My Location - Where I shoot my Images from

“Based upon the Quality of my images, it should be obvious that I shoot from a mountain top observatory in the dry dessert air of Arizona…….. In my dreams.”

So let’s talk about reality.

I shoot from my home, south of Rochester, in Update New York. We have Bortle 5 Skies. The House is south-facing. Views to the south are pretty good but those to the north show the light dome of Rochester.

Trees Bound My World

My yard has too many tall trees that block my view to the east, the west, and the north (I told my wife that my next Astro purchase was going to be a chain saw - she was not amused). My driveway and my garage turn-around areas carve a tree tunnel that gives me a slice of the sky to work with. This allows me - at most - to get about 3 hours of subs in a night!

I am able to do polar alignments - if I position my scopes “just so” on the driveway so I can see Polaris through a small gap in the trees to the north. This year that gap started closing up and I paid a tree guy to climb up there and widen my access hole. Later this year I will have him trim the trees along the driveway thus opening my exposure window to a total of maybe 3.5 hours!

From late November to about April, the skies close over with clouds that never seem to end and it is rare to get any telescope time at all!

My Driveway is My Observatory

So - Yeah about that. Now that I am retired, there is talk of moving and the requirement of a skyline clear of trees in an area with dark skies is being discussed. An actual observatory for that location is built into our retirement plan!

But until then - what does that mean?

• I set up in the driveway every night I shoot. I now run three platforms at the same time. I have become very efficient at doing setup! Look for My Telescope Lifter/Transporter Project - it is a real-life saver!

• I plotted my tree line in Stellarium and I use this to plan each night’s shooting session - when does the target clear the trees? When does it set into the trees? Enquiring minds need to know!

• My seeing often sucks. 2.0 -2.5 arc-seconds is a good night. I deal with it.

• The driveway gets hot and buggy or very cold. So I control everything I can from inside my house. I have two security cameras that watch and listen to things and I stay indoors as much as possible! I love nature as well as anybody else - as long as it is not trying to drain my blood or freeze my digits!

I think the main point is that we all have challenges to deal with when we do Astrophotography.

You just have to deal with it and overcome the obstacles. Quite frankly -it is the challenge of all of these obstacles that makes this pastime compelling and worthwhile for me!