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25 gear astronomy news items found

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Watusi 150 equatorial fork mount for advanced astronomy

Friday, March 27, 2026 by Richard Harris

If you have carried a bag of counterweights across a dark field, you know their special brand of gravity. They are reliable in only one way. They always feel heavier by the minute. So when a well executed equatorial fork shows up with carbon fiber arms and no counterweights, that deserves attention from anyone who cares about clean tracking, quick setup, and the kind of...

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Lens support system from Buckeyestargazer lands

Tuesday, March 24, 2026 by Austin Harris

A telephoto lens and camera can make beautiful deep sky images, but the setup lives or dies by how well it is mounted-as many of you know. If the lens flexes a little when you slew, if the camera tilts a hair when you focus, your stars will tattle. The difference between soft ovals and tight circles often comes down to one simple idea: treat the lens and everything arou...

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Delta Pier tripod launches with discount

Thursday, March 19, 2026 by Richard Harris

SouthPolar Obs announces the launch of the DELTA PIER, a pier style tripod engineered for astrophotographers and visual observers who want a compact support platform without sacrificing rigidity. Built in South Korea with a focus on practical design choices, the system brings together a stable pier form factor and the flexibility of a tripod footprint. The result is a f...

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Seestar S30 Pro review: Upgrade or not

Monday, March 16, 2026 by Richard Harris

Anyone else love the classic rock sound of the band Journey? As a musician and singer myself, in my opinion, Steve Perry and his vocals on Don't Stop Believing are just plain incredible, and for a long time they felt untouchable. Then there is Deen Castronovo. Most people know him as Journeys drummer, but fewer have actually heard him sing. The first time you do, it...

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How to use a telescope

Saturday, March 7, 2026 by Richard Harris

So you’ve just unboxed your brand-new telescope. Maybe it’s a sleek refractor, a sturdy Dobsonian, or one of those smart telescopes that runs on an app. Now you’re standing there asking what just about everyone asks the first time they look at a telescope and think seriously about using it - what now? Telescopes come in all kinds - big ones, small o...

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Tiny astrophotography rig built by Cuiv

Thursday, February 12, 2026 by Richard Harris

Astronomy gear keeps leaning toward two virtues that often tug in opposite directions. Portability so you will actually carry it out. Power so your images do not leave you wishing you had brought the big rig. Cuiv, The Lazy Geek set himself a simple challenge. Build the smallest kit he could that still produces images with real scientific and aesthetic weight. The core ...

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Astro Weather Station by Astro-Smart launches

Thursday, February 5, 2026 by Austin Harris

Astro Smart has announced the introduction of a purpose built meteorological monitor designed for backyard observers and small observatories. The product combines environmental sensing with software interfaces that support automation and remote alerting. It is intended to give astronomers continuous reliable readings to help protect instruments and to make scheduling ob...

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AM7 mount from ZWO

Wednesday, January 28, 2026 by Richard Harris

Oh, the joys of dragging a heavy rig outside… said no astronomer ever. For years, getting into astrophotography came with an unspoken requirement: you didn't just need patience and curiosity - you also needed to be a bit of a bodybuilder. The moment a newcomer realized that their dream hobby involved hauling around 50-pound equatorial heads and s...

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Super fast hyperbolic newton astrograph by Telescopi Italiani

Thursday, January 22, 2026 by Richard Harris

There is a certain kind of telescope that tells you exactly what it is trying to do. The TIn series from Telescopi Italiani is built for one job: produce a very wide, very well corrected imaging field at extremely fast focal ratios, and do it in a package that can live in a remote observatory without constant babysitting. This is not a casual weekend setup. It is a purp...

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What is a FITS astrophotography file

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 by Richard Harris

When I first started out in astrophotography, I remember squinting at a folder of strange .fits files and wondering what on Earth I had gotten myself into. After a long night under the stars with my telescope and camera, these files were the fruits of my labor - yet if you clicked on one, it looked like an almost black, empty image. In spite of their unas...

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MLAstro SAL-66 beefy observatory class mount announced

Monday, January 19, 2026 by Richard Harris

2026 is already off to the races with many exciting new astronomy gear announcements, so lets add another one to the pile with a bit of a shocker from MLAstro. The announcement of the new heavy weight observatory class mount is a bit of a surprise since they are only just now shipping the second batch of the smaller SAL 33, but with payloads increasing from higher end g...

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Texas Star Party 2026

Saturday, January 17, 2026 by Richard Harris

Registration for the 2026 Texas Star Party is open, and if you have been waiting for a clean excuse to get your gear under genuinely dark skies, this is it. Texas Star Party 2026 runs May 10 through May 17, 2026 at Prude Ranch in Fort Davis, Texas, and you can register at texasstarparty.org while picking lodging and add on options. I have watched a lot of events over...

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OpenAstro AlpacaBridge launches and why it matters

Tuesday, January 13, 2026 by Richard Harris

After spending decades in the field setting up mounts in the dark, chasing cables across frozen ground, and trying to make mismatched software talk to hardware it barely understands, I have learned to pay attention when someone tries to solve a real problem instead of adding another layer of noise. AlpacaBridge from OpenAstro is one of those efforts that comes from live...

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Automatic polar alignment for telescopes just got real

Monday, January 12, 2026 by Richard Harris

Polar alignment is a nuts-and-bolts procedure - an unglamorous but unavoidable step if we want precise tracking of the night sky with our telescopes. There’s nothing particularly elegant or mysterious about it. You’re simply aligning the polar axis (RA) of your mount as accurately as possible with the celestial pole of the planet you’re standing on...E...

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Seestar S30 Pro is here and we have astrophotos to share

Wednesday, January 7, 2026 by Richard Harris

Anyone else love the classic rock sound of the band Journey? As a musician and singer myself, in my opinion, Steve Perry and his vocals on Don't Stop Believing are just plain incredible, and for a long time they felt untouchable. Then there is Deen Castronovo. Most people know him as Journeys drummer, but fewer have actually heard him sing. The first time you do, it...

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Astrophotography burnout

Monday, December 22, 2025 by Richard Harris

Astrophotography Burnout is something many beginners (and even seasoned astrophotographers) encounter at some point. One night you're full of excitement, marveling at the galaxies and nebulae appearing on your laptop screen. The next, you're dreading another tedious battle with your equipment or feeling disappointed by a lackluster image. I've been ther...

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Five lies about smart telescopes

Wednesday, December 17, 2025 by Richard Harris

In a recent article I wrote, published on the ZWO website, I take a hard, honest look at some of the most persistent myths surrounding smart telescopes - and why those myths no longer hold up. It's a piece I believe anyone interested in modern astronomy should read, whether you're just starting out or you've been under the stars for decades. Not because it&#...

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MLAstro SAL-33 harmonic mount setup and safety guide

Saturday, December 13, 2025 by Austin Harris

The MLAstro SAL-33 harmonic drive mount is still new on the scene, arriving in small production batches and just beginning to find its way into the hands of early adopters. Even so, it has already sparked interest among mobile astrophotographers