Clear Dark Sky Forecast
AstroBackyard
- ZWO Seestar S30 Review July 6, 2025The ZWO Seestar S30 is a compact, all-in-one smart telescope designed to make astrophotography simple and approachable. It’s a smaller version of the extremely popular Seestar S50, with some added features. With its built-in camera, motorized mount, and mobile app control, it takes a lot of the guesswork out of capturing the night sky. No... […]Ashley Northcotte
- ZWO ASI585MM Pro Review: An Affordable Mono Powerhouse June 19, 2025The ZWO ASI585MM Pro is ZWO’s most affordable cooled monochrome astronomy camera, and after two months of backyard imaging with it, I’ve come away pretty impressed. This little camera offers a lot of versatility—ideal for both planetary imaging and deep-sky astrophotography—thanks to its high frame rate and cooling capability. But like any gear, it has... […]Trevor Jones
- How a Star Tracker Can Transform Your Astrophotography May 31, 2025If you want to start taking incredible photos of the night sky, I highly recommend investing in a small star tracker. You can attach your existing camera and lens to a star tracker to take amazing photos of large nebulae and galaxies. Over the years, I have used many different star trackers, but the Sky-Watcher... […]Trevor Jones
NASA Solar System & Beyond
- Chief Training Officer Teresa Sindelar Touches the Future of Human Spaceflight July 14, 2025Teresa Sindelar always knew she wanted to be a part of human spaceflight, but she was unsure how to make that dream a reality until a chance encounter with former NASA astronaut Tom Stafford when she was 11 years old. The pair met in a local jewelry shop near Sindelar’s Nebraska home, where Gen. Stafford […]Linda E. Grimm
- Advances in NASA Imaging Changed How World Sees Mars July 11, 2025Sixty years ago, NASA’s Mariner 4 captured groundbreaking views of the Red Planet, leading to a steady stream of advances in the cameras used to study other worlds. In 1965, NASA’s Mariner 4 mission brought Mars into American living rooms, where TV sets showed fuzzy black-and-white images of a cratered landscape. The spacecraft took 21 […]Anthony Greicius
- NASA Astronaut Shannon Walker Retires July 11, 2025NASA astronaut Shannon Walker retired July 10, concluding a career that spanned 38 years, including 30 years of federal service and more than 21 years as an astronaut. During two spaceflights, she spent 330 days in orbit, contributing to hundreds of scientific experiments and technology demonstrations for the benefit of humanity. Walker served as a […]Wendy K. Avedisian
Sky & Telescope
- This Week's Sky at a Glance, July 11 – 19 July 11, 2025In early dawn on Saturday the 12th, Taurus uses Venus to open his very rare, strikingly brilliant second eye. In the following days the eye slips out of place. The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, July 11 – 19 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.Alan MacRobert
- Exotic Fast Radio Burst Goes Up in Smoke July 10, 2025Finding out where on the sky these mysterious radio flashes come from is hard. The team behind the discovery of one odd signal has now retracted their claim. The post Exotic Fast Radio Burst Goes Up in Smoke appeared first on Sky & Telescope.Govert Schilling
- Proposed NOAA Budget Kills Program That Was Designed to Prevent Satellite Collisions July 10, 2025Trump’s first administration helped establish the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). His second administration wants to dismantle it. The post Proposed NOAA Budget Kills Program That Was Designed to Prevent Satellite Collisions appeared first on Sky & Telescope.Hannah Richter
Phil’s Astronomy Blog
- Hello out there? October 12, 2021Anybody still coming here?Phil
- Markarian's Chain in Virgo April 13, 2018My 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, 2018A 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