An astronomy blog from the middle of Manhattan . . . and Denver
Many beginners interested in getting their first scope will often ask about getting one for about $100 to $150 or so. Buying a scope in this price range is a mistake. A big mistake. Scopes in this price range are so bad that they can frustrate you right out of the hobby. After buying a […]
Read More March 3, 2019: Why You Should Stay Far, FAR Away From That $100 to $150 Telescope“Okay, now WTH is he talking about?” It’s an analogy I use to explain the differences between different scopes, and why there’s no one perfect scope that does it all. You have different shoes for different purposes: sneakers, dress shoes, boots, slippers. Yes, even Crocs. They each serve their purpose, and you don’t wear one […]
Read More January 10, 2019: Telescopes Are Like Shoes – One Scope Can’t Do It AllNo, no, this isn’t yet another anti-dob rant; longtime readers will know that I actually do like dobs. No, this is more of a heads-up as to the differences between these two popular sizes of dobs, the 8 and the 10, and why, unless you’re a gym rat, you might not want to buy a […]
Read More August 11, 2018: Don’t Buy A 10-inch Dob Over An 8 . . . Yet! Magnitudes ExplainedI just flew in from the Rocky Mountain Star Stare in Gardner, CO, and boy are my arms tired. Ba-dum-bum. It was great! Well, except for the absolutely lousy stinking cloud-covered skies. It was sort of like, “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?” Yeah, it was cloudy – all four […]
Read More June 22, 2018: The Rocky Mountain Star Stare! . . . Or Not.One of the problems you might encounter when observing some nebulae and galaxies is that the light that they’re emitting is spread out over a large area – huge, sometimes. This makes them difficult to find and see. The Triangulum Galaxy, M33, is a perfect example of this. Nowadays, it’s risen about 30 degrees up […]
Read More October 14, 2017: Spotting Diffuse Objects With Dark AdaptationLate summer is globular cluster season. Almost all of the globular clusters in the Messier Catalogue are visible at this time of year. Well, if the weather cooperates, that is. Which it didn’t out at the Denver Astronomical Society’s dark site last night. Globulars are collections of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even […]
Read More September 16, 2017: Glorious Globs at the Dark SiteSorry for the bad pun. Ahem. Well, actually sorry, not sorry. This past Sunday night, Digby took me out to the Denver Astronomical Society’s dark site, about 60 miles east of town. (I am still carless, but this will be remedied in just over two months when my Jeopardy money finally comes in!) This had […]
Read More July 26, 2017: A Stellar Night at the Dark SiteTo paraphrase Sally Field, “I like dobs. I really like dobs!”* Some readers of this blog who follow my posts in various Facebook astronomy groups (like this one, and this one), would think that I have a vehement hatred of dobs, as if one slept with my wife, ran over my dog, or owes me […]
Read More June 24, 2017: I Like Dobs! A Semi-Brief RantLast week I had my Oberwerk 12×60 binoculars out for the moon’s occultation of Aldebaran. I hadn’t used them in a while, and I had been sort of unsatisfied with them for a longer while. Why? Because they were giving me double images, as well as eyestrain and headaches as a result from not being […]
Read More March 11, 2017: Astro BinocularsWelcome to our 2016 Telescope Buying Guide! This article was a collaboration between Jon Groubert and Sorin (aka the Soggy Astronomer). Jon has been an active contributor to Sorin’s page, How to Avoid the Agony When Buying Your First Telescope, answering reader questions for quite a while there, particularly with suggestions on good telescopes to […]
Read More November 22, 2016: 2016 Telescope Buying Guide
Light-Polluted Astronomy 