Gary Seronik.com

It appears Amazon is back in stock with my book Binocular Highlights. But if you’re interested in picking up a signed copy, you can get one from me directly. I have a very limited supply left, so it’s strictly first come, first serve.

Use the "Contact me" link to the left to drop me a line for details if you’re interested.

Gary

Of all the various types of deep-sky objects, it seems globular clusters routinely give beginning binocular observers the most unexpected difficulty. A good way to start is with one of the biggest and brightest examples, M5 in Serpens Caput, the subject of this issue's Binocular Highlights column.

With the upcoming transit of Venus and the annular eclipse, you might be looking for a safe and affordable way to view the Sun. In this month's Telescope Workshop column I show you how to build a nifty Sun Funnel to make solar viewing risk-free and easy.

To find out what else is in the issue, visit S&T’s web site, www.SkyandTelescope.com.

Happy reading — and as always, your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcomed.
Gary

In July 1994, backyard astronomers aimed their telescopes skyward and watched in stupefied wonder as the “string-of-pearls” comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, plummeted piece by piece into Jupiter. But what if the same thing happened on the Moon? In my On The Moon column this issue I describe a lunar feature that may well be the impact signature of a fractured comet, like the one that collided with Jupiter.

For those of you unfamiliar with SkyNews, read on . . .

Magnificent Comet Hale-Bopp, photographed on the evening of April 1, 1997.

One aspect of being an avid sky watcher is that the passage of time isn’t marked just with pages in a calendar, but also by gaps — the spaces between “once-in-a-lifetime” events. Looking at this photo of Comet Hale-Bopp now, I can scarcely believe that 15 years have elapsed since I aimed my camera skyward to capture it. The gap widens with each passing year spent watching amd waiting for the arrival of the next great comet.

What Hydra lacks in distinctiveness it more than makes up for in size. In this issue's Binocular Highlights column, we explore the constellation’s eastern expanse and take in M68 and M83.

Next to collimation, the #1 barrier to optimum performance in Newtonian reflectors is poor thermal management. And like collimation, thermals is a topic that invites debate and needless confusion. In this month's Telescope Workshop column I strip the subject down to the essential basics. If you’re wondering what the fuss is all about, this article is for you.

To find out what else is in the issue, visit S&T’s web site, www.SkyandTelescope.com.

Happy reading — and as always, your comments, questions, and suggestions are welcomed.
Gary

Scorpius and the Sagittarius Star Cloud as viewed from our dark-sky location in Costa Rica's Guanacaste province.

Our 9th annual Costa Rica Star Party wrapped up on February 25th. The weather was superb this year and everyone had a great time stargazing all night long, and spending the days sighting an amazing variety of bird species. I'm already looking forward to next year's event, which should be extra special, being our 10th. click here to see more photos.

Although the Canon line of image-stabilized binoculars (reviewed here)
is the most comprehensive, there are other manufacturers making similar products. The one that I most often get e-mail requests to evaluate are the Fujinon 14×40 Techno-Stabi binoculars. Little wonder — Fujinon is a highly regarded manufacturer popular with backyard astronomers.

There’s no getting around the fact that collimating your reflector telescope (Dobsonian or otherwise) is much easier when the centre of the primary mirror is marked with a paper doughnut. Thankfully, these days a good number of commercially made telescopes come with their mirrors pre-marked. But if your scope isn’t so equipped, don’t worry — the procedure for adding a centre doughnut isn’t difficult. In fact, the hardest part might be convincing yourself that you can take out the primary mirror without inviting disaster.

Aligning the optics of your reflector telescope is crucial for optimal performance — all the more so if you have a telescope with a focal ratio of f/5 or less. A good tool can make the difference between successful collimation, and an exercise in frustration that encourages you to settle for “good enough.” But selecting the right tool can be more confusing than actually using it. On-line discussions offer a bewildering array of opinions and experiences — some of which posted by people who make and sell the products they (naturally enough) recommend. So what do you really need to collimate your scope?

I invite everyone to check out my new web site, FilmAdvance.com.
As regular visitors to this site already know, in addition to astronomy, photography is a big passion of mine. So, to keep the content of this site tightly focused on stargazing, telescope making, and related topics, I started FilmAdvance.com as an outlet for my photographic explorations. There will inevitably by some astronomy related content posted there, but mostly it’s about seeing the universe through the lens of a camera, instead of the eyepiece of a telescope.

This site will roll on much as it always has with new article being added regularly, but I hope you’ll also look in at FilmAdvance often to see what I’ve been up to with my cameras and darkroom!

