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The Skies of July, 2021

Highlights: Comet Journal, Martian Landers, Meteor Showers, Planet Plotting, July Moon Focus Constellations: Ursa Minor, Draco, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis, Ursa Major, Coma Berenices, Virgo, Bootes, Corona Borealis, Hercules, Ophiuchus, Aquila, Lyra, Cygnus

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Restoring an Old Star-Liner Equatorial Mount

I have owned a large Star-Liner Equatorial Mount with 2 inch axes for over 50 years and in that time it has held a homemade 8 inch f/7 Newtonian, a homemade12.5 inch f/8 Newtonian, a 14 inch SC, a 6 inch refractor, an ATM 10 inch true Cassegrain.

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Cosmic Challenge: Mons Hadley and Rima Hadley

Fifty years ago this month, on July 30, 1971, Commander David Scott and Pilot James Irwin navigated their Apollo 15 lunar module, nicknamed Falcon, to land among the lunar Apennine mountains, while Alfred Worden remained in orbit aboard the command module, Endeavor. Scott and Irwin guided Falcon to a soft landing between the edge of a deep precipice and the base of a tall mountain to establish Hadley Base, as the landing site became known.

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SharpStar Askar ACL200 200-mm f/4 astrographic telephoto lens

I strongly recommend the ACL200 for wide-field astrophotography. It also has some uses for (fully manual) nature and landscape photography. The optical performance is exceptional, and the physical construction is unusually well suited for astronomical use.

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Cosmic Challenge: Alcor and Mizar

Is there any constellation in the sky more universally known than Ursa Major, the Great Bear? Most of us learned of it as a child, perhaps from a relative or friend, or possibly as a Scout working our way toward a merit badge in astronomy. The seven brightest stars in the group, known in North America as the Big Dipper or in England as the Plough, always draw our attention, especially in the spring when they ride highest in our sky.

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Understanding the ZWO ASI 294MM Pro Camera

Like other new CMOS cameras being introduced into the astrophotography market, the ZWO ASI 294MM Pro seems to be a strange beast (but not in a bad way). The first thing to notice is that it has a “jump” in performance at Gain 120.

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First Steps Into Variable Star Photometry

This short white paper aims to demonstrate that it is possible for the average amateur astronomer who is engaging in digital astronomy to step into the world of photometry. Why might you consider this? Well, it opens up opportunities for advancing one’s knowledge in the hobby, as well as the potential to participate in valuable citizen science projects, such as the upcoming Exoplanet Watch program. Participating in a course on exoplanet transit measurements hosted by the Boyce-Astro Foundation started my interest in photometric analysis. I wondered if my modest telescope setup could carry out such measurements.

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A review of the Unistellar EVscope

Well here is another product that has received a lot of hype and press, but without divulging much useful information about the telescope itself. Well needless to say, the hype worked on me….and I took delivery of my (used) Unistellar EVscope today.

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The Skies of June, 2021

Highlights: Comet Journal, Martian Landers, Meteor Showers, Summer Solstice, Planet Plotting, June Moon Focus Constellations: Ursa Minor, Draco, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis, Ursa Major, Leo, Coma Berenices, Virgo, Bootes, Corona Borealis, Ophiuchus, Hercules, Lyra, Cygnus

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The Skies of May, 2021

Highlights: Comet Journal, Martian Landers, Meteor Showers, Planet Plotting, May Moon Focus Constellations: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis, Lynx, Leo, Virgo, Coma Berenices, Bootes, Corona Borealis, Hercules, Lyra

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