Space Junk

Josh Walawender is a staff astronomer at Keck Observatory and joins Dustin and Tony to give us some insights into working at a leading astronomical facility.  Josh is also involved in Project Panoptes, a citizen science initiative that makes the hunt for planets around other stars accessible to amateur astronomers.

Did you get some new gear for the holidays?  Are you just starting out in this great hobby?  Then this episode is for you.  Dustin and Tony are joined by Brian Fulda, an instructor at OPT University, to discuss how to get started with your new scope and how to overcome some common hurdles that beginners sometimes face.

As I post this episode, we are two hours away from midnight Eastern Time.  I for one, will be glad to see this year go.  In this episode, Dustin and Tony talk about the year just past and what's ahead for 2021 in our wonderful hobby.

Molly Wakeling, aka AstronoMolly has only been imaging for five years and in that short time has made a name for herself in the astro-imaging world.  In addition to her studies as a graduate student in physics, she is also actively involved in science communication.

Tom Bramwell is the Director of Operations in the U.S. for Prima Luce Lab and joins us to talk about his journey into amateur astronomy and his move from Apple to Prima Luce Labs.  We streamed this recording live and have included some of your questions and comments.

Binoculars are a great way to get introduced into the hobby of amateur astronomy.  In addition to being useful for other activities like bird watching, sporting events and any outdoor activity, they are also amazing tools for looking up into the night sky.  Dustin and Tony discuss using binoculars to get acquainted with our amazing hobby and we'll teach you about many of the particulars of binocular characteristics.

Tripods, fork arms, equatorial, polar aligning... what does all this mean and what do you need to know when buying a telescope?  Telescope mounts are a critical component and Dustin and Tony de-mystify all of this for you.

Radian Telescopes is releasing a new APO refractor designed for imaging that will change the way astrophotography is done.  Small, lightweight and with high quality optics, the Radian Raptor 61 is poised to make a real difference in your wide field imaging.

In this episode, Dustin and Trevor go through the design concepts and testing to make this telescope easy to use and enable you to get good results on your first night out astro imaging.

Observing the Sun through proper solar filters has never been better - or cheaper.  Amateurs have within their grasp solar filters and telescopes that allow us to see detail and activity on the Sun previously available only to professionals.  In this episode, Dustin and Tony discuss getting into solar observations and imaging with Fay Roman, Ben Lombard and Brian Stephens - the team at Lunt Solar Systems that bring high quality solar gear to you.

David Rowe's optical designs are in some of the best telescopes available to amateur astronomers today.  He designed the Corrected Dall-Kirkham (CDK), a telescope that allows unprecedented wide-field images; he is also the 'R' in the RASA telesccope from Celestron.  Listen to Dave's story in today's episode!