Scott Roberts with the apochromatic refractor telescope presented to National Young Astronomer Award winner John Hodge. Explore Scientific, LLC Most amateur astronomers are familiar with Scott Roberts. During his days with Meade Instruments , he was a common visitor to dozens of annual star parties and would often talk with observers on the phone to answer questions regarding telescopes and accessories. Roberts left Meade earlier this year, but promised...

Have you downloaded Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope (WWT)? If not, you can find it here , free of charge. Once you kick the tires, be sure to join our community. WWT communities provide tours, images, and other information relating to the night (and day) sky to members. So far, our community features tours covering galaxies, orbiting observatories, our impending (meaning long after you're gone) merger with Andromeda, and naked-eye open star...

Astrodon Filters supplies precision imaging filters to astrophotographers worldwide. Here, founder Don Goldman explains a new product to a NEAF attendee. Michael E. Bakich Today is Saturday, the first day of the 2008 Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF). I’ve been looking forward to seeing the many manufacturers registered for this year’s NEAF. Here, at the largest annual astronomy expo, you can expect some surprises, and this year was no exception. The...

Today is Friday, the second day of the 2008 Northeast Astro Imaging Conference (NEAIC) at Rockland Community College , in Suffern, New York. Because the college’s classes are still in session, NEAIC annually asks one of the participants to lecture to one or two classes about an astronomical subject. This year, conference organizers asked Astronomy Contributing Editor Mike D. Reynolds to give one of the lectures. And what a great choice it was! In...

Today, I’m blogging from Suffern, New York, site of the 2008 Northeast Astro Imaging Conference (NEAIC). More than 100 of the world’s best astrophotographers have gathered here to renew old friendships, share techniques, and see the latest hardware. NEAIC is an outgrowth of the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF), which will begin on Saturday. I’m happy to be here because I’ve already run into several long-time image contributors to Astronomy I’d never...

There’s no better place to find astronomy related software than the web archive created by Astro Events Group of Ostend, Belgium. “Our compilation will actually never be complete,” says Patrick Jaecques, a member of the group. “We have updates about every week. It’s also the only part of our Dutch web site that is translated into French, German and English.” There you’ll find hundreds of programs for a wide variety of computing environments, including...

I love old telescopes. Unfortunately, there aren’t many left you can observe through. Luckily, you can find a great one at Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California. This year, Chabot’s 8-inch refractor, made by the famous telescope manufacturing firm of Alvan Clark and Sons, marks its 125th birthday. In 1883, Anthony Chabot, a wealthy hydrologist, purchased the telescope and donated it to the people of Oakland. The telescope originally...

For the past 2 days, I've been rearranging the storage areas here at Astronomy magazine. It was lots of work and lots of fun at the same time. And, it got me thinking. Why do some telescopes last 5 years while others last 50? The answer, it turns out, boils down to one word: dust. If you can protect your telescope from dust, it will last a lifetime. Now, I'm not considering killing forces like water damage and blunt-force trauma. Those can...

This week and next, I'm sharing a short essay by one of my astronomy friends, Susan Carroll. Susan has been a dedicated observer for more years than most. Her 18-inch Starmaster Dobsonian-mounted reflector is a familiar sight at star parties across Florida and the Southeast (and the Midwest, when she lived there). If you're a telescopic observer like me, I'm sure you will relive the moments Susan describes. If you haven't yet taken...

John Chumack imaged M15 September 9, 2006, from his observatory at the Yellow Springs Research Station in Ohio. John Chumack Fraser Cain , podcaster and web guru behind Universe Today , recently wrote a piece regarding advanced observers' home observatories for Wired 's web site. With observer profiles, astrophotography, and instrument shots, the article introduces readers to some of the leading astroimagers and their advanced equipment. Even...