Yes, it’s about time! Looking for ways to pry your kids away from the TV, the computer or video games? Yep… it’s easy to blame a child’s lack of interest in anything but these things but we, as adults, have to bear some of the responsibility for it as well. In some cases, we should be blaming ourselves entirely. Read the rest of this entry »
My quest for creating my ultimate Dobsonian Telescope is finally reaching an end. If you’d like to read the entire story, I’ve posted it here… Dobsonian Telescope Saga
We’ve finally got around to posting the requested Meade Lightbridge video. This video simply shows the alt/az movements of the Lightbridge Dob with the Dob Driver II installed. A few astrophotographs have also been posted by users of the Dob Driver II system. Here’s the link… http://www.astronomycoe.com/flv/dobdrivervideo.htm . Enjoy!
A while back we posted a special technical report for Dob owners. You can still get it here… but it’s going away soon.
There’s no doubt about it, John Dobson is a remarkable man… with an even more remarkable mind. There’s a good chance that you don’t have any idea who this guy is, if you’re not involved in astronomy. For the rest of us, he single-handedly changed the astronomy hobby forever. One of his contributions (and this post is only about one of his contributions to astronomy) was his simple mount design that could easily carry large, reflective (or Newtonian type) telescopes. His design is very simple, but the beauty is that no one had thought of it before. The design was instantly dubbed, “The Dobsonian Telescope Mount”. (Google “Dobsonian telescope mount”, if you want more information.) While this design paved the way for larger and lower cost telescopes to be used by the masses, Mr. Dobson’s design has touched off a colossal firestorm of debate. Read the rest of this entry »
Want to get a free trip to the moon? We’ll… almost. For those of you with fast fingers, there’s still time to submit your name to NASA. Your name will encoded on a microchip and packed aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft. The spacecraft is scheduled for launch later this year, with it’s mission being to check out resources and future landing sites.
While having your name aboard the spacecraft is not the same as being there personally, it’s still a pretty neat offer. The deadline for submission is June 27, 2008 so you have to get a move on. You’ll also receive a pretty slick certificate to show that you’re a part of the program. You can enter your name at;
I guess it didn’t really dawn on me until a few nights ago. After many, many, days of clouds and overcast skies, we finally had a clear night sky. Finally… and opportunity to take my telescope outside. It actually wasn’t even dark yet when I set my equipment up. Everything was almost ready to go when my neighbor came over to see what I was up to. “What do you look at through that thing anyhow?”, he asked. “Bunches of stuff”, I told him. He stuck around long enough for it to get dark so I showed him Mars, a couple of star clusters, a galaxy or two and a few plain old bright stars. Read the rest of this entry »
This post is a bit off-track for us. You would normally expect an astronomy blog to… well… you know… stick to the topic of astronomy. For the last couple of months, things have changed enough where conversations always drift toward our sagging economy, gas prices, erosion of the dollar, jobs and all things similar. If you’re not aware of any of these topics… uuummm. Regardless the group you are in, these are the first and foremost issues on the mind of every American, and are definitely the ones we find ourselves talking about most often.
Let’s throw all of these issues on the table for discussion, but let’s use a slightly different approach. Let’s try to make this more of a problem solving meeting place. Yes, there is always a strong temptation to write negatively about “those responsible” for this mess or simply laying all of these problems at the feet of the politicians, special interest groups and lobbyists. While writing in those veins is certainly self satisfying, it won’t really solve any of the problems. (Folks… you know that we’re much better than this.) It also doesn’t relieve us from the responsibility of finding solutions. Read the rest of this entry »
When you talk to amateur astronomers long enough, the course of the conversation always seems to drift toward astrophotography. This is normal, I guess, since it’s one of the hottest areas of amateur astronomy. We recently happened across a first-class website presented by astrophotographer Jerry Lodriguss. This is a “must see” website containing an absolute gold mine of information. If your into astrophotography, or are learning about it, take a trip to http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/TOC_AP.HTM.
If you’re looking for something really different that will add dimension to your quest for astronomy knowledge, check out this site Astronomy Cast. Chock full of interesting and highly useful podcasts! We’ve queued up Episode 66, as a taste. ”How Amateurs Can Contribute to Astronomy”. Click here to enjoy it!