RC Astro’s new BlurXTerminator is a smart AI-based tool that delivers a breakthrough capability that suddenly makes deconvolution accessible to all, is easy to use, and provides a result that is superior to the Traditional Deconvolution tool in Pixinsight.

This article covers what BlurXTerminator is, how it is used, examples of its results, workflow considerations, and a high-level review of the Neural Network technology it is built on.

Further - it discusses some of the pushback that BlurXTerminator has received.

New to Pixinsight? Or have you been using Pixinsight for a while and are interested in upping your Mask game? This post is for you! This provides a broad overview of the use of mask in Pixinsight, including the types of masks that can be made, how you can create, customize and leverage your mask to enhance your final results!

As another follow-up post to my “Using Deconvolution in Pixinsight” series, I have written a new post exploring the use of the Richardson-Lucy Wavelet Regularization parameters. Proper use of these parameters will protect the algorithm from image noise, preventing the inadvertent enhancement of noise by deconvolution. After learning these “secrets”, you will never have to use an Object Mask again to protect the low signal areas in an image, and you will have a more consistent application of deconvolution to all non-noise image structures!

As a follow on to my “Using Deconvolution in Pixinsight” series, I have written a new post exploring the use of the EZ-Decon Script. This powerful tool offers an alternative way to apply deconvolution to your images - a way that is easy and convenient compared to the traditional method. In this post I will cover what is different in EZ-Decon’s approach and how to use it effectively to enhance your images!

Deconvolution in Pixinsight is a very powerful tool for restoring lost sharpness in a system - but it is not the easiest tool to learn to use. When I started, I hard time coming up to speed - but with time, I finally learned to use the tool to use it to improve my images. In this seven-post series, I share what works for me, and get into the background of the problem domain so you can understand not just WHAT and the HOWs but also the WHYs as well. This is Part 1- An Introduction.

“Deconvolution in Pixinsight - Part 2 - An overview of PFS and Deconvolution” is a deeper dive that coves the concepts of Airy Disks and Point Spread Functions, Estimating PFS model for an image, and the first overview of Deconvolution and what it does. This is Part 2 of a 7-Part Series.

“Using Deconvolution in Pixinsight - Part 3 - Workflow Considerations” explores how Deconvolution fits into your workflow, what images should have Deconvolution Applied to, and how the workflow changes based on image type. This is part 3 of 7-part series.

“Using Deconvolution in Pixinsight - part 4 - Preparing for Deconvolution” covers the steps you must take in preparing to use Deconvolution. How to create masks and support images, image previews fields, and setting up the Deconvolution Tool panel for the initial testing is all covered. This is part 4 of a 7-part series.

“Using Deconvolution in Pixinsight - Part 5- Example - The Draco Triplet” demonstrates the application of Deconvolution for the first example image, consisting of The Draco Triplet taken on my Williams Optics 132mm APO. All steps are shown. This is part 5 of a 7-part series.

It may be Winter and snowing, but that did not stop the electrical installation for my Observatory Project!

This post covers electrical planning, running power from the house to the observatory, and then the finished installation of electrical service in the building.

This post discusses pouring the concrete slab we will use as the floor.

Before it can be poured, we have to know what we want for electrical service so we can plan under-slab conduits.

Then, the other prep for the pour is done, and finally, the concrete flows!

To supplement the two videos I have posted on this phase of construction, this blog post will cover the same information with some greater depth and additional background information.

Construction on the Observatory project have begun in earnest and the first phase is laying the foundation.

The Piers have come back from the painters and are now complete. This short blog post will review the final results!

We have finally broken ground on the observatory project, and the excavation work is now complete!

This post is a companion article to the video I posted on my YouTube channel. Two days of work have been compressed into a few short minutes so you can see how the work progressed!

This is my last status report before construction commences on the observatory!

We have made progress on the final stamped plans, the building permit, and hardware acquisition, and I wanted to report on that!

Now I need to plan for a way to move the roof on the observatory. After getting several recommendation, I decided to go with the SkyRoof System. Working with Jim Collins of IAA, I placed my order and plannned out how it would be installed for my application!

After a bit more research, my Roof Hardware choice changed once again. But these choicesare final as I ordered them and now have them on hand. This post updates where things stand with the hardware and reviews the final choices!

This is the second part of a series of posts covering the design of some custom steel piers for my observatory. This first post covers the concept and design behind the piers I am building. This post covers the cutting of the parts from plate steel using a 4000 watt CO2 laser!

This is the the first part of a series of posts covering the design of some custom steel piers for my observatory. This first post covers the concept and design behind the peirs I am building.

In a recent post I shared some initial hardware selections for the roof track section of my observatory, Since then, I have done some more investigation into Galvanic Corrosion and decided to make some changes. This post will update things! . ,

In this post we will do a deeper drive into the design of the Roof Tracking system. This involves the design, hardware selection, roof control system sourcing, and lockdown designs. ,

Move complete! Old house sold! It's time to pivot towards the Observatory Project. Here, I outline the Initial steps I am taking and review some preliminary hardware choices…

After two years of searching, we just bought a new house with a location in the backyard that will support my observatory! We can finally move forward with the project!

There has been no updates on my observatory project for over a year. During that time we have been engaged on a search for Land to build a house and an observatory - but in this tough market we have not found the right place yet! Even so, I thought it was time for an update on the search and my effort to design the observatory I would like to build!

My current project is to buy land, and build my personal Astrophotographic Observatory on it so that I no longer have to set up 3 scopes in the driveway each night! This is the first of several posts that will chronicle the planning and development of this observatory!