WELCOME BAAACK to The Astrocast!

This week on the show, Roo takes a deep dive into one of his absolute favorite persons in history, the one and only Galileo Galilei. Sit back and relax and learn a thing or two about the man who INVENTED modern astronomy. Bonus points if you listen to this episode while checking out the Galilean Satellites. 

His discoveries? Immense and uncountable. His life? Incredible, and yet so full of pain.

Would you like to help support The Astrocast AND get in to our members only Discord? Well today is your lucky day! For just 1-5 dollars per month, you can show your love for The Astrocast and join our Society! Members get access to our private community group chat, which has become my favorite place to talk about Astronomy! Show your support by donating here today!

 You can also support the show by using our affiliate link with High Point Scientific. You get the same great prices as usual but help the show by giving a small percentage of the profits to The Astrocast! Win/win!

Do you need help with your Observatory? Perhaps you want to design a roll off roof system? Then you should talk to Rick and Jeff at Dark Dragons Astronomy! They offer a full range of solutions for your home or professional observatory. They are trust partners of the podcast, and I can fully recommend their services and products!

Thanks so much for tuning in to The Astrocast, and CLEAR SKIES!

Roo

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

Welcome baaaack to The Astrocast!

This week on the show, Roo takes you through what it takes to shoot an HDR image of an incredibly bright Nebula, like Orion, and why you should try it! We also discuss the great, late, Akira Fujii, who has forever left his mark on the world of Astrophotography through his countless amazing images.

Do you have a question you'd like answered on the show? Feel free to email me! Just send to to "[email protected]" and include your name/city, and I'll be happy to get you an answer! ...Whether you like it or not? That's entirely up to you!

Links from this weeks shownotes:

Radio Jove Project/Links to buy a Radio Astronomy kit

Read about Akira Fujii here: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/remembering-akira-fujii-1941-2022-photographer-par-excellence/

(Highly recommend you look up some of his images!)

Check out Cokin filters on Ebay…they’re everywhere! 

Would you like to help support The Astrocast AND get in to our members only Discord? Well today is your lucky day! For just 1-5 dollars per month, you can show your love for The Astrocast and join our Society! Members get access to our private community group chat, which has become my favorite place to talk about Astronomy! Show your support by donating here today!

 You can also support the show by using our affiliate link with High Point Scientific. You get the same great prices as usual but help the show by giving a small percentage of the profits to The Astrocast! Win/win!

Do you need help with your Observatory? Perhaps you want to design a roll off roof system? Then you should talk to Rick and Jeff at Dark Dragons Astronomy! They offer a full range of solutions for your home or professional observatory. They are trust partners of the podcast, and I can fully recommend their services and products!

Thanks so much for tuning in to The Astrocast, and CLEAR SKIES!

Roo

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

Welcome baaack to The Astrocast! This week, Roo takes you back through some of his fondest moments of 2024, recaps some of the greatest Astronomical moments of the year - and waxes poetically about the future.

2025 is set to be an even BIGGER and BETTER year for The Astrocast! Thank you so much for tuning in in 2024!

A VERY SPECIAL thank you to all of our Patreon Supporters who have helped support the show all year long! You guys are truly rockstars!

Also - a BIG shout-out to Dark Dragons Astronomy, sponsors of the show! If you have a home/private/commerical observatory, you NEED to talk to Dark Dragons!

If you would like to join The Astrocast Society and become a member of a private, members only Discord, please consider donating 1-5 dollars on Our Patreon!

You can also always support the show by purchasing your next bit of gear through our affiliate link with High Point Scientific! The Astrocast will get a small portion of the sale, and you get the same great prices and customer service as always! WIN WIN! 

See you next year, clear skies!!!

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

WELCOME BAAAACK to The Astrocast! MIDNIGHT RELEASE EDITION!

This week, Roo is taking you for a crash course in the usage and history, and BASICS of Radio Astronomy. Roo loves the topic of Radio Astronomy and plans on doing a follow up on this episode to discuss building your own radio telescope in the future. If that would be of interest to you, let him know by emailing [email protected]! In the meantime, why not hear a little bit about the history and discoveries of two of the greatest radio telescopes ever made?!

