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Free Astronomy Magazine – March-April 2019 Issue Available For Reading And Download

Above: The quasar J043947.08+163415.7 (red) is extremely far away, and its light has been amplified by an intervening galaxy (blue) much closer to Earth. Credit: NASA, ESA, and X. Fan (University of Arizona)

The March-April 2019 issue of Free Astronomy Magazine is available for your reading and downloading pleasure.

To the several NASA and ESA highlights included in this bi-month’s issue (including a wonderful collection of Spirit and Opportunity images in celebration of Opportunity’s recent end-of-mission status announcement), Michele Ferrara has managed to both (a) make you hopeful about our future as a science-spreading civilization in the galaxy and (b) remind you how far we have to go here on Earth to improve our appreciation of that same galaxy. Hopefully, the Genesis Project (no, not really that one (but sort-of). This other one – besides this issue, see phys.org and universetoday.com) and Orbital Advertising (not going to dignify it with additional links) articles give you deep – and different – pause.

Please download, read, and pass along. Also, check out the many back issues at www.astropublishing.com

astropublishing.com/2FAM2019/ | Direct PDF

Click the Table of Contents image below for a full-size view.

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Free Astronomy Magazine – January-February 2019 Issue Available For Reading And Download

Above: This illustration shows what the TRAPPIST-1 system might look like from a vantage point near planet TRAPPIST-1f (at right). Credit: SETI Institute.

Slightly late to the posting game – the January-February issue of Free Astronomy Magazine is available for your reading and downloading pleasure. Highlights from the original content (h/t Michele Ferrara) include an excellent introduction to panspermia and the wonderful ways in which small, dense solar systems (like TRAPPIST-1, one of the only solar systems with its own website – www.trappist.one) might serve as test beds for better understanding if such an explanation is applicable to ourselves and our Earth – either from a local source (Mars?) or from the greater beyond.

Please download, read, and pass along. Also, check out the many back issues at www.astropublishing.com

astropublishing.com/1FAM2019/ | Direct PDF

Click the Table of Contents image below for a full-size view.

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The 16-inch f/4.5 Collapsible-Truss Dobsonian From New Moon Telescopes – Feature Article (Again) In Astronomy Technology Today

And happy new year.

With Operation: How-The-Hell-Do-I-Do-It-In-Gutenberg well underway, a quick post to mention the re-publication of a New Moon Telescopes review in Astronomy Technology Today (Vol 12. Issue 5) that first appeared in ATT’s May-June 2013 issue (a post about that publication resides on this site HERE).

So nice they printed it twice.

While the “classic” NMT scope has gone into discontinuation on the website in favor of the “hybrid” designs (the reprinting of the review of the “classic” model is perhaps not the best of timing), let there be no doubt that the long-short of the article and its reprint stands.

In the last seven year, I’ve bought extra pairs of binoculars. I’ve picked up sky charts. I thought about adding to my Televue collection (then won a Delos at Cherry Springs Star Party 2014 a few years back, scratching that itch). I even went so far as to pick up an iOptron SkyTracker to merely dabble in astrophotography.

In all that time, “Ruby” (NMT #1) has performed so well that I’ve never felt the need to even consider buying another telescope. In a hobby that caters to gear-hounds like no other, that’s about as strong an endorsement as I can make. Simply, Ryan Goodson continues to make the finest Dobsonian scopes on the market today. Period.

And make sure you subscribe/renew your subscription to support Astronomy Technology Today (as I did before the reprint!), which remains one of the best sources for in-depth equipment reviews and excellent commentary from real, honest-to-goodness amateur astronomy contributors.