Blogs
Tuesday Update 11 March 2025
We’re less than two weeks away from flying out to New York for NEAF! We’re heading over early to get settled, and preparations are in full swing—finalising goodie bags, organising everything we need, and lining up meetings with people we’ll be catching up with. If you're coming to NEAF, let us know in the comments—we’d love to see you there! Brendan spent time in the workshop over the weekend, building an adapter for Dan’s mount and running final tests on the SP3 focuser firmware. The firmware is now fully implemented, with only a few minor refinements left on the ASCOM driver. We’re bringing ten SP3 focusers to NEAF, so if you’re after a precision rack-and-pinion focuser with Bluetooth connectivity and micron-level accuracy, be sure to stop by! Brendan also attended the AGWA and ASWA meetings this week—always a great way to connect with the local astronomy community. Next week will be our last update from Australia before we check in from the US—exciting times ahead! 🇺🇸
Tuesday Update 4 March 2025
It’s been a busy week as we gear up for NEAF. The SP3 focuser updates are in full swing, and I’ve sorted out some firmware bugs—now we’ve got precise focus calibration within 10 microns! Bluetooth connectivity is solid, and I’ll be bringing 5–10 units to NEAF for those keen to join the extended beta group. Final booth prep is underway, and Stephen Ramsden will be running his solar outreach from an Octans observatory—how cool is that? Over the weekend, we were out at Neergabby. Some fog made things tricky, but the highlight? Peering through a 22" F3.2 Dob at the Homunculus Nebula! Seeing its yellowish shell visually was incredible. Next up—back to the workshop for more builds. As always, get out there and enjoy the night sky!
Tuesday Update 25 February 2025
Brendan’s been diving into a new side project—refurbishing a 12" RC telescope—so back into the workshop he went! While the mirror is off getting recoated in Sydney, his next challenge was fabricating adapters to mount the SP3 to the back plate. Over the weekend, he took some downtime in the mancave to work on Bluetooth integration… only to stumble across a few misdemeanors in the new PCB boards for the focuser. Turns out, it keeps rebooting itself—because buried deep on page 279 of the manual (who actually reads those?) it warns not to use certain pins. Whoops! More tinkering, more problem-solving—just another week at Starpoint!
Tuesday Update 18 February 2025
Bit of a quiet one this week! Brendan’s had a few weekends off from the workshop—partly waiting on tools to arrive, partly because the tin shed turns into an oven in this heat. Not much fun welding when it feels like the sun’s sitting next to you! Just a lot of admin ticking away in the background, so nothing exciting to report. We’ll be back at it next week—see you then!
Remote Power
Thinking about taking your astrophotography equipment off grid to some amazing dark skies? Well lets have a look what you need to do in order to power your equipment!