July 14, 2018: My Local Dark Site Ain’t So Dark, Redux; and No-Detail Mars, Redux

The three longtime readers of this blog might recognize the title of this post; I wrote another post about the shortcomings of my local observing site just short of two years ago, right after I moved into my apartment in Glendale, a tiny little independent city completely surrounded by Denver. Up until now, I’ve basically […]

April 26, 2018: Making Astronomy Sexy

Where you from? You sexy thing (sexy thing, you). No, this post isn’t about hot and sexy telescopes. Well, okay, maybe just a little. That banner photo above is the new Skywatcher Skygate 18-inch truss tube dobsonian. They also have a 20-inch that looks the same, but the pictures I was able to find of […]

March 27, 2018: William Herschel, the Herschel 400, and the NGC – All 7840 of Them

I’ve posted about a couple of DSO catalogues, the Messier and the Caldwell, that beginners should start out with. Heck, even supposedly “more advanced” astronomers like myself are still working on these lists, as they represent the vast majority of the most gorgeous items in the sky. But if you’re looking for your next challenge, […]

October 14, 2017: Spotting Diffuse Objects With Dark Adaptation

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 […]