Morning Star Observatory

Morning Star Observatory (MSO) is now located in the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. The old observatory in Virginia was dismantled in late 2017 and all my equipment packed and stored away, awaiting the completion of the new observatory building.

Some first steps have been done on the Lancaster dome, trying to sort out what goes where. Since I don't have a real assembly manual for it, It's a bit like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle without the picture. I am also migrating away from Window-based computers and will be running the new obs on Linux.

Over the winter I will set up the equipment for the obs and test all the Linux components so they're ready when the dome goes up. My plans for the new observatory include visual observing and CCD imaging, and possibly some community outreach.

The dome will house an Orion HDX110 EQ-G GEM mount and Celestron C-11 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope (SCT). Also an Astro-Tech AT6RC astrograph for imaging and, of course, a piggybacked guide scope with camera.

The current imaging cameras are my modified Orion StarShoot Pro 6MP one-shot color camera and an 8.3MP QSI 683 mono camera with LRGB, Ha, SII and OIII filters. There is also a ZWO CMOS mono camera for autoguiding and possibly planetary imaging.

N 39.05° | W 78.74°
1840 ft EL

I have several other hobbies, not related to astronomy, so there are pages here relating to those. And, of course, there are pages showing our progress on the log home that has occupied my every waking minute for nearly two years.

moon phases

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork... Psalm 19:1

Disclaimer: The information contained on this and related pages is believed to be accurate, but no guarantees are expressed or implied. Any information on these pages should be considered "as-is" and the reader is completely responsible for the way it is used.

N 39.05° | W 78.74° 1840 ft EL

N 39.05° | W 78.74°
1840 ft EL