Flanders Pond Observatory

Welcome to a tour of my humble facility.  Located under the dark skies of eastern Maine, it is a paradise for astrophotography.  I continue to use my vintage equipment to capture the beauty of the Milky Way and other interesting objects in the sky. These methods include correcting tracking errors manually using an illuminated reticle eyepiece, just like E.E. Barnard did over a hundred years ago!

Built in 2003 with leftover materials from our house contruction. It resides in my front yard where anytime use is a major conveinience.  It would be impossible for me to persue traditional imaging as a hobby otherwise.

Click on the images above for more details.

Kodak Gold 100 Test: Star Trails



Startrail image started in twilight, looking west-nw.  The center of the frame show the stars of northern Orion.  Tripod mounted Pentax Spotmatic II with 50mm f/1.4 SMC Takumar stopped down to f/4.8 60 minutes exposure on Kodak Gold 100 film.



In April I decided to test Kodak Gold 100 for astrophotography. With no opportunity for guided wide-field imaging, I decided to do a few star trails.  I was pleased with the outcome.  Gold 100 recorded some pretty faint star trails.  Color balance during the exposure was very good as well.  The film was processed at a local drug store and did a poor job on the prints.  These are scans of the original negatives, processed in C-41.


Kodak Gold 100 is not available at the corner drug store, but can be found as an imported film at major photography outlets.  It is not expensive.  I paid less than three dollars for a 24 exposure roll.




Startrails under dark skies.  Looking East.  Tripod mounted Pentax Spotmatic II with 35mm f/3.5 SMC Takumar @ f/5.6 60 minutes exposure on Kodak Gold 100 film.