June is a special time for star parties in the USA as some of the most amazing places in the country offer chances to experience extremely dark skies at night and breathtaking views during the day. Yosemite National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and the Craters of the Moon National […]
The Central Appalachian Astronomy Club of West Virginia will again host the Green Bank Star Quest on June 26th – June 29th, 2019. The event is held at the Green Bank Observatory located in Green Bank, West Virginia. The Star Quest is the nation’s largest amateur event combining optical and […]
Farpoint Astro has introduced a new 8-inch Imaging Newtonian offered in f/4 and f/6 configurations. The first products will be ready to ship on June 21 and Farpoint is offering the first 10 early adopters a $1,000 discount on the telescope. Specifications for the telescope includes: – Highly Robust Design […]
INDIGO is a system of standards and frameworks for multiplatform and distributed astronomy software development designed to scale with a specific user’s needs. INDIGO is a product of the INDIGO initiative, group of amateur/professional astronomers, software developers and hardware vendors The INDIGO initiative is supported by a number of astronomy […]
Spring is in the air and for the amateur astronomy community and that means that the chill is leaving the air and star parties are on the schedule. May is one of the most popular months of the year for star parties and here are a few that are happening […]
The Texas Star Party (TSP) is almost here! The annual event attracts more than 500 amateur astronomers from across the US who enjoy extremely dark skies packaged together with a number of events. The event will be held on April 28-May 5 at the Prude Ranch near Fort Davis Texas. […]
Xerxes Scientific is a new company that was created to offer semi-custom telescope mounts and control systems for astronomical imaging. Their initial products are D11 and D21 direct drive modules which are part of their modular telescope mount system, which can either be incorporated into custom telescope mounts or be […]
Erik Westermann has recently published Remote Astrophotography Using Slooh.com – A Handbook. Slooh.com is a remote telescope service that offers its members the use of eight telescopes in two hemispheres. As Wewstermann comments at the beginning of the handbook, “I thought of all of the pain points I came across […]
Orion‘s 10″ and 12” f/8 Orion Ritchey-Chrétien Astrograph Truss Tube Telescopes feature premium quartz mirror optics in its hyperbolic primary and secondary to achieve flat images that are virtually free of chromatic aberration, for true-color performance. Each of the Orion Ritchey-Chrétien Astrograph Truss Tube Telescopes primary mirror and the secondary […]
Sky-Watcher is celebrating its 20th Anniversary and to help recognize the occasion the company is working with Starlight Xpress to offer limited-edition astrograph imaging packages. Sky-Watcher is matching its line of astrographs with the Starlight Xpress Trius SX-42 camera – virtually eliminating all of the headaches associated with configuring an […]
The SPIE (the international society for optics and photonics) has released the 2019 version of Robert Schalck’s book, The Proper Care of Optics, Cleaning, Handling, Storage and Shipping. Telescope optics are the heart and soul of any observing setup, yet they probably get the least amount of attention by most […]
The moon is our nearest neighbor in space, it’s easy to find, it’s bright, and you don’t have to go anywhere special to view it. During events like the recent Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse the moon is a spectacle to behold, however as many reading here know, it’s always […]