Orion Parsec 8300C Astronomical Imaging Camera

8.3 million pixels of resolution produces Astro-images that will make your DSLR camera want to hide

Astronomy Products

Give the Orion Parsec 8300C, a try, and see if you still look at your DSLR camera

Astronomy Products – The Orion Parsec 8300C is the latest CCD time-machine-to-the-stars capable of taking one-shot, full-frame, 8.3-megapixel color views during your “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” in perfect resolution. The Orion Parsec 8300C Astronomical Imaging Camera is designed and engineered around Kodak’s 8.3-megapixel KAF-8300 sensor and is one of the most advanced CCD time-machines-to-the-stars you can purchase to “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time.

Amazing color images of the universe

The Orion Parsec 8300C Astronomical Imaging Camera’s color Kodak CCD chip is built around the 5.4 micron x 5.4-micron pixel size for superior resolution and uses Kodak’s microlens technology for maximum sensitivity. Regulated dual-stage thermoelectric cooling and the adjustable fan included with the Orion Parsec 8300C Astronomical Imaging Camera reduces the thermal noise you’ll experience while the internal full-frame memory buffer allows you to reliably and efficiently download your images for later use.

Top quality at a reasonable price

You get all of this Astro imaging power at a relatively low price, considering the quality of the views this outstanding CCD camera produces, and the Parsec 8300C Astronomical Imaging Camera is compatible with Windows XP and later operating systems. You just plug the Parsec 8300C Astronomical Imaging Camera into the USB 2.0 port on your computer with the included cable and power your time-machine-to-the-stars using the 12-volt DC power cable included that plugs into a car accessory jack, or other compatible power sources.

Read this PDF on the Orion Parsec 8300 Series Astronomical Imaging Camera.

Do you love astronomy? Check out my latest astronomy website at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/.

Read about NASA’s Messenger spacecraft and its mission to Mercury

Have you heard about the recent meteorite that exploded near the Ural Mountains

Read about the supernova astronomers are studying looking for a black hole they think was created during the explosion

Orion BT100 Binocular Telescope

Your two-eyed time-machine-to-the-stars is ready to blast-off

Astronomy Products

Human beings were designed to view the universe using two eyes

Astronomical binoculars are a time-machine-to-the-stars that will make your “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” a trip of a lifetime. The views you’ll experience during your journey will blow-your-mind using two eyes, rather than one, and you’ll return from your trip with tales of space and time your astronomy buddies will envy. The Orion BT100 Premium Binocular Telescope’s 100mm aperture helps to create bright, high-contrast 90 degree views of the universe at 24x magnification, using included 25mm Sirius Plossl eyepieces, that both your eyes will love.

Astronomical binocular telescope with amazing image quality

A 4-inch refractor that accepts standard 1 1/4 eyepieces that are focused individually for optimal performance, the Orion BT100 Premium Binocular Telescope features an all-metal body, fully multicoated achromatic objective lenses, Porro prisms made of BaK-4 glass, and removable eyepieces. Just mount your two-eyed time-machine-to-the-stars on a sturdy heavy-duty tripod, which isn’t included, slip the 25mm Sirius Plossl eyepieces into place in the integrated 90 degree prism assemblies, and blast-off from the Earth and “Journey to the beginning of Space and Time” to experience the wonders of the universe through two eyes.

Blast off to the stars with the Orion BT100 Binocular telescope

If you love astronomy. Check out my latest astronomy website at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/.

 

Read about NASA’s Messenger spacecraft and its mission to Mercury

Have you heard about the recent meteorite that exploded near the Ural Mountains

Read about the supernova astronomers are studying looking for a black hole they think was created during the explosion

 

Meade LS-6 go-to Telescope

One of the best time-machine-to-the-stars you can buy

Astronomy Products

Flip the switch on your Meade LS-6 and being your “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time”

Astronomy Products – Just set up your time-machine-to-the-stars, flick the ignition switch, and your “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” begins. Incorporating GPS satellites, internal leveling sensors, a magnetic north compass, and a built-in ECLIPS CCD imager capable of displaying vibrant astroimages on the scope or filing them away so you can send them to all of your astronomy buddies, later, the Meade LS-6 ACF Telescope includes the industry’s most advanced go-to astronomy system, for truly hands-free star-gazing.

