Yesterday, I blogged about an e-mail I received from developer Gene Turner, who runs the Rancho Hidalgo Astronomy and Equestrian Village near Animas, New Mexico. He had hosted an astronomy group , and they had a great time. We thought it would be a nice follow-up if we posted an e-mail from Art Humphrey, the organizer of the group, which we received today. Here it is, in full: “After reading about the Astronomy magazine’s telescope at Rancho Hidalgo...

A few weeks ago, Astronomy Editor David J. Eicher visited the astronomy and equestrian village at Rancho Hidalgo near Animas, New Mexico. While Dave was there, developer Gene Turner surprised him by unveiling a second Astronomy Magazine Observatory , just to the east of the first one. The goal is to stream images from the observatory (or observatories!) to our web site. As fiber-optic Internet lines become operational and as Rancho Hidalgo acquires...

On Friday, Dallas got about a foot of snow, which meant our connecting flight to Tucson was cancelled. After a bit of airline shuffling, I got into Tucson Saturday night. On Sunday, I picked up Senior Editor Rich Talcott and his wife Evelyn from the airport, and we headed to Rancho Hidalgo near Animas, New Mexico. We arrived at Rancho Hidalgo, home to the Astronomy Magazine Observatory, Sunday afternoon. The sky was clear and calm, promising a good...

Saturday morning we awoke after a great night of observing to an azure blue sky and a community breakfast before heading off with Gene Turner, John Eicher, Rocky Alvey (director of Vanderbilt University’s Dyer Observatory), and Nashville astroimager Mark Manner. We set a course for Old Hachita, New Mexico, over the Grant County line. Our objective? Mining. Gene knows the lay of the land and the owners in this region, so we explored Hachita, a mining...

A newly built observatory (left) building will hold a second telescope for Astronomy magazine use and an instrument for joint educational use between the Astronomical League and Vanderbilt University. The Astronomy Magazine Observatory is on the right. The two observatory buildings stand in front of Clyde Tombaugh’s 16-inch scope at Rancho Hidalgo near Animas, New Mexico. David J. Eicher photo On Friday, my father John and I set off from the Tucson...

Here at Astronomy magazine, several of us have been observers for decades. Needless to say, it takes pretty big news to surprise us on the amateur astronomy front. Well, today a spectacular announcement from Orion Telescopes & Binoculars stunned us: The company is introducing three new large Dobsonian-mounted reflectors . Did I say large? The smallest has a mirror 36 inches across! The mid-size model sports a 40-inch mirror, and the top-of-the...

First-light solar image taken at the Astronomy Magazine Observatory. Yesterday was a clear day at Rancho Hidalgo , and developer Gene Turner just acquired the first solar image at the Astronomy Magazine Observatory here. The observatory houses a 14-inch Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope we’ll use for future deep-sky imaging. Sitting atop the 14-inch scope, however, is a 4-inch Tele Vue NP-101 apochromatic refractor with a SolarScope Hydrogen-alpha...

Saturday, January 9, I arrived at Rancho Hidalgo, the astronomy and equestrian community in Animas, New Mexico, to find developer Gene Turner working on his magnificent 30-inch Starmaster reflecting telescope. “I need to replace the friction strip for the azimuth gear drive,” he explained, “so we may be using the electronic setting circles tonight rather than the go-to drive.” Fine with me. I’ll jump at any chance to look through that scope. Before...

It’s Monday, January 11, I’m sitting in my office outside Milwaukee, and it’s still cold outside. No, the Kenyan annular eclipse trip I was supposed to start on Saturday hasn’t happened yet — for me. Our group’s flights were canceled due to the terrible ice and snow problems at Heathrow Airport in London, and so tomorrow morning I will start off for Nairobi, 3 days late. Look for a blog a couple of days from now. The solar annulus, the lions, the...

California amateur astronomer Tony Hallas is one of the top celestial photographers on Earth. Starting with Astronomy ’s September 2010 issue, he’ll share his expertise with our readers in a monthly column called “Astroimaging with Tony Hallas.” Tony, a self-taught photographer, has captured celestial objects, first on film and then with CCD cameras, since 1987. Along the way, he’s maintained a successful business selling prints of his deep-sky images...