June 2015 Jupiter-Venus Conjunction
Planetary conjunctions are a pretty cool sight, and easy to photograph, often without a telescope.
New Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ5 Mount
Sky-Watcher recently introduced the AZ-EQ5 Mount that has generated a lot of interest for it’s low price and very small stated periodic error of only ±5 arc seconds. That’s a native periodic error you would expect to find in a class of mounts more than double the AZ-EQ5’s size and price.
New Refractors coming from Astro-Tech
Astronomics sent an email to customers earlier today announcing a new line of Refractor telescopes coming in about 90 days time (view the email here). This is exciting because Astro-tech refractors (recent experiences with the AT65EDQ aside) have a very solid reputation for quality and value. Three new scopes were …
The Best DSLR Cameras for Astrophotography
If you are looking to buy a new DSLR for Astrophotography, this article offers some recommended cameras and some of the features to look for in an astrophotography DSLR.
How to Photograph the International Space Station
The International Space Station is an inspiring sight. If you’ve never spotted it cruising across the night sky, have a look at 3 Easy Tools for Spotting the ISS to find out when it will be visible passing overhead. (If you live in the UK, follow @VirtualAstro on Twitter for …
NASA Has A Possible Impulse Engine, Not A Warp Drive
The internet has gotten itself into a tizzy lately with headlines like “Has NASA Accidentally Invented The Warp Drive?” Let’s stop with the sensational headlines saying NASA has discovering Warp Drive. If you insist on a Star Trek reference, what NASA has been testing looks a lot more like an impulse engine.
Astro-Tech 65 ED Quadruplet Astrograph
I started writing a review of this scope back in early 2014 after receiving this telescope in January. Now, in January 2015, I see these scopes are no longer available new. I actually wound up returning mine due to optical defects. (Kudos to Astronomics for their customer support.) Based on my …
Astronomy Outreach at Comic and Sci-Fi Conventions
I’ve been attending comic and sci-fi conventions for a few years, actually since before I got deep into astronomy. It occurred to me last year (2013) at ECCC that there would be a large overlap of the convention attendees that would be interested in Astronomy. NASA actually had a large …
3 Asteroids Visible in Small Telescopes
There seem to be a lot of asteroids in the news this week, counting the 3 close flybys of Earth, and the breakup observed by Hubble. I thought some of you might find it interesting that there are three asteroids you can have a look at in a small telescope …
Astro-Tech 6″ Ritchey-Chrétien Imaging Review
You may have seen my first impressions and unboxing of this telescope. After having a few good nights of imaging to test it out, I’m happy to say it has lived up to expectations.