Flick the switch, connect to GPS

The Light Switch Technology included with the Meade LS-6 go-to telescope goes to work with the flick of the switch, turning over the job of connecting the global positioning system with overhead satellites to a built-in Integrated Sensor Module (ISM). The global positioning system pinpoints the exact location and local time of your time-machine-to-the-stars on the planet’s surface and then the Level North Technology sensors silently search for two alignment stars and automatically start charting out a real-time sky map of the night sky in its memory banks for the present time and your location on the Earth’s surface.

The perfect telescope for the educated amateur astronomer heading out into the universe for their first “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time”. The Meade LS-6 will automatically take you to points in space and time you’ll never forget and you can take a few pictures of your unforgettable views to show your friends, when you get back.

Perfect telescope for both amateur and professional astronomers

Experienced astronomers will love not having to remember the name of alignment stars or having to worry about the view being blocked by a tree or house, which can be frustrating and time-consuming to solve. The Meade LS-6 go-to telescope solves these problems and gives you more time for what you really want to do, “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time”.

http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/ is my latest project. Check it out and let me know what you think?

Read about NASA’s Messenger spacecraft and its mission to Mercury

Have you heard about the recent meteorite that exploded near the Ural Mountains

Read about the supernova astronomers are studying looking for a black hole they think was created during the explosion

Kendrick Astro Instruments Stargate Observer Tent

Every astronomers’ observatory is waiting

Astronomy Products

A lightweight and portable observatory you can set up anywhere

Astronomy Products – Kendrick Astro Instruments has been in the business of selling some of the top observer tents in the world for years. Stargazers love the ease of use and set up of Kendrick observer tents, but nothing is perfect, and Kendrick has been listening to its customers. Measuring 10 feet wide by 15 feet long and 6.5 feet high at the center, Kendrick Astro Instruments Stargate Observer Tent is the latest edition to Kendrick’s line of observer tents introduced a decade ago. Still including everything you loved about Kendrick’s original Observatory Tent, the new Kendrick Astro Instruments Stargate Observer Tent has been redesigned to include two separate rooms, one for you to continue your “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time, and another for sleeping away the hours, separated by a polyester wall.

The Kendrick Stargate II Observer tent dimensions.

 

Great for the amateur or professional astronomer

You set up your time-machine-to-the-stars in the 10 foot x 9 foot star-gazing room, and then you and your weary-eyed stargazing companion sleep away the hours of the day in the smaller 10 foot x 6-foot sleeping area. Once the sun goes down and the stars appear in the night sky, you simply head into your observatory and unzip the 6-foot-wide observing flap, and continue your “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” in perfect comfort. Once you return from your adventure, simply close the observing flap, cover your telescope, and move into the next room for some well-deserved rest.

 

Grab Kendrick Astro Instrument’s Stargate Observer Tent and let your journey to the beginning of space and time continue

Check out my latest astronomy website at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/. 

 

Read about NASA’s Messenger spacecraft and its mission to Mercury

Have you heard about the recent meteorite that exploded near the Ural Mountains

Read about the supernova astronomers are studying looking for a black hole they think was created during the explosion

iOptron MiniTower Pro go-to Mount

Lightweight and always ready to go, the iOpton MiniTower Pro is one of the best models around

Astronomy Products

Lightweight go-to mount for the astronomer on the go

Astronomy Products – Tipping the scale at just 9 pounds, the iOptron MiniTower Pro is a portable alt-azimuth mount that can support a time-machine-to-the-stars weighing as much as 33 pounds, only takes 10 minutes to set on the launch pad, and has everything you need to “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” to view the universe. Totally portable, the iOpton MiniTower Pro fits in the included alloy metal carrying case like a glove, except for the tripod, and can be easily stored in the trunk of your car, or airline luggage, so you’re always ready to continue your journey at a moments notice, no matter your location on the Earth.

