The Bortle scale is a way of measuring the quality, otherwise known as brightness, of the night sky for a particular location. The scale is really helpful as it quantifies the astronomical observability of celestial…
Known as the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and as the autumnal equinox in the Southern, the March Equinox marks the beginning of spring and the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere but marks the beginning of autumn and the end of summer in the Southern…
It’s time to start planning for Milky Way Season! The reason being that camping locations fill up quickly! Everyone has their favorite time to shoot in regards to the moon. No moon, half moon, or…
The Winter Triangle is an astronomical asterism, a popularly known pattern or group of stars that can be seen in the night sky, formed from three of the brightest stars in the winter sky. This triangle forms an imaginary equilateral triangle drawn on…
Named after Peter Barlow, the Barlow lens is a diverging lens which, which is used in series with other optics in an optical system to increase the effective focal length of an optical system. This increased focal length of the optical…
Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids are all distinctly different, but they all have some elements in common. We will not be trying to tell the difference the complete difference between the three, but wanted to show…
A dew shield is a device used to prevent moisture or condensation buildup on the lens of a camera or telescope collector during night observations. There are two general ways that a dew shield can work, which is by either just providing shade for the lens in use…
In a previous article, we discussed light pollution legislation in regards to the US; however, this time we will deep dive into Light Pollution Legislation in the Pacific Northwest. Let’s take a look at Oregon,…
2020 marks the 90 year anniversary of the discovery of Pluto. Pluto was officially discovered on February 18th, 1930, by Clyde W. Tombaugh of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona. Founded by Percival Lowell in…
On February 11th 1970, Japan became the fourth space power after launching the satellite Ohsumi into orbit from Uchinoura Space Center, Japan. Launched on a Japanese Lambda 4-S booster at 04:25:00 UTC, the Ohsumi spacecraft…