fundamentals: observational astronomy
-
The Messier Marathon
Have you heard of the Messier Marathon? If you travel in astronomy circles, you’re bound to have heard of it around this time of the year. Every March and April, astronomers from across the northern hemisphere embark on a challenge:…
-
Tonight’s Saturn
You guys are probably wondering where I’ve been, huh? For the better part of this year, I’ve been hard at work at my novel, at the expense of pretty much everything else — and I’m pleased to report it’s almost…
-
How Deep-Sky Catalogs Work
Meet the Veil Nebula, one of my favorite deep-sky objects. The Veil is one of the more common star party requests I get from more experienced participants. Unfortunately, it requires a very powerful telescope. My 11-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain — pretty advanced,…
-
The Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most famous telescopes in the world. Oops, excuse me — one of the most famous telescopes built. Hubble, after all, is certainly not in this world. Unless you call the universe the “world,”…
-
Info in a Rainbow
What do you see in this image? If you’re from a larger city and haven’t had the opportunity to venture into a place like the desert, you might not know what you’re looking at. That’s the Milky Way, our name…
-
A Telescope Tour
For the past few days, I’ve done a lot of talking about differences between types of telescopes and mounting systems. On occasion, I’ve mentioned some of their parts, though I haven’t focused on that. Today, I will. This post is…
-
Light Pollution
Do me a favor and take a look at this photo of New York City: This photo was taken at night. Seriously. At night. But…it looks too bright for the night. I’ll bet I wouldn’t even have to shine a…
-
Telescope Powers
Have you seen one of these guys before? You probably have, even if you don’t recognize this brand-new innovation. This is the European Extremely Large Telescope, or the E-ELT. I know, imaginative name, huh? Anyway, it’s not all that different…
-
Refracting & Reflecting Telescopes
Right next to light, the telescope is an astronomer’s most valuable tool. There are so many different varieties of telescopes, it can be hard to keep them all straight. But they can all be sorted into a few basic types,…
-
The Spectrum of Light
Does this look familiar? People think of rainbows as a symbol of happiness and fortune. There are even myths that leprechauns hide gold at the end of a rainbow. That’s more of a tease than good fortune, if you ask…
