Clear Sky Lab’s AstroPiBox, a French-language autonomous autoguiding platform, is based upon the Raspberry Pi Linux platform. Recently released out of beta, the platform leverages the Raspberry Pi for autoguiding, offering several distinct advantages: (1) Power consumption of only a few watts, which makes it possible to use a portable […]
The 2017 Total solar eclipse on August 21 promises to be a once in a lifetime event and many people will lean heavily on their smartphones to participate in the eclipse. In our article – Using a Smartphone to Photograph the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse – we covered a number […]
Deep-Astro Instruments had a couple of seemingly mundane goals in mind when designing its new line of Dobs: They had to be easy to transport and to set up, plus they needed to be accurate and robust. The resulting telescopes, though, are, as you shall see, far from mundane. Indeed, […]
It’s always fun to see the astro-tech so many of us deploy nightly used in larger contexts, but sometimes those larger contexts are so over-the-top, it takes our collective breaths away, as was the case when we were treated to first reports of the Dragon 44 discovery of the Dragonfly […]
The National Eclipse website offers a wealth of information including an outline of some of the unique features, landmarks, and viewing options for each of the fourteen U.S. states located within the path of totality. The site takes potential weather for these sites into consideration, which will be a definite […]
Mirro-sphere’s 12-inch Serrurier-truss telescope (Image 1) represents a new concept in truss-tube design. The f/4 carbon-fiber and aluminum Newtonian is 100-percent designed and manufactured in France – mechanics and optics – to the highest specifications. It is designed for advanced amateur astronomers who want the best quality on the market. […]
Alan Dyer has revised and updated his interactive ebook, How to Photograph & Process Nightscapes and Time-lapses, adding 100 more pages to cover the latest equipment, software, and processing techniques for creating great still images and time-lapse movies of the night sky. Want to learn how to take panorama images […]
Virtually everyone has a smartphone or other smart devices (iPads, etc.) that offer the ability to take images, video and even time-lapse video. These devices are therefore going to be the go to option for people wanting to image the 2017 Great Solar Eclipse. Imaging the Sun with your smart […]
Among 10Micron’s latest projects is its AZ DDS (Direct Drive System), a new generation of professional robotic telescope mounts in an alt-azimuth fork configuration that incorporates a software-integrated de-rotator/focuser. The AZ DDS is the latest realization of 10Micron’s long experience with robotic astronomical mounts. It was developed specifically for professional […]
APM’s new 2-inch Ceramic Safety Herschel Prism operates on the principle that only a small portion – approximately five percent – of the incident light is used for the actual observation. Herschel Prisms of the classic design guide the unused and incomparably larger, more energetic portion of light through the […]
While PlaneWave Instruments debuted its new L-Series direct-drive mount at NEAF 2017 (Image 1), details on the series are not yet available on its website. But what are available there are features and specifications of its new, fully automated PW-1000 one-meter observatory telescope (Image 2). At first blush, the PW-1000 […]
Baader Planetarium’s famed Hyperion 8-24 mm Zoom eyepiece is now in its fourth generation. The Mark IV features an improved click-stop action – a must for binoviewing – with indents at five magnifications: 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 mm. As before, this latest design provides long eye relief across […]