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Astrophotography Exposure Calculator
I’ve just published a calculator for exposures for astrophotography called, cleverly, the Astrophotography Exposure Calculator. You have to have a GPT Plus membership to access it. By answering a...
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Telescope Mount Reviews
The summer Milky Way in Sagittarius sets behind a group of amateur astronomers at the Black Forest Star Party in Cherry Springs Pennsylvania, USA on September 3, 2005. This image is a single exposure...
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iOptron HEM15 Strain Wave Mount
I just published a review of the iOptron HEM15, an extremely compact solid Go-To equatorial telescope mount. The iOptron HEM15 Strain Wave Hybrid Equatorial Mount. This mount uses a different type of...
View ArticleDovetail Sizes
Some variation in widths in my dovetail bars: ACTUAL MEASURED SYNTA: 30mm AT65 female finder: 34mm Astrodymium female: 33.5mm Finder male base: 30.0mm QHY male base: 30.0mm ARCA-SWISS: 38mm Neewer...
View ArticleFilter Sizes, My Lenses
200-600 f/5.6-6.3 = 95mm 70-200/2.8 = 77mm 135/2 = 77mm 65mm/2 = 62mm 50mm/1.4 = 72mm 40mm/2.5 = 49mm 24mm/2 = 62mm Blackpromist filter 82mm Need 82mm lens hood then
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A Guide to Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
TL;DR Highlights September 27 – Perihelion: the comet is closest to the Sun. It is visible in the morning before sunrise in the east. If it survives, the real show starts. Dust tail 5° long. If there...
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Blind Polar Aligning
Sometimes you can’t see the celestial pole to polar align your mount. Maybe because you’re blocked by trees. Maybe because it’s the daytime. Here’s a trick. You can simply use your smartphone and a...
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Comet Weather
Forecast for the next week around here is not looking good for seing Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in the morning. The good thing is that weather forecasts this far in advance are usually wrong.
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Comet Weather
We are going to be so screwed by Hurricane Helene we won’t even enjoy it. A thousand miles of clouds.
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Comet C/2033 A3 Brightness
It’s coming along very nicely. The light curve of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) from Gideon van Buitenen shows the development of the comet’s brightness as of September28, 2024. The gray curve is...
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Comet C/2023 A3 Anti-Tail
ANTI-TAIL – Comet C/2923 A3 (Tsushinshan-ATLAS) on 15 Oct at 7:15 pm edt, next to globular cluster M5 and showing an anti-tail at orbital plane crossing. Crop from a 4-minute exposure (120x2s) at ISO...
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Free Astrophotography Books!
I have retired and made most of my early books available to read in their entirety on my web site here: https://www.astropix.com/html/books.html The only two that are not available for free are...
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Ultimate Lenses for Astrophotography
I have just published an article on Ultimate Lenses for Astrophotography on my web site here: https://www.astropix.com/html/equipment/ultimate/Ultimate-Lenses-For-Astrophotography.html I have about...
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