 

The perfect launch platform for your telescope

The iOptron Mini Tower Pro is equipped with two dovetail adapters capable of supporting the majority of standard telescopes on the market today. Includes metal worm gears with typical 1 arcminute accuracy, strong 2″ alloy legs and GPS capability that allows you to select the dark sky spot you desire to view the universe from. Add in a standard 8401 SmartStar hand controller with information that quickly allows you to locate over 130,000 celestial objects in the night sky, a USB port that allows you to easily connect to a wide variety of planetarium programs, an 8-inch LCD back-lit display, and you’re always ready to continue your “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time at a moments notice.

 

Solid, strong and dependable

 

Check out my latest astronomy website at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/.

 

 

Read about NASA’s Messenger spacecraft and its mission to Mercury

Have you heard about the recent meteorite that exploded near the Ural Mountains

Read about the supernova astronomers are studying looking for a black hole they think was created during the explosion

 

 

Something Unusual, Something New

Some of the biggest explosions in the universe

Astronomy News – Supernovas are some of the most powerful and visually striking events observed during the human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time. Releasing more energy in a single moment than Sol will over its entire lifetime, a supernova is luminous enough to shine brighter in the night sky than entire galaxies during one moment in space and time, before slowly fading from view over several weeks or months. The force of a supernova expels a large percentage of a star’s mass into the darkness of space and time at about 10 percent of the speed of light and creates a shock wave that sweeps up the expanding shell of gas and dust released during the explosion referred to by astronomers as a supernova remnant. 

 Astronomers search for new supernovae

Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to search the night sky for active galactic nuclei (AGN), super-massive black holes at the center of galaxies, recently reported the discovery of a supernova smothered in the remnants of its own star-dust during their search. This has astronomers scratching their heads in amazement at something they have never viewed during the human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time. Scientists think supernovas like this one probably occurred during the early universe, more than they do during present time, and this discovery has astronomers looking for answers to questions they never thought they would be asking.

 

Astronomers realised something was different

The recorded temperature of the object they were viewing was about 1,000 Kelvin (about 700 degrees Celsius), which is slightly hotter than the surface of Venus. This means something was dissipating the light energy of the supernova as heat? Astronomers wondered if the dust from the supernova could be choking off the light from the supernova and creating the heat they were viewing? Taking data from studies of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope astronomers worked backward in space and time to see if they could figure out what kind of star could have theoretically created this supernova and if they could recreate a scenario where the dust from a supernova obscures the universe from the light released during the supernova. They calculated that the star in this supernova would have to be a giant star at least 50 times as massive as Sol. Astronomers have viewed these types of stars releasing huge clouds of dust as they near the end of their lives, but they calculated this particular star probably released clouds of stardust several times during this same period of time. The last cloud of stardust expelled would, therefore, be closer to this massive star, than earlier released clouds of stardust, they reasoned. If the earlier dust cloud was also opaque, it would absorb the light energy released during later energy releases, and this could certainly account for the hot dust cloud they observed through NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

 

This dust cloud obscures the dust from its parent star

Check out my latest astronomy website at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/.

Read about NASA’s Messenger spacecraft and its mission to Mercury

Have you heard about the recent meteorite that exploded near the Ural Mountains

Read about the supernova astronomers are studying looking for a black hole they think was created during the explosion

The First Possible Cradle for a New Human Genesis?

Six exo-planets are circling red dwarf star Gliese 581 20 light-years distant in the constellation Libra

 

Astronomy News – The human search for an exoplanet capable of being a cradle for a new human genesis found what many consider the first exoplanet with the physical makeup to make it possible. A team of planet hunters from the University of California (UC) Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institute of Washington recently announced to the world the discovery of an exoplanet they believe has a few characteristics of an exoplanet with the right stuff to make life possible. Gliese 581g, as it’s referred too, has about three times the mass of Earth and appears to be situated in the right spot in the solar system of the red dwarf star Gliese 581 for the ingredients of life to exist. This is about dead center in what planet scientists term the habitable zone of Gliese 581, a position planet scientists believe could make it possible for water and an atmosphere to exist on this exoplanet, necessary ingredients for the formation of life, planet scientists believe. 

