Michael Hester's Page

It's been a really long time since I last posted. I was falling out of astronomy for a long time and recently got back into it. This reignition is especially thanks to getting a channel on NightSkiesNetwork.

The plastic observatory shed is gone, had to throw it out since the apartment complex started re-decorating the exterior. The new mantra is to not be lazy with the astronomy. I re-arranged the interior of my apartment, shifting computer and TV into the bedroom. The main area is…

I saw the arduino boards sitting on the shelves at Radioshack and I figured I would try to make a focuser controller for the motor focuser I bought a few weeks back. This is mainly due to that the 100ft wires were too flimsy to last and secondly that I can then precisely control the focus, even without a focuser program.

The core of the focuser is an arduino…

I recently purchased a JMI motorized crayford focuser and a C5 to shoot with but noticed an interesting thing about the focuser's connection cable and my guide scope cable. They were 6 pin RJ11 patch cables. In a desire to create an extension cable for the focuser I got RJ11 crimping tools and made a new cable out of Cat5 cable. Turns out that the focuser cable could be 100 ft long and still work.

Then I noticed that my Celestron hand controller had the same 6 pin RJ11 port. I thus…