Tag Archives: Sky Safari

T.O.A. Turns Eleven

My, how time flies! The first post on The Opportune Astronomer went live on February 18th, 2015 – eleven years ago!

It’s also hard to believe that my last post was nearly nine years ago. In some respects, the astronomy landscape has changed dramatically in the intervening time: Orion Telescopes has closed its doors and Svbony has risen as a ubiquitous supplier, steadily improving in both quality and reputation.

Electronic-assisted observing has matured significantly. What just a few years ago required a laptop and an array of electronics is now becoming more integrated and accessible through a new generation of “smart telescopes” from DwarfLab, SeeStar, and Unistellar.

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Summer-weight Observing with Binoculars and Sky Safari

Summer has traditionally seen a waning in my telescope use. Longer days that see twilight stretching into night time hours put a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm to spend a lot of time viewing and then there are the bugs. Dare to stay out too long without mosquito protection and you’ll quickly regret it. While I’ll be sure to bring a telescope on any trip to darker skies, during the summer months my backyard viewing time is generally more limited and oriented around binocular observing.

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