Astronomers search for a cradle for a new human genesis

 

These planet hunters have been using one of the largest time-machine-to-the-stars on the planet, the Keck I Telescope in Hawaii’s W.M Keck Observatory, to journey 20 light years to the constellation of Libra to continue the search for more planets circling red dwarf star Gliese 581 that could be habitable. Planet hunters have been using the HIRES spectrometer to precisely measure the radial velocity of the host star – the motion of the star along the line of sight from Earth – and stars close to red dwarf star Gliese 581, in order to try to find other planets circling this red dwarf star. The gravitational pull of orbiting planets causes periodic changes in the radial velocity of the host star that astronomers can calculate using sophisticated mathematical techniques we’ll cover on another day. These are the techniques planet hunters used in order to find all of the stars they have found circling red dwarf star Gliese 581, which after the two most recent planet discoveries, brings the total to six exoplanets circling this distant star.

Astronomers believe Gliese 581g is in the habitable zone of its home star

 

The discovery of six exoplanets circling red dwarf star Gliese 581 marks the high-planet mark for the human hunt for planets capable of being a cradle for a new human genesis. Gliese 581g is the only planet of the six exoplanets discovered that astronomers have indicated, so far, as being in the life zone of the red dwarf star Gliese 581. This exoplanet orbits its parent star in about 37 days and measurements planet scientists have made of its mass indicates it’s probably a rocky planet with a definite surface and enough gravity to hang onto an atmosphere. Gliese 581g is also tidally locked to its parent star, which means that one side of the planet is always facing its host star and in perpetual daylight. This makes some planet scientists believe that the best place for life to exist would be in the terminator, the part of the planet between the day and night sides of the planet.

  

Is this how the day would look on the daylight side of Gliese 581g?

 

 

Is there water on Gliese 581g and an atmosphere? Planet scientists are currently trying to find out

Check out my latest astronomy website at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/.

Learn why astronomy binoculars are a popular choice with amateur astronomers

Read about the Anasazi Indians

Read about astronomers viewing a supernova they think might have given birth to a black hole

Feeling Isolated? The Universe is Closer Than You Think

 The heliosphere is interacting with the galaxy more than we thought 

IBEX recently completed a six-month job. The sky map below is the result.

 

The human journey to the beginning of space and time continues

 Astronomy News – Mankind is preparing to journey to the outer solar system in the decades ahead and part of the preparation is using NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft to take a look at conditions on the edge of the solar system to get an idea of the environment humans and the spacecraft we send to the edge of the solar system will have to withstand to survive. NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer has just finished producing a new set of maps of the dynamic conditions that exist near the boundary between the local interstellar medium of the galaxy and our own heliosphere. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft creates sky maps of the outer solar system by counting and measuring particles astronomers call energetic neutral atoms that are created near the interstellar boundary region in collisions between charged particles emanating from Sol and star-dust between the stars. These collisions send energetic neutral atoms towards Sol at velocities ranging from 100,000 to 2.4 million miles per hour.

Six months of observations later, this is the result

Dynamic universe

Astronomers looking at the edge of the solar system using the Interstellar Boundary Explorer recently announced that their views of the edge of the solar system over a six month period have revealed the outer solar system is a lot more dynamic than scientists first thought. That interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium on the other side of the interstellar boundary region are constantly changing as we move through space and time. The first map produced indicates an unpredicted bright ribbon of energetic neutral atoms emanating toward Sol from the edge of the solar system. A bright ribbon that currently has scientists studying the heliosphere scratching their heads in a confused manner because this scenario doesn’t fit any of the preconceived models they had created of the conditions and environment near the outer solar system.

 

Check out my latest astronomy website at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/.

 

Learn why astronomy binoculars are a popular choice with amateur astronomers

Read about the Anasazi Indians

Read about astronomers viewing a supernova they think might have given birth to a black hole

 

 

 

 

 

WISE Shows us Infrared Views of Time and Space

The Sculptor Galaxy heats up

 

 

