Astronomy magazine columnist Stephen James O’Meara ’s sent us two blogs from the 2009 Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show. Many thanks to Steve for sending these reports! Day One Arrived in Pasadena Saturday morning and immediately immersed myself in the telescope fever at the Pacific Astronomy Telescope Show (PATS), organized by the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference. This is not a telescope-making convention. It's a telescope expo with more...

While it’s important to be professional and keep an adult attitude toward science and its popularization, we can all agree that it’s awesome to hear Carl Sagan sing about the cosmos in this tribute video on YouTube . Sounding like a cross between Auto-Tune-abusing T-Pain and The Matrix ’s Agent Smith, Sagan describes the natural beauty of the universe in a song called “A Glorious Dawn.” Seeing as how Sagan probably was the most successful science...

What do you get when you combine more than 50 innovative telescope, camera, and accessory dealers with 1,000 eager amateur astronomers? The answer is the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show (PATS), which is happening this weekend in Pasadena, California. As the Astronomy editor who mainly works with the hobby and equipment aspects of our science, I’m always eager to see new products from manufacturers. Well, the first day of PATS did not disappoint...

I’m at the 2009 Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show (PATS) that runs Saturday and Sunday. Early Friday, I ducked into several sessions of the Riverside Astroimaging Workshop (RAW). Organizers of RAW this year found speakers to present sessions on “affordable” and “advanced” imaging. Don Goldman from Astrodon Filters gave more seasoned astrophotographers a 2-hour talk on narrowband imaging. Don contributes fabulous deep-sky images to Astronomy, and...

Last night our homeland at Astronomy magazine had the good fortune to receive a visit from a friend of the magazine, Dava Sobel. Dava is an award-winning science writer whose books, Longitude , Galileo’s Daughter , and The Planets , have graced the New York Times bestseller lists. She has contributed to the magazine in the past and has traveled with several editors on trips around the globe in the past to see solar eclipses. Last night, September...

This weekend, thousands of avid amateur astronomers and interested hobbyists are converging on Pasadena, California, for the 2009 Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show (PATS). And, guess what? I’m here, too. Astronomy magazine represents the largest audience available to manufacturers developing new telescopes, cameras, eyepieces, and a wide array of accessories. I’m looking forward to seeing them all this weekend. It’s get-togethers like this where...

Here’s something of a shout-out to some of our Wisconsin neighbors: Ray Setzer has created virtual tours of the grounds of the Modine-Benstead Observatory in Union Grove. Part of the surprisingly sophisticated Racine Astronomical Society , the observatory features a 16-inch Newtonian Cassegrain reflecting telescope and a 14-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, both domed. Editor's note: When visiting WIVirtual.com to see the virtual tours...

I just finished reading John Hicks’ new book, Building a Roll-Off Roof Observatory — A Complete Guide for Design and Construction (Springer, 2009). This is the latest entry in British astronomy popularizer Patrick Moore’s Practical Astronomy Series. Hicks is a Canadian amateur astronomer and a professional Senior landscape architect who has designed and built observatories for himself and others. If you’re in the process of or thinking about building...

NASA’s Desert RATS — or Research and Technology Studies — has concluded two weeks of technology development tests on two of the agency's prototype lunar rovers from the Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona. The studies allow NASA to analyze and refine technologies and procedures in extreme environments on Earth. The annual studies featured a simulated 14-day mission. Two crew members, an astronaut and a geologist, lived for more than 300 hours inside...

Following the dedication of Astronomy magazine’s observatory , and of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh’s telescope at Rancho Hidalgo, New Mexico, desert adventure awaited us. Astronomy ’s publisher Kevin Keefe had joined me to trek out to visit developer Gene Turner and Loy Guzman, our hosts at Rancho Hidalgo. With the many guests from the night before now departed, we set about exploring nearby attractions surrounding the Hidalgo site — Portal, Arizona...