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My Latest Budget Astrophotography Build March 21, 2025

Recently, I put together a budget astrophotography rig to capture a deep-sky nebula in my backyard. Astrophotography (and photography in general) can be an expensive hobby with high-end equipment often costing thousands of dollars. While there are cheaper options available for beginners or those on a tight budget, they usually come with certain limitations in... […]

Trevor Jones

Choosing a Computer for Astrophotography Image Processing March 2, 2025

Choosing the right computer for image processing can save you a lot of headaches when you’re trying to process those jaw-dropping images of the night sky. Applications like Adobe Photoshop and PixInsight can really push a computer to its limits when processing astrophotography images, so what kind of specs do you need? Here’s a breakdown... […]

Trevor Jones

8 Deep-Sky Targets for Galaxy Season February 27, 2025

In the astrophotography realm, Galaxy Season refers to the period in Spring when the night sky offers up a buffet of incredible galaxies to observe and photograph. From early March until mid-May, the window of opportunity for night-sky enthusiasts to photograph a wide variety of galaxies is at its best. I don’t know about you,... […]

Trevor Jones

60 Years Ago: Gemini III, America’s First Two-Person Flight March 23, 2025

On March 23, 1965, the United States launched the Gemini III spacecraft with astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and John Young aboard, America’s first two-person spaceflight. Grissom earned the honor as the first person to enter space twice and Young as the first member of the second group of astronauts to fly in space. During their […]

John J. Uri

Sols 4486-4487: Ankle-Breaking Kind of Terrain! March 22, 2025

Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick Earth planning date: Wednesday, March 19, 2025 This terrain is a tricky drive, with rocks angled chaotically all around. One of our geologists remarked that they wouldn’t like to even walk over this without solid boots coming way up over the ankles — this […]

Shocking Spherules! March 22, 2025

Written by Alex Jones, Ph.D. candidate at Imperial College London Last week the Perseverance Science Team were astonished by a strange rock comprised of hundreds of millimeter-sized spheres… and the team are now working hard to understand their origin. It has now been two weeks since Perseverance arrived at Broom Point, situated at the lower […]

This Week's Sky at a Glance, March 21 – 30 March 21, 2025

If you're in the US northeast or eastern Canada, start planning for the sunrise partial eclipse coming on March 29th! In the night sky, the stern of the ship Argo is now at its highest, abutting the stern of Canis Major. The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, March 21 – 30 appeared first […]

Alan MacRobert

Pulsars Yield Dark Matter Density in Our Galactic Neighborhood March 20, 2025

A new technique to measure the motions of pulsars for the first time enables more precise estimates of local dark matter density. The post Pulsars Yield Dark Matter Density in Our Galactic Neighborhood appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Arielle Frommer

Euclid Observatory Opens Cosmic Treasure Trove March 19, 2025

Euclid's first data release allows scientists to sharpen the tools they’ll need to unravel the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The post Euclid Observatory Opens Cosmic Treasure Trove appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Jan Hattenbach

Hello out there? October 12, 2021

Anybody still coming here?

Phil

Markarian's Chain in Virgo April 13, 2018

My own Hubble View! These galaxies lie between 10 to 50 million light years away. How many galaxies do you see? A pretty tricky part of the sky to image, really. You're utilizing almost your entire field of view with an 80mm scope, so dealing with all that comes with wide-field. This is the best […]

Phil

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy April 9, 2018

A nice clear night last night until around 12:30 when clouds rolled in. Managed to get this image of the lovely M51 Whirlpool galaxy. It lies around 23 million light years away and it is interacting with a smaller galaxy (yellow~ish bulge to the left). Three supernova (star explosions) have been detected in this galaxy […]

Phil

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