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Nikon moving to single USB cable

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It seems that Nikon has decided to switch from using a standard USB cable and their GPS cable to control their cameras to using just a standard USB cable like Canon does. The old method had one advantage that it could at least in theory download images faster since it could both transfer the image and send shutter commands simultaneously on two separate cables. There was also the disadvantages of requiring more equipment, being more expensive and having less support since people seemed reluctant to write software for the Nikon’s dual cable setup. From what I am seeing, starting with… Continue reading

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Orion G3 Mono for spectroscopy

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I just purchased an Orion G3 Mono and thought I would write this mini Orion G3 Monochrome CCD review. As many of you know I am pretty fascinated with spectroscopy, or the use of the spectrum of light emitted by or reflected off an object to determine its chemical makeup. I have been working on this with a DSLR for a while and it does a fairly good job for just getting my feet wet. Unfortunately the filters on the sensor of a DSLR skew the results pretty badly towards the red end, and the sensor is too sensitive to… Continue reading

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Huntsville astronomy club’s new website

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The Huntsville astronomy club (Huntsville Amateur Astronomy Society) in Huntsville Texas is finally getting ready to move to a new website, complete with image galleries and a forum of our very own. The new address is www.huntsvilleastronomy.org and should feature a lot of great information not just for those in our area, but for anyone interested in astronomy in general. Come on by and take a look! Once you are finished looking at the new site be sure to email us tell us when you would like to come out to a meeting and meet the gang. We meet at… Continue reading

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Orion Stratus eyepieces review – worth it?

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After looking through a lot of eyepieces my go to eyepieces are my Orion Stratus eyepieces. Hopefully this will help you understand why. Although I am primarily an astrophotographer and so I spend far less time looking through an eyepiece than I do a computer monitor, I still like quality views when I do a little visual. Like most people, I started with the eyepieces that came with my first telescope. While they did indeed provide a view, once I tried a nice eyepiece I was smitten. There was obviously more contrast making objects easier to pick out, more of… Continue reading

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Using astronomy forums to get information online

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Astronomy forums can be helpful as finding information online can be a challenge, particularly if you are looking for something specific like astronomy. Sure, there is a ton of easy to access information, but it never seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. After looking around for a couple of years and participating on many astronomy forums I decided I would share a little of my impressions with some of what I see as the better online forums dedicated to astronomy. Here you can not only read tons of static information, but also ask specific questions and get… Continue reading

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Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography released

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Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography is finally here! As some of you may know I have been working on a book that expanded on my original 19 page cobbled together booklet from over a year ago. Now, about a year, more than 220 pictures, 61,000 words and 346 pages later, the ultimate astrophotography how to is finally finished and ready for sale. If you are thinking about getting started in astrophotography, this is for you.   You can find out more about the book here: https://www.allans-stuff.com/leap join the discussion board for the book here: https://www.allans-stuff.com/forum and if you like, purchase the book… Continue reading

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Schumacher XP2260 Portable Power Source Review

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At some point most of us need a portable power station or source out in the field.  Some of the ones from the telescope manufacturer’s can be a little pricey. Most of us also have a department store in reasonable distance. Most of those department stores carry units like this so I decided to see what they had on the shelves that might work. It really wouldn’t be much of a review if I didn’t have something to compare it to so I will be comparing the Schumacher Portable Power Station XP2260 from Amazon  to the Orion Dynamo Pro 17Ah… Continue reading