I arrived at Dinosaur Point around 4:15pm. I set up in the middle of the parking lot, which ended up being a fine location as I later found myself surrounded by Dave Cooper, Peter Natscher, Rob Enns and Rogelio Bernal … Continue reading →

Here are a couple of photos of the Meade Lightbridge 12″ telescope I received for my 30th birthday. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to take it to a dark site yet because of the bad weather we’ve experienced in northern … Continue reading →

Venus is on the left, Jupiter on the right. Notice the Earthshine, barely visible on this shot. Cheers!

GMT, the famous Greenwich Mean Time, is used everywhere. However, we should all consider not using it. Universal Time (UT) — or even better, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) — should be used instead. Why? In a given location, the real … Continue reading →

I just finished reading The Modern Moon: A Personal View by planetary geologist Charles A. Wood, and felt compelled to write a few lines about this genuinely brilliant book. I have been practicing amateur astronomy for the past 17 years, … Continue reading →

The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA. The observatory is managed from … Continue reading →

A few years ago, I was very active in the field of amateur astronomy. I used to take pictures of the planets and the moon using a MEADE ETX 105 telescope and a Philips TouCam Pro webcam. I have not … Continue reading →