Observational Astronomy
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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…
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Telescope Imaging Systems
Have you ever seen an image like this? Okay, maybe you have…online. What with the spread of the internet these days, I’m guessing that at one point you have seen something like this on a page of image search results.…
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Interferometry
Imagine you have an image like one of these. This object is faint and faraway, so you can’t make out much more detail. You know that other stars like it — closer, brighter stars — have looked like this and…
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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…
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Improved Telescope Mounting
So, any idea what this handy-dandy thing is? Okay, so maybe I sort of gave it away in the post title… I know what you’re about to say next. Why are we looking at a mount? What’s so special about a…
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Improved Telescope Mirrors
When it comes to telescopes, bigger is always better. Bigger means more light-gathering power and better resolution. And a longer telescope — meaning, a longer focal length — can actually do wonders for your magnification power. Light-gathering power, by the way,…
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Improved Reflecting Telescopes
Can you tell the difference between these two telescopes? I’ll give you a hint. They are both reflectors. I know I wrote before that you’ll normally find the eyepiece (the little bit tacked onto the telescope tube) on the side with…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
