June 2026
New pictures from the exhibition in the Ostrava Planetarium
New images were added to the gallery, which were used at the exhibition in the Mira Gallery in the Ostrava Planetarium.
news and notes
Astrolet Blog.
An archive of changes, news, technical milestones and small notes from observation, photography and the gradual construction of the observatory.
Latest posts
The latest news from the original blog in a clearer form.
May 2026
Completely new WWW pages
During May and June 2026, the visual appearance of the website was completely redesigned. I won't lie, the AI (Codex) also helped me a little while creating them.
March 2023
New visualization of the weather station
I redesigned the weather station data visualization into a new, more modern system, and on 3/9/2023 the number of measurements reached a total of 500,000.
Archives
Timeline of the main events since the founding of Astrolet.cz.
Returning after a long hiatus
The years 2020 to 2023 brought the first images with a new telescope, further tuning of the technology, complete disassembly, new collimation, replacement of the corrector and camera and, most importantly, the reconstruction of the observatory to an automatic dome with a diameter of 2.2 m.
Completion of AAG8
I finished building AAG8 - Astrolet AstroGraph 8. Newtonian telescope with 200mm mirror, 800mm focal length, CNC parts, custom made carbon tube and 3D printed small parts.
Rotator and work on AAG8
Astronomically a weaker year, but a rotator prototype was successfully tested on SW ED80 and the construction of the new AAG8 telescope continued.
Exhibition of astrophotography in Jičín
I had the opportunity to exhibit some of my photos at the observatory in Jičín. A modern and pleasant place that is worth a visit.
Learning with a new camera
The new camera is very sensitive to high-quality optics, precise mechanics and collimation. The first object for testing was the M51 in a combination of LRGB and H-alpha filters.
IP weather station
I got an IP weather station up and running with detailed statistics and graphs. The data is saved to the SQL database every five minutes and forms long-term weather statistics in Loučka.
ASI1600MMC
I purchased an ASI1600MMC cooled monochrome CMOS camera, an automatic external filter wheel, and a set of Baader L, R, G, B, H-alpha, OIII, and SII filters.
Astrolet Control Box
I have completed the Astrolet Control Box, the astrotech power and heating controller including the control software written in C#.
Control Box on Arduino
The production of the control box based on the Arduino Mega 2560 continued. The software for the computer is written in C# and communicates via a serial line.
NGC 7129
Another longer exposure, this time of the very faint object NGC 7129, the Reflection Nebula.
IC 405 Flaming Star
After a longer pause, I processed the photographed reflection and diffuse nebula in Auriga. A total of 18 hours of exposure.
First Quarter Moon
Added a photo of the Moon taken on the eighth lunar day, managed to capture the colors a little.
NGC 6992 Veil Nebula
Added a photo of the Veil Nebula. After a long struggle with time and PixInsight, maybe a little watchable.
PixInsight workshop in Jičín
I participated in the PixInsight workshop organized by Martin Myslivec at the observatory in Jičín. Great team, environment and lots of practical experience.
Excellent conditions around the new moon
After a long time, several beautiful nights around the new moon. Managed to measure SQM 21.44 and shoot several nights of data.
Fireball above the horizon
On the way to a lecture in Valašské Meziříčí, we saw a bright green fireball that broke up at the end of its path.
Sun, NGC 2264 and other processing
Added solar eclipse report, photo of NGC 2264 and other images from the galactic season.
M45 Pleiades
Added new photo of M45 Pleiades, completely shot with AG 200/800 and processed in PixInsight.
New galleries and carbon tube
Added gallery of NGC 7380, IC 5146 and other objects. At the same time, another carbon tube 250/1000 was created.
Project AG8
The mysterious AG8 project began, with the first H-alpha tests around Alnitak and the Horsehead and Flame nebulae.
DIY update
Added adjustments to the Newton 200/800 astrograph, manufacturing a new secondary mirror holder, marking the center of the primary, motorised focusinging and SCT adjustments.