Telescopes And More

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Astronomy for Amateurs. Amateur astronomy, also called backyard astronomy and stargazing, is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the night sky (for sunspots, eclipses, etc.), mainly with portable telescopes. Even though scientific research is not their main goal, many amateur astronomers make a contribution to astronomy by monitoring variable stars, tracking asteroids and discovering transient objects, such as comets. This book is a perfect introduction to Astronomy for Amateurs. Written in the 19th century by French Astronomer Camille Flammarion, it is surprisingly complete and up-to-date. It is still used by both professional and amateur astronomers around the world.

We started a brand new forum called Astronomy enthusiasts

Anyone who loves Astronomy can become a member. Come check it out, you might like it.

Are we alone in the universe? Almost certainly not.

In First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth, Marc Kaufman provides a gripping tour of the magnificent new science of astrobiology that is closing in on the discovery of extraterrestrial life. In recent decades, scientists generally held that the genesis of life was unique to Earth: It was too delicate a process, and the conditions needed to support it too fragile, for it to exist anywhere else. But we are now on the verge of the biggest discovery since Copernicus and Galileo told us that Earth is not at the center of the universe. New scientific breakthroughs have revolutionized our assumptions about the building blocks of life and where it may be found. Read the rest of this entry »

In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of eleven dimensions where all matter is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy. Greene uses everything from an amusement park ride to ants on a garden hose to explain the beautiful yet bizarre realities that modern physics is unveiling. The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory is a GREAT book. Dazzling in its brilliance, unprecedented in its ability to both illuminate and entertain, The Elegant Universe is a tour de force of scientific writing – a delightful, lucid voyage through modern physics that brings us closer to understanding how the universe works.

On 6 April 2011, the ESO Paranal Observatory was honoured with a visit from the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, and his wife Livia Klausová, who also took the opportunity to admire Cerro Armazones, the future site of the planned E-ELT.

The distinguished visitor was shown the technical installations at the observatory, and was present when the dome of one of the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope opened for a night’s observing at Cerro Paranal (Great Observatories of the World), the world’s most advanced visible-light observatory. Read the whole story

Andromeda may be known for its Great Andromeda Galaxy but there are other jewels in the constellation. One of these is NGC 752,  a pretty open cluster that’s easy to find and pleasing in a variety of telescope sizes or even binoculars. This particular sketch was made with a 6″ Dobsonian telescope at 75X magnification. Some 40 to 50 stars were counted in NGC 752 and this object is definitely worth a look! Author: my brother Michael Geldorp