Finding Planets Easier

Below is a chart that a guy made from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. His name is Brian Battersby. It is a helpful resouce for locating planets. It was all to do with the Sidewalk Astronomer's Program which is a program of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.


The image below is showing a conjunction in the Eastern sky involving the Moon, Venus and Mercury about 45 minutes before sunrise on June 19th.

Another New Mini Telescope

While researching the Celestron FirstScope, I stumbled upon the Galileoscope. The telescope is called a Cornerstone Project of the International Year of Astronomy. The idea behind this telescope is to help educate people on what Galileo Galilei first observed with his telescopes, namely Jupiter's moons as well as discoveries involving the Sun, Moon and Venus. The telescope itself looks really neat.


Another important aspect of this international telescope project is to assist those who wouldn't normally be able to afford a telescope with being able to do so. This project is endorsed by the United Nations and UNESCO and the aim is to help stimulate worldwide interest in science.


This refractor telescope comes as a 30-piece kit with simple instructions for no-tools assembly. Apparently, it can be assembled in 5 minutes or less. It is constructed from ABS tubes that snap together. Its achromatic optics include a 50 mm objective lens of focal length 500 mm, an eyepiece of focal length 20 mm (magnification 25x), and a 2x Barlow lens, effectively increasing the magnification to 50x. It accepts almost any optical accessory that has a standard 1¼-inch barrel, which means that a camera should be able to be mounted to it with a 1¼- inch T-ring adapter. The only part needed is a tripod.


Below is an image of the Moon taken through the Galileoscope. Looks really good. I'm excited to receive mine. They are supposed to be shipped in early June, so hopefully that doesn't change.

Mini Telescope

After spending some time with my friend Bob of Blackholes and Astrostuff, I got to check out his new telescope. It is a Celestron FirstScope. The FirstScope pays tribute to Galileo Galilei and many of history's most notable astronomers and scientists by displaying their names around the optical tube.

It is a small Dobsonian type reflector telescope that has been named Official Product of International Year of Astronomy 2009. It features a 76 mm aperture and 300 mm focal length, yet only weighs about two pounds and stand about 18" high. I will be the first, actually the second after Bob, to admit that this little scope surprised me a lot. It is surprisingly clear, easy to use, yet sturdy and well made with smooth actions all around. It comes with a 4 mm eyepiece. All of this for only $62.49 CAD, if bought from Celestron. The only downside of ordering from Celestron is the shipping tends to be high. The FirstScope is also carried by Khan Telescope for $69.00 and cheaper shipping than Celestron.


The other neat thing about this is there is a FirstScope accessory kit for only $24.94 CAD. It features a 12.5 mm and a 6 mm eyepiece, a Moon filter, a 5x24" spotting scope, a CD-ROM explaining the basics of astronomy, and a tote bag to carry the telescope and accessories in.


I have ordered the above scope and accessory kit and am anxious to get my camera mounted to it and take some photos, but that's a topic for a future post.

Canada Post Year of Astronomy Stamps

When I was over at my Dad's today, he showed me some stamps he had bought from Canada Post. They are to commemorate the International Year of Astronomy, which of course is this year, 2009. They are really neat looking stamp sets. They feature a shot of a cool space object and a Canadian observatory, one of which was instrumental in co-discovering the first black hole.

Here is a link to info on the Canada Post website.