WISE uses four infrared detectors to view the Sculptor Galaxy

Wise takes us to the Sculptor Galaxy NGC 253 

Astronomy News – In the next leg of the human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” we travel 11.4 million light years, give or take a few hundred thousand, to the Sculptor Galaxy NGC 253 (the Silver Coin Galaxy) to view an infrared mosaic of images taken by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Part of the Sculptor group of galaxies (South Polar Group), the 7.6 magnitude Silver Coin Galaxy has infant stars in duty cocoons heating up the galaxies core and broadcasting infrared light into the universe and is the brightest member of the Sculptor group of galaxies. Young emerging stars in the infrared images shown here are concentrated in the galaxies core and along the spiral arms. The green areas are tiny dust or soot particles left after the formation of these emerging stars that have absorbed the ultraviolet light from these young stars, which makes these particles glow with infrared light the four infrared detectors on WISE can detect. The blue image on the top was taken in the short wavelengths, about 3.4 and 4.6 microns, this photo has stars of all ages scattered all over the Sculptor Galaxy. 

 

NGC 253 is considered a starburst galaxy, and an intermediary type of spiral galaxy, with stars forming and exploding at unusually high rates in an intense star-forming period. First recorded by Caroline Herschel, the sister of astronomer William Herschel, on September 23, 1783, the Sculptor Galaxy can best be seen in the Sculptor constellation in the southern night sky in late September by stargazers using a time-machine-to-the-stars. Stargazers with good eyes and a dark sky can even view NGC 253 during this time, just be prepared to spend a little time in the search for the Silver Coin Galaxy.

 

Wise continues to go forth into the unknown

Check out my newest astronomy blog at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/.

This is why they call NGC 253 the Silver Coin Galaxy

Learn why astronomy binoculars are a popular choice with amateur astronomers

Read about the Anasazi Indians

Read about astronomers viewing a supernova they think might have given birth to a black hole

Journey into the Heart of the Beehive

The bottom photo reminds many of bees moving around in a hive

 The Hubble Space Telescope takes the human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” into the beehive

Astronomy News – We join the human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” as it boards the Hubble Space Telescope to travel 15,800 light years (~ 4850 parsecs) into Centaurus the Centaur to globular cluster Omega Centauri to peer into the beehive and look at individual stars. The beehive as it’s called was first noted by early star-gazer Ptolemy 2,000 years ago, both the largest and brightest globular cluster orbiting the Milky Way, the beehive is about 12 billion years old. Ptolemy didn’t have the Hubble Space Telescope to view Omega Centauri, so in his writings, he refers to the beehive as a single star. In reality, the beehive, or Omega Centauri, is a tightly packed group of about 10 million stars held together by gravity and orbiting a central gravitation mass, of some kind. In fact, the stars in the beehive are on average only about 0.1 light years apart, so close together that astronomers had to use the powerful vision of the Hubble Space Telescope to resolve individual stars.

The view from the Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble gives us the best view of the universe we have ever had

The Hubble Space Telescope’s vision is sharp enough astronomers used the images they have collected over a four-year period of viewing globular cluster Omega Centauri to precisely measure the relative motions of over 100,000 individual stars in the beehive. In an effort to gain insight into the evolution and life cycle of tight groups of stars formed in the early universe, and try to determine if there’s, in fact, an intermediate mass black hole hidden in the beehive. This study was conducted over a four-year period by Jay Anderson and Roeland van der Marel of the Space Telescope Science Institute using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and high-speed, sophisticated computer programs to measure the relative motions of individual stars in the beehive.

On a clear night in the southern equatorial region of the night sky, it’s even possible to view the 3.5 magnitude beehive with the naked eye. Globular cluster Omega Centauri will appear as a fuzzy star that early astronomers believed was a single star. Use astronomical binoculars as your time-machine-to-the-stars, or a telescope, and the view becomes a wonder to behold as wide across in your viewfinder as the Full Moon. Using an 8-inch time-machine-to-the-stars you’ll view about 1,000 stars, each a faint pinprick of light, and you should notice that the beehive isn’t completely circular. Globular cluster Omega Centauri, in fact, rotates at a pretty fast speed around its central gravitational mass and astronomers believe this is one reason it’s less than circular.

Check out my latest astronomy website at http://astronomytonight.yolasite.com/.

 

 

 

Learn why astronomy binoculars are a popular choice with amateur astronomers

Read about the Anasazi Indians

Read about astronomers viewing a supernova they think might have given birth to a black hole