Dark Sky Geek

After seeing that some people had claimed having some success cooling ZWO planetary cameras (someone even sells a rather expensive "Active Cooling Kit" for ZWO planetary cameras...), I gave it a try. My setup consisted of a Peltier module, a heat sink, a fan, and a control system (I applied some thermal paste between the Peltier module and the body of the camera). The result is out: These cooling kits do NOT work. Like, at all! In spite of doing a great job at cooling the body of the camera (it was really cold!), the sensor temperature (reported by the ZWO driver) did not change all that much, and darks had pretty much the same amount of noise (measured in PixInsight) whether the cooler was on or off. This did not surprise me all that much to be honest. The sensor is in contact with neither the Peltier module nor the body of the camera. The PCB that it is soldered onto is actually a very good thermal insulator. Oh well. I wasted a few dollars and a couple of hours. But the lesson here is that you should never take what you read in forums as gospel. There is a lot of BS in this hobby, and we have to call it out when we see it. Anyway, onto the next project now... Clear skies, everyone!

2 months ago | [YT] | 23

Dark Sky Geek

While in 大阪 (Osaka), I decided to briefly swing by KYOEI-OSAKA. The store itself is very small. The staff is friendly, but beware, they don’t speak English all that much (Let me put it to you this way: My Japanese is way better than their English 😂) You can order online directly from them and have the equipment shipped to Europe or the US, so that is something to keep in mind if you are interested in Vixen or Takahashi equipment. Here a few photos I snapped from inside the store. Clear skies!

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2 months ago | [YT] | 32

Dark Sky Geek

While vacationing in San Diego, my wife and I got to see today’s SpaceX launch of a Falcon 9 rocket taking off from Vandenberg Space Force base. Impressive! I even saw the fairing burn off in the lower atmosphere! I didn’t know that rocket launches could be so cool 😎 Clear skies, everyone!

4 months ago | [YT] | 11

Dark Sky Geek

I just completed my first project, M33 — The Triangulum Galaxy, with the Takahashi FSQ85 I purchased last June in Tokyo (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsARO... for the full story). This image uses ~12 hours of broadband data captured during CalStar 2024 (Lake San Antonio, California) and 4 nights worth of narrowband data (Ha and OIII) captured from my backyard (San Jose, California). Processing in PixInsight. Hope you like it!

5 months ago | [YT] | 58

Dark Sky Geek

Hi everyone! Just a quick update to let you know that it might be a little while until I am able to post new videos again. My real job is keeping me very busy, and with the upcoming holidays and family obligations, I won’t have much spare time. Until then, here are a few photos of things I will be talking about on the channel soon. Clear skies!

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6 months ago | [YT] | 32

Dark Sky Geek

Such a great name! Well played, タカハシ, well played… 😂

7 months ago | [YT] | 17

Dark Sky Geek

After a much needed summer break, I am back! I’ll be publishing a new video later this week. If you are curious about spectroscopy, you’re going to love this one! 🌈

7 months ago | [YT] | 12

Dark Sky Geek

Got to see the green flash last night from the beautiful island of Aruba (this photograph was taken a few seconds prior) I hope y’all are having a great summer vacation. See y’all back in September 😉✌🏻🌴

9 months ago | [YT] | 11

Dark Sky Geek

A couple of days ago, I posted an in-depth review of the iOptron HAE69 EC mount. Here is the link in case you missed it: https://youtu.be/9P37xXVRCvA. In all fairness to iOptron, I am sure that most mounts in that price range would show a lot of flaws if they were submitted to the same level of scrutiny… Maybe ZWO will let me test an early version of the AM7? 😁

10 months ago | [YT] | 7

Dark Sky Geek

Look who I just randomly bumped into! ‪@CuivTheLazyGeek‬ Thanks for the great conversation, it was fun!

11 months ago | [YT] | 68