Do you need help with your Observatory? Perhaps you want to design a roll off roof system? Then you should talk to Rick and Jeff at Dark Dragons Astronomy! They offer a full range of solutions for your home or professional observatory. They are trust partners of the podcast, and I can fully recommend their services and products!

If you would like to support the show, and join our private members-only Discord, please feel free to join the Patreon here! You can also support the show by using our affiliate link with High Point Scientific. You get the same great prices as usual, but help the show by giving a small percentage of the profits to The Astrocast! Win win!

As a reminder, we will be off next week to celebrate the Holidays, but look forward to coming back with a great new show for the new year and new moon!

Enjoy some time with your family in the meantime, and we'll talk soon!

CLEAR SKIES!

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

Welcome baaaaack to The Astrocast!

This week on the show, Roo will catch you up on what he's been up to during the last couple weeks, including an impressive stretch of impeccably clear nights around new new moon, which is much too rare! We also talk about shooting Orion at 35mm with an unmodified R5, and what the results were like! Wanna see the photo? Check it out here! Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by!

Would you like to help support the show? Consider becoming a member of our Patreon! For just 1 or 5 dollars a month, you can help support the show and become a member of our members only Discord! Which I must tell you, has become one of the best group chats I've ever had! I'm super glad to have gotten to know everyone on the channel, and hope more folks will keep joining us!

A BIG thanks to our partners at Dark Dragon Astronomy!  If you or anyone you know needs a roll-off roof observatory solution, they are your guys!

You can also show your support by purchasing your astro gear through our affiliate link with High Point Scientific! The same great price you'd get anyway with HPS, but you can help the show a bit too, win win! 

Thanks so much for listening, and we'll be back next week with another new show...until then, CLEAR SKIES!

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

Welcome to The Astrocast 40th Episode Spectacular!!!

Welcome baaack to The Astrocast!!! This week on the show, Roo sits down with the founders of Dark Dragons Astronomy to talk all things Astro, past, present, and future. We discuss what Dark Dragons has been up to this past year, get very in depth on their hardware solutions, including The Dragonlair roll-off roof system. Also joining us this week is a longtime listener and friend of the show, Rickey McDaniel.

We are THRILLED to announce a new stellar partnership with Dark Dragons Astronomy! As the first true sponsor of the show, we are beyond excited to welcome Dark Dragons to The Astrocast Family!  We plan on having them back on the show regularly, and I promise we'll bring better mics next time!

If you would like to support the show, please feel free to join our Patreon, and jump in to our members-only Discord!

I'm sure i've forgotten at least 10 other links, but i'll add them in as I hear them!

Show Links:
Dark Dragons Astronomy
Check out Ricky's website! - https://www.rickymcdaniel.net/
KStars Observatory Software
From this weeks recommendation, the Silo Series

I'm sure i've forgotten at least 10 other links, but i'll add them in as I hear them!

As always - you can also show your support to the show via our affiliate link with Highpoint Scientific. You can make a purchase through the shows link for the same great prices always offered, and we'll get a small slice of the pie, sweet!

Thank you so much for joining us for this special, extra length episode, and as always... CLEAR SKIES!

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

Hey Astrofam! Hope you're all doing GREAT!

Just wanted to let you know High Point Scientific is having a HUGE sale on ZWO Products. I believe all the big astronomy companies are particiapting, but if you'd like to help support the show you can get the same great deals through our partner link, and help support the show a bit! I see my own ASI294MC Pro is on sale for just 899!!! That's unreal! Hundreds off all other cameras as well, so check it out!

Clear Skies! (but for how long once you buy that gear!!!)

Roo

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

What do Corvus, Aquila, and Cygnus all have in common???

Find out this week, on The Birdcast.

If you would like to support the show and join our private members only Discord, please feel free to donate here! Thank you so much to ALL of our Patreon supporters!!!

Clear Skies!

Roo

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

WELCOME BAAAACK to THE ASTROCAST!

Thanks for joining us this week! And a special thanks to our newest Patreon member, Alex, for helping support the show! Thank you Alex! If you would like to support the show and join us in the members only discord for astro talk 24/7, please feel free to donate here!

