Product Reviews by our Staff and Customers
Bill used the Benro Polaris tracking mount to get images of comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. This post tells the story of the expedition. He also reviews the Polaris.
The Move Shoot Move wedge goes between a Nomad (or other) star tracker and your tripod. It allows you to polar align. This wedge is made from CNC aluminium and provides the smooth movements you need for precise alignment.
A hobby killer telescope is one which is really bad. Anyone who gets one will find that it’s too difficult to use, and worse, that astronomy is no fun. Here, we point out how to spot a hobby killer, so you can avoid it. Better, we also tell you what to look out for so your gift will provide a lifetime of enjoyment and learning.
With the Australian Solar eclipse coming in 2028, it’s time to get familiar with solar telescopes. With Lunt telescopes you can see the surface of the Sun using white light, or Hydrogen alpha and Calcium-K filters. These all show different aspects of what’s happening there. If you want to photograph it as well, there are cameras for that too.
Mars opposition is in mid-January next year. But before that happens, Mars is going to enter retrograde motion, where it stops being overtaken by the background stars and starts overtaking them back. Retrograde motion stumped the ancient astronomers and had a hand in stimulating the rise of modern scientific thought.
Inspired by a video of an eclipse of Phobos, Bill wondered about the definitions of moons, planets and asteroids. Why are potato shapes important, and how did Phobos stop being one and start being another?
