Subject: Where did the Summer go?
Where did the Summer go?
August 21st, 2014 at 9:53 am EDTHello Friend, Well here in southern Ontario, the better question might be when did Summer actually begin? Here we are in the final few weeks of Summer, and getting ready for some fall observing,and at the very least, an Indian Summer to boot. You sim ...
Do you remember Helen Sawyer Hogg of the David Dunlap Observatory?
August 20th, 2014 at 1:42 pm EDTHello Friend, I've spent many an hour at the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill. It's a wonderful space, and when I was there I use to think a lot about one of the great astronomers who did herresearch on globular clustersthere with the big 74 ...
Star Parties ain't for wimps
August 19th, 2014 at 12:22 pm EDTHello Friend, Star parties aren't for wimps. Starfest, which is coming up this next weekend is such an event. Now what exactly do I mean? Well, it's simple. It means' that when 11pm or midnite or whatever your regular bedtime is rolls around,you don' ...
Do you remember Star Trak?
August 18th, 2014 at 1:51 pm EDTHello Friend, Notice it's spelt Star Trak. Many years ago, in Hamilton, Ontario there was a telescope shop called Star Trak, owned by a fellownamed John Rowlinson. John was quite an enthusiastic guy, and just a little bit edgy. In fact, I paid John a ...
Going to Starfest?
August 15th, 2014 at 10:54 am EDTHello Friend, Starfest is one of North America's 10 largest star parties. That's a lot of people, and a lot of telescopes! I've been going for the past 30 odd years; It's hard to believe it's been that long, but it has. And you know what? It's someth ...
This is the real deal: The Rowe Ackermann Schmidt-Astrograph
August 14th, 2014 at 12:23 pm EDTHello Friend, If you are an astroimager of any kind, then you already know the importance of having a fast optical system. Typical SCT systems are quite slow. So when Celestron introduced the Rowe Ackermann Schmidt-Astrograph earlier this year,amateu ...
Going to Starfest? We'll see you there!
August 13th, 2014 at 2:01 pm EDTHello Friend, August 22 and 23rd is a new Moon weekend. And that also happens to be the time Starfest will take place in Mount Forest, Ontario. It's located about 2 hours northwest of the city of Toronto. Yes, the annual event, will soon be upon us. ...
The curative effect of amateur astronomy
August 12th, 2014 at 1:52 pm EDTHello Friend, Perhaps you too were saddened to hear of the passing of actor Robin Williams. What makes him special, was that despite the mental illness demons that he fought during his life,he was able to connect with all people at a very real level. ...
Did you hear the one about the lawyer who was an astroimager?
August 10th, 2014 at 11:50 am EDTHello Friend, Alison Redford walked up to the Bar.....(yes, it's lame, so I'll quit while I'm ahead). People love to make jokes about lawyers, especially if they ever had to deal with one. I'm happy to say I've had positive experiences with the ones ...
We've got more telescopes than Allison Redford has for excuses
August 9th, 2014 at 10:35 am EDTHello Friend, Recently I've been talking a lot about the new Nexstar Evolution telescopes from Celestron. Last Thursday night, I was all set to test out the Nexstar Evolution 9.25", which I have been eagerlyanticipating and which just arrived into o ...