This week on the show, Roo is going through the motions to get things started. Talking about a new scope from ZWO (The Seestar 130) - he soon realizes something isn't quite right! NO WORRIES! After stepping away from recording, and spending a night under Orion and Co., all is well and back to normal. We discuss imaging orion in HDR Composite fashion, and how to set various lengths of shutter speed to achieve the best effect. 

Also, we discuss the EPIC Leonids Meteor Storm of 2001! If you were around and saw the storm in 2001, please send your memories of the event to me at [email protected] - I would love to hear them!

Thanks so much for tuning in this week, and we'll be back next week with another show!

Links from this weeks show:

Several links to videos I found for showcasing the insane number of bright meteors from the 2001 Leonids:

Leonids meteor 2001 [1minute] しし座流星群2001

Leonids 2001

2001 Leonids Meteor Shower 獅子座流星雨

Stellarium: Stellarium Astronomy Software
Skysafari: SkySafari 7 | Professional Astronomy Telescope Control Software for iOS

Pixinsight Guide for HDR Composites!

The Astrocast FB Page (photos posted here regularaly! Check out the Raptors!)

Also - as a reminder, another great way you can support the show is by shopping with our partner, High Point Scientific! Any time you make a purchase through our shows link - HERE - you help support the show for no added cost to you! A small percentage of the overall profit goes to support the show. Thanks so much to those of you that have been showing your love this way, it has NOT gone unnoticed!!

High Point Scientific, via The Astrocast!

Thanks so much Astro Fam! 

CLEAR SKIES!  

-Roo

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!

WELCOME BAAAAACK TO THE ASTROCAST! Thank you for being patient with me for this episode, me and Jess had a little vacation time for our 10-year anniversary, so we disappeared for a bit! To thank you for waiting, we have SUPERSIZED this episode!

A quick reminder - if you would like to support the show, there are several ways you can! The #1 choice would be to join our Patreon! This will get you access to the Members Only Discord, where we discuss all things Astro and Life each and every day! I hope to see you there, we're starting to have early discussions about our first group meetup!

Second, we are affiliates with High Point Scientific! If you make a purchase at Highpoint using our affiliate link, you'll get the same great prices and equipment while also ensuring a small amount of the profit goes to help support the show. Thanks so much for that!

Finally, we are now affiliates with Amazon! If/when there is a cheaper product that I would recommend just getting through Amazon (which would be a NON crucial part...) - you can purchase through the shows affiliate link, same deal as with High Point! Thanks so much.

This week on the show, we start with a trip to Salem MA, and discuss what the star seeing was like up there (which surprised me) as well as photographing the sunrise over the Salem Wharf.

Afterwards, we answer a listener's question (Shoutout to Martyn, our newest Patreon supporter!) about getting back in to AP, and make some suggestions for how to best utilize the gear he already has.

Finally, Roo gets into a recap of all the various Astronomy software he personally uses, what he likes about them, and what he'd recommend for you. If you are curious about using some different AP software you haven't touched, this should be great!

Thank you SO MUCH for tuning in to the show! I'm happy to be back and starting next week we should start coming back on Tuesday or Wednesday night weekly. I very much appreciate you listening, thanks so much! CLEAR SKIES!

I can't fit ALL the links from this weeks show here, so please feel free to click on this link to a google document that i've listed them all in!

LINKS FROM THIS WEEKS SHOW!

Here's a few of them that I could fit here:
Right Angle Viewfinder (for easy polar alignment with Star Tracker): https://amzn.to/3ApdEYN (This was a bit cheaper when I purchased mine 6 months ago, but even at this price I say it’s a great buy. Saves your knees BIG time)

Dew Heater (usb) : https://amzn.to/4hzBMIK (I own 3 of these and love them. They work great and if you set them to low you can use a portable 10,000 mah battery bank to power them all night long)

Laser Pointer (for Polar Alignment) : https://amzn.to/3NTML28 (Remember, NEVER point a laser in the sky if a plane is near!)

Laser Pointer Holder Bracket: https://amzn.to/3AgTjF8

Wireless Intervalometer (I own this one!) : https://amzn.to/3YNyWsw

Here's a few of them that I could fit here, find the rest on the doc!

CLEAR SKIES!!!!

Support the show

Email me at "[email protected]" with any questions/comments. Thanks for listening!