A great place for starting with your first telescope is a small refractor. While children of the 1970s like me remember flimsy toys with...
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Public star parties – either formal organized gatherings or impromptu sidewalk affairs – are a great way to introduce the general public to the...
Are you intimidated by manual polar alignment? To be sure, computer-controlled, GPS-equipped telescopes have largely automated this task. But, like star-hopping, polar alignment is...
Living and observing on the U.S. East Coast, I’m no stranger to dealing with dew on optics. In fact, doing the Universe Today Virtual...
Why sometimes, the best magnification, is no magnification at all. Here’s a true story. The very first telescope I had as a kid –...
We’ve all been there. The telescope is set up, the target is aligned… and there’s a glaring light shining just beyond the view of...
Amateur astronomy isn’t an inherently dangerous pursuit. While it’s much safer than, say, rock climbing or scuba diving, one aspect of the field merits...
At one time or another, every observer wants an observatory of one’s own. Even a very basic backyard observatory means that your telescope and...
Two eyes are always better than one. For years, we’ve espoused the virtues of using binoculars, as an intermediary between naked eye observing and...
Seeing a rocket launch is on many a bucket list. We lived near the Florida Space Coast for years, where rocket launches are common....