top of page
SmartStars



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...
jsweitzer6
Jun 29, 20237 min read
100 views
0 comments


Cosmic Show Time! — How to Thrill Family and Friends with Your Smart Telescope
The opening image here shows a hero of mine, George van Biesbroeck, at the observing end of the Yerkes 40 inch refractor sometime in the...
jsweitzer6
Jun 19, 20238 min read
451 views
2 comments


Hop, Skip and Jump to the Edge of the Universe! -- With your Smart Telescope
Most astronomy enthusiasts are familiar with the Charles and Ray Eames' film, "Powers of Ten," in which the animation zooms out a factor...
jsweitzer6
Jun 12, 20234 min read
191 views
1 comment


Great Balls of Fire! — The Oldest Things You’ll Ever See
With so much to see with my smart scopes and so little time between the interference of the Moon, clouds and this year's damn Canadian...
jsweitzer6
Jun 7, 20235 min read
158 views
3 comments


The GOT Filter — A Super-Cheap DIY Filter to Dramatically Improve your Galaxy Imaging
Now that I’ve calmed down about the supernova in M101 and galaxy season will be giving way to summer nebulae soon, I keep thinking about...
jsweitzer6
Jun 1, 20237 min read
1,024 views
0 comments


Type II Supernovae Up Close and Personal
I take that title back a bit. You really don’t want to get too close to a supernova because there are so many types of lethal radiation...
jsweitzer6
May 22, 20235 min read
278 views
2 comments


Supernova in M101 Alert!
I’m going to do a more extended blog entry on chasing down supernovas in nearby galaxies in the near future. It will have more of an...
jsweitzer6
May 20, 20231 min read
316 views
1 comment


Stellar Starters
For us smart telescope owners every clear night is like a visit to a smorgasbord. I don’t know about others, but I have trouble...
jsweitzer6
May 17, 20236 min read
221 views
3 comments


An Ascent into the Maelstrom
Have you ever tried to image an object near the zenith? Usually, your smart scope will tell you it can’t go there if you’re too close...
jsweitzer6
May 11, 20234 min read
190 views
3 comments


So Many Nebulae.... So Little Time....
In my mind, using our smart telescopes is all about observing the enduring, rather than the ephemeral. Sort term phenomena or glimpses of...
jsweitzer6
May 7, 20234 min read
66 views
0 comments


Why can't I image planets well?
After all, I spent so much on my smart telescopes, why don’t they really have great planetary imaging capability? Well, actually we can...
jsweitzer6
May 4, 20234 min read
568 views
6 comments


Galileo -- Learn with the first Smart Star
So, in this section of the blog posts In these blogs I will be adding relevant astronomy and astrophysics to accompany our smart...
jsweitzer6
May 3, 20231 min read
45 views
3 comments
How long should I keep stacking images?
One of the most frequent areas where I think people might get confused using a smart telescope is how long might they enhance or record....
jsweitzer6
May 2, 20232 min read
416 views
8 comments
Smart Stars Rising
Welcome to my new blog, which I'm calling Smart Stars. Okay, so here's the basic information about why I would want to launch myself with...
jsweitzer6
May 2, 20234 min read
125 views
4 comments
bottom of page