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The Skies of November, 2024

Nov 05 2024 07:20 PM | cookman in This Month

Highlights: Comet Journal, Martian Landers, Meteor Showers, Planet Plotting, November Moon Focus Constellations: Ursa Major, Draco, Ursa Minor, Camelopardalis, Auriga, Taurus, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, Triangulum, Aries, Pisces, Pegasus, Aquarius, Cygnus, Lyra

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I Have a Problem

Nov 01 2024 05:00 AM | David E in Articles

Author’s note: the characters in the following dramatization are fictional, but the story relates to true events that took place. Source material is listed at the end of this story.

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Smartphone Telescope Finder

Nov 01 2024 05:00 AM | PMP M42 in How to . . .

Discover a straightforward and cost-effective method to make locating celestial objects with a "non-go-to" telescope easier, especially for those new to astronomy. This technique can overcome a common challenge faced by novice amateur astronomers.

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Reflections on the 55th Anniversary of Apollo 11

Nov 01 2024 05:00 AM | Larryf in Articles

This article was originally published in the July 2019 SkyWAAtch, the newsletter of Westchester Amateur Astronomers. The issue was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing. It included several members’ reminiscences and the complete text of President Kennedy’s address at Rice University in 1963, best known for the lines “We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Recently, I was reading about the slow pace of progress NASA’s Artemis program and the difficulties with Boeing’s Starliner at the ISS. I thought about the rapid progress of the manned space program leading up to Apollo 11, in comparison with what has happened in the 5-year interval between 2019 and 2024. When I re-read my essay, I thought the personal perspective might be of interest to CloudyNights members, especially those who were born after the Apollo program and didn’t experience the early days of the space race. I just retitled it so as not to confuse potential readers.

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Cosmic Challenge: Palomar 13 and Friends

Nov 01 2024 05:00 AM | PhilH in Phil Harrington's Cosmic Challenge

Pegasus is best known to deep-sky observers as a breeding ground for faint galaxies, with more than 100 faint NGC galaxies littering this winged steed. Floating seemingly out of place among those systems is the globular cluster M15, one of the season's finest targets. Did you know that there is a second globular within Pegasus lying just within the grasp of your 10-inch telescope? That little known target is Palomar 13, one of those nasty globulars discovered by Abell and company while surveying the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey half a century ago.

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The Skies of October, 2024

Oct 15 2024 02:22 PM | cookman in This Month

Highlights: Comet Journal, Martian Landers, Meteor Showers, Planet Plotting, October Moon Focus Constellations: Ursa Major, Draco, Ursa Minor, Camelopardalis, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, Triangulum, Aries, Pisces, Pegasus, Aquarius, Aquila, Cygnus, Lyra, Hercules

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Cosmic Challenge: IC 5067 and IC 5070 (Pelican Nebula)

Oct 01 2024 05:00 AM | PhilH in Phil Harrington's Cosmic Challenge

My September 2018 Cosmic Challenge dared you to see the North America Nebula without optical aid. How did you do? If you didn’t see it back then, can you now? If you passed that trial, then pick up your binoculars and see how you do with this month’s test. The North America Nebula is easy to see compared to spotting this month's challenge, the Pelican Nebula by binoculars.

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The Rockin’ TD Ranch - a review of sorts

Oct 01 2024 05:00 AM | jstrandberg in User Reviews

Smack in the middle of the Massacre Rim Dark Sky Sanctuary in Northwestern Navada sits an Airbnb called the Rockin’ TD Ranch. The nearest town is Cederville, CA, population 530, which is 20 miles west down a dirt road. Alturas is another 30 miles west so the term middle of nowhere is apropos.

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Musings on a $50 Fathers Day Astronomy Present

Oct 01 2024 05:00 AM | TonyCaf in User Reviews

For fathers day recently, the wife asked me what I wanted. I told her I had been looking at a $150 GSKYER long focal length refractor on an online marketplace. That was a while ago. I had recently noticed the owner had dropped the price to 50 dollars and with it being fathers day, what did I have to lose? She said yes and we scooped it up. Tonight was the first night (In a long while) that I would get a chance to see how far 50 dollars could go in astronomy fun.

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Observing the Northern Lights

Oct 01 2024 05:00 AM | 112aug in Articles

I was excited. After finishing a week of work, I was en-route to my favorite Friday night get-away: Wyoming. Even though clouds passed by as I made my 2 hour trek, all the forecast models were clear that I would have clear skies by the time darkness arrived. As I drove, I thought about my plans for the evening. With my bluetooth speaker, my cameras, and my telescope, I would arrive at my destination (a friend’s house in a Bortle 2), set up my photography equipment, then drive to my observation site where I would observe galaxies and sketch them. When I finish sketching, I would return to my friend’s house and photograph the night sky. At about 5:45 PM, I got a notification on my phone of a G5 Solar Storm warning. I started to think that just maybe I could get a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Little did I know I was going to have an evening I would never forget.

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