Join the T Coronae Borealis Watch with Your Smart Telescope!
Bacchus and Ariadne – Guido Reni (Italy, Bologna, 1575-1642) circa 1619-1620. (Crop and constellation emphasis is mine.) Introduction...
top of page
SmartStars
jsweitzer6
Apr 228 min read
The Party is Over: Recovering from Eclipse Mania
Introduction The Great American Solar Eclipse was two weeks ago. I’ll admit, the effort and experience left me a bit stunned. Now,...
111 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Mar 77 min read
Fetching the Deep Sky: Hestia —Comments Pt. 2
This blog entry is to report on my first real successes chasing deep sky images with my Hestia (a.k.a. Canis Minor) last night. I’m far...
369 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Mar 16 min read
Think of it like a New Puppy: Hestia Reflections Part 1
Canine Comparisons I like to tell people my smart telescopes are like good hunting dogs. They identify, track and find the faint traces...
260 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Feb 226 min read
Train Hard for the Big Eclipse! — Time to get in Shape with Your Smart Scope
Introduction — April 8 is Coming! I’m detecting a fair amount of anxiety and — frankly — some whining, about the upcoming North American...
126 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Jan 99 min read
Forward into the Past! — Spacetime Basics for Smart Telescope Users
It's a New Year! — Ready for a blog posting about time? I’ve been seeing numerous questions online that involve coming to grips with the...
185 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Dec 7, 20239 min read
Like Sitting Ducks — Time to Bag Some Open Clusters!
A neighbor of mine actually has a duck boat like the one pictured above and he often parks it outside his sleek, world-class Frank Lloyd...
109 views1 comment
jsweitzer6
Nov 16, 20237 min read
Follow "The Way of St. James to the Field of Stars" with your Smart Telescope
I’m finally back online after a number of weeks of work on presentations about smart scopes as well as a couple on the JWST. I’m also now...
323 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Oct 26, 20232 min read
Blast Off! — L2 Here I Come!
Well, I'm not exactly going to L2 "literally." If you've wondering where I have been, I have, however, had my head out there for much of...
82 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Oct 11, 20233 min read
Objects in the mirror are not closer than than they appear — How to gauge the objects in our images
I will first confess that I have more elaborate blog postings in the works, but I just haven’t been able to finish them this past month....
164 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Sep 10, 20233 min read
Warp Drive Observing: Completing the Kessel Run in just 90 minutes!
I’m keen on using my smart telescopes for star parties. This coming Friday there will be a picnic at the “darkest” site in Cook County. I...
152 views2 comments
jsweitzer6
Aug 29, 20236 min read
Heavy Clouds Above a Star-Scape: Imaging the Original “Dark Matter” and “Black Holes”
J.M.W. Turner, Heavy Clouds Above a Landscape INTRODUCTION: OBSERVING “NOTHING” This week’s blog entry is about “nothing” seen against a...
128 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Aug 19, 20239 min read
To See or not to See … That is the Resolution Question
Three Image Quality Constraints Every Smart Telescope Owner Needs to Know INTRODUCTION This blog entry is about astronomical image...
708 views4 comments
jsweitzer6
Aug 11, 20237 min read
Hot! Hot! Hot! -- Observing the Sun with your Smart Scope
Galileo -- Our most famous early sunspot observer and theorist. It continues to be a very hot summer on the ground here in the US and in...
165 views0 comments
jsweitzer6
Aug 1, 20235 min read
Cluster Cluster Burning Bright.... How to Determine your Limiting Magnitude
Pretty soon I’m going to be making my yearly observation of Pluto. It’s not situated well along my horizon yet, so I’m getting ready. I...
241 views1 comment
jsweitzer6
Jul 27, 20236 min read
The Upgrade Paradox: To buy or not to buy?
I often get asked, What happens when my smart telescopes’ tech goes obsolete? Or what if a better model pops on the market? What about...
142 views1 comment
jsweitzer6
Jul 19, 20238 min read
Cats’ Eyes at Night: Seeing Next to Nothing with Your Smart Scope
COLOR VISIONS Cats can see much better than we do in low light levels, in fact they can see about two magnitudes fainter if we used terms...
543 views1 comment
jsweitzer6
Jul 13, 20237 min read
Out Out Damn Spots! .... Swatting at Celestial Gnats, Part 2
Maybe you don’t feel guilty about your astro imaging post processing (PP) the way Lady MacBeth did for her crime, but sometimes I do. I...
123 views5 comments
jsweitzer6
Jul 6, 20238 min read
Count your Lucky Stars: Swatting at Celestial Gnats, Part 1
I often see comments from smart telescope users who want to drastically shrink or even eliminate (!) foreground stars in their images of...
218 views1 comment
jsweitzer6
Jun 29, 20237 min read
Smoke Alarm-ed on Planet A!… Is it time to panic?
This past week I’ve began preparing a blog entry on the numbers of stars we can see with smart telescopes, but I had to stop and postpone...
100 views0 comments
bottom of page