Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) offers worldwide astronomy programs and with the help of industry partners, the organization’s online store has plenty of low-priced goodies. You’ll find beginners telescopes from a variety of manufacturers — including the award-winning Astronomers Without Borders OneSky collapsible 5-inch table-top Dobsonian. Also available are eyepieces and […]
ASTRO CNC is a new maker of custom Dobsonian telescope components including altitude bearings, mirror boxes, secondary cages, and more that are precision cut using CNC milling. They work with various materials including plywood, wood, plastic, and aluminum. Their products are designed to be easily assembled by the end user, […]
Blandin Platforms is a new company offering equatorial platforms for Dobsonian telescopes. The company’s new Crossbow equatorial platforms track for over 60 minutes before needing to be reset and run on 2 AAA batteries for 15+ hours of tracking. The platforms are very lightweight and portable, made from durable anodized […]
It is not often we see something that throws us off a little bit, ok a lot of bit in this instance! We were visiting the Tele Vue blog when we came across a post about Clyde M. Bone, Jr. and his custom built Mersenne reflecting telescopes. What is a […]
Most beginner telescope packages come with a single eyepiece. Thinking that most beginners would want something more in the way of power than the lowest possible power (which yields the largest true field of view), the manufacturers provide an eyepiece that, charitably, is a “jack of all trades and master […]
Astrozap Telescope Dust Covers: Astronomers can get pretty finicky about cleanliness, especially when it comes to their telescope optics. The reality is that dust is everywhere and it is next to impossible to keep it entirely off a telescope’s optics. However, you don’t have to allow dust to settle on […]
Explore Scientific 92 Degree Eyepiece Review: Due to primarily using Dobsonians and altitude/azimuth scopes, I’ve long enjoyed and preferred wide-field eyepieces to the standard 40-50 degree oculars. And with the continued advancement in optical coatings, I’ve found that light transmission loss from eyepieces that incorporate more lens elements has become […]
The Sky-Watcher Stargate Dobsonian telescopes offer serious aperture for those looking to sail farther into the depths of the cosmos in big deep-sky-gobbling apertures of 18 and 20 inches. For those stepping up from the 12-inch instruments, the 18-inch Stargate captures more than twice the light, and for those graduating […]
Sky-Watcher’s new Stargate truss-tube Dobsonian telescopes offer serious aperture for those looking to sail farther into the depths of the cosmos in big – and even bigger! – deep-sky-gobbling apertures of 18 and 20 inches. For those stepping up from the 12-inch instruments, the 18-inch Stargate captures more than twice […]
By Tom Osypowski Tom Osypowski is the owner of Equatorial Platforms and the night sky has been his steady companion for over five decades, ever since, at the age of 12, the urge came to look up at the stars from his boyhood home in Milwaukee. Tom’s journey with building […]
By Dr. James R. Dire Dr. James Dire has an M.S. in physics from the University of Central Florida and a M.A. and Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University, both in planetary science and is an associate provost at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Spring, N.C., and a professor of physics […]
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has the potential of revolutionizing every industry whose products incorporate physical components, by delivering mass customization and eliminating cost-prohibitive set up and production complexity. It was only a matter of time before the benefits of 3D printing were deployed in the manufacture of custom telescopes […]