Gary

In the August 2011 issue of Sky&Telescope magazine I described how to build a simple, inexpensive, and effective camera tracking platform that I call the Hinge Tracker. As I mentioned in that article, numerous variations are possible. Two that I’ve built are outlined here.

Although the internet can be a wonderful resource for first-time telescope makers, it can also be a source of great frustration. No matter what the topic, it’s possible to find completely contradictory advice. Far more dependable are good ol’ fashioned books — especially those that have stood the test of time.

Combining optical excellence with rock-steady views, Canon's image-stabilized binoculars are a stargazer's dream come true. But is one best for you?

For a long time, 7×50 or 10×50 binoculars were considered the best choice for stargazing. Such binos are relatively lightweight, inexpensive, and capable of delivering fine wide-field views of the heavens. But most people find that hand-held 10×50s represents the upper limit of the weight and magnification comfort zone. Models featuring higher magnification or more aperture require a tripod or dedicated binocular mount for steady views. Even 10×50s rarely work near their potential without support. Unfortunately, such devices ensure that an instrument much loved for its portability and convenience becomes encumbered with as much paraphernalia as a small telescope. Enter the image-stabilized binocular.

Attention to detail is what separates a regular Newtonian reflector from one optimized for high-contrast performance. This 6-inch f/9 uses every trick in the ATM’s book to deliver superb planetary and deep-sky views.

This was the first telescope I made using my own optics. Like most telescope makers, I got started the easy way, by building Dobsonians with mirrors ground by others. But one day I got bit with the mirror-making bug. I blame my friend Lance Olkovick, our local club’s mirror-making ace. But why a long-focus 6-inch? At the time I was a hardcore Jupiter junkie and was convinced that a long-focus Newtonian would deliver excellent views of my favourite subject. I also wanted to prove a point.

The old saying that less is more rings true for telescope magnification, but there are many factors to consider before choosing your ultimate wide-field eyepiece.

Low-magnification views of the night sky can be breathtaking. It’s only with low power that we can fully appreciate the splendor of the Pleiades, the foggy expanse of the Andromeda Galaxy, or the wispy filaments of the Veil Nebula. But if discussions on internet forums are anything to go by, there's a lot of confusion out there about how magnification, field of view, and exit pupils relate to each other. And without understanding these factors, you might end up shortchanging your telescope’s low-power capabilities.

My dear fiend Lance Olkovick (a.k.a. Nanook of the North) observing Jupiter at dawn from Mt. Kobau with his 12½-inch f/5. The scope I'm building will be similar to this.

The nights are cooling down and the days becoming increasingly overcast and grey. That can mean only one thing: it’s Telescope Making Season again. And so, I’ve decided to tackle a project I’ve had in mind for some time now, namely, a rebuild of my 12¾-inch truss Dobsonian.

What you need to know when it comes to optimizing your scope’s thermal behavior.

Generations of backyard astronomers have debated why, inch-for-inch, the performance of a high quality refractor usually edges out an equal-quality Newtonian reflector. This disparity is most apparent when viewing low-contrast planetary detail — the images in a good refractors often have a touch more snap to them. Is there some intrinsic shortcoming in the design of the Newtonian reflector that makes this inevitable?

This simple, easy-to-build mount provides the perfect introduction to long-exposure astrophotography.

Round stars. That’s the difference between astrophotos captured with a camera that tracks the sky’s motion versus one that doesn’t. Traditionally you’d make a tracked photo by placing your camera piggyback on a telescope with a motorized equatorial mount. But that’s a lot of equipment to deal with if all you want are some nice-looking constellation portraits or a shot of a newly discovered comet — especially if you have to travel to reach your favorite dark-sky destination.

Have scope, will travel! This Dobsonian not only gives great views, it also fits into an airplane’s overhead storage compartment.

One of the best reasons for learning to build telescopes is that you can make instruments that perfectly match a particular observing need or circumstance. As an editor at Sky & Telescope, my “circumstance” happily involved a lot of travel, and as a result I found myself dreaming of a telescope that I could take with me as I zig-zagged across North America from one star party to the next. It seemed a shame to arrive under the dark skies of the Texas Star Party or Mount Kobau without a telescope of my own.

Too big, too small, or just right? Making sure your reflector’s secondary mirror is the correct size is a straightforward task.

The Newtonian reflector has many strengths, not the least of which is that it consists of just two elements: a precisely shaped paraboloidal primary mirror and a flat diagonal secondary mirror. Yet for all its intrinsic simplicity, confusion abounds when it comes to the optimum size of the diagonal. Many amateurs, and apparently even some telescope manufacturers, seem unsure as to how to choose the correct size for the diagonal. So how big should it be? That depends on several design parameters and some personal preferences.