April 29, 2007
The Goldilocks Planet?
Not too warm - not to cold -just right! You gotta love it - and only 20 light years away. So how long would it take us to get there. Well for the betsof our current technology here's what we...April 26, 2007
Prime Time - a new venture
What really has me excited now is the pending start of a new venture - a year-long program called:"Prime Time: Observing Through the Astronmical year. " It's promoted on the Free Public Programs page, but the essentials are a small...April 25, 2007
Lovejoy? Not for me - but I'm flipping over the moon ;-)
Took a quick peek this morning for Comet Lovejoy. I was armed with my 15X45 IS Canons, but they weren;t enough. According to Sky and Telescope chart it should have been easy to find because it was well-placed in Aquila....April 24, 2007
Hyperion Zoom: What I am seeing is not what's advertised
As I have written recently, I love the Hyperion eyepieces and feel the 8-24 zoom is my all-purpose eyepiece of first choice. But the cold truth of what I am seeing is either the AFOV is way off, or the...April 23, 2007
Hyperion zoom - by the numbers - NOT
I've had many kind words to say about the Hyperion Zoom and it is still my eyepiece of first choice. There's simply a lot I like about it. But I really do question the specifications they claim for it. Don't...Wrapping your mind around Saturn
Looking at Saturn last night, I thought about it in a new way – new to me, that is. I saw one end of the rings as touching the Earth, the opposite side as reaching two thirds of the way...April 22, 2007
Observing for the blind? We have a lot to learn!
Remember the observing for the blind project? It happened last night. Or rather, it didn’t happen. We were there. Roughly 1,000 people were there. The clouds were there, but we got decent looks at Venus, the Moon, Saturn, and an...Hyperion - defining a new level of affordable quality - at least for me
Hy*pe*ri*on [ hi per ean] - A small moon of Saturn. A titan in Greek mythology. An incredible eyepiece. OK, that’s my definition – and I have to admit I know next to nothing about Greek mythology, a little more...April 14, 2007
3.5mm Hyperion , 80 ED, split the Double-Double
You know I like the Hyperion 8-24 zoom. Add to that the 3.5mm, 68-degree Hyperion from Baader Planetarium. I tried it briefly last night on the 8-inch LX90 and found it the most comfortable, high-powered eyepiece I have used....April 13, 2007
Getting on the "E" plane - with a push from Venus and the Pleiades
Bren and I caught Venus dropping in on the Seven Sisters the other night. Pretty – and it certainly drove home the message of a hundred-fold difference in brightness. That is Venus is at about –4 and the Pleiades have...Pick a double star - any double star . . .
A simple challenge: Choose a reasonably close double star. Look at the pair in your scope with an eyepiece of fixed focal length that splits the pair cleanly, but not widely. That is, you should see black sky between them...April 10, 2007
Hyperion Zoom update
I've had several more observing sessions with the Hyperion 8-24mm zoon on the 8-inch, F10 LX90 and have the following observations: 1. I'm still infatuated with it - it is my eyepiece of first choice. 2. The numbers on the...April 08, 2007
Easter in M92 and M13 with Eliza and Higgins
M92 is where I “went to church” on Easter morning – sort of beating the traditional sunrise service to the punch. The “service” I attended was held at about 4 am and I don’t have a clue who else was...April 07, 2007
Epi, epi, epicycles!
Boy if you ever wondered about those crazy epicycles that folks had so much trouble explaining when they assumed we were the center of the solar system (universe?) and not the Sun, take a look at this Astronomy Picture of...April 06, 2007
You gotta be kidding - observing for the blind?
Astronmical observing for the blind? Does that sound like a cruel joke to you? It did to me when I first heard it and before I gave it much thought. Yet a few weeks from now I hope to be...Wider, better, but . . . looking through the new Hyperion Zoom
Bottom line; Testing three zoom eyepieces this morning, it was obvious that if you pay more, you get more – but as is frequently the case with optical quality, what you get isn’t that much more and what you pay...April 05, 2007
How fine should we be cutting it?
My friend Clay Cooper has some interesting experiences to report in a recent message: I got a new 2" eyepiece this week - a GSO 30mm Super View ($58). Ordered it from Agena Astro on Monday morning and received it...April 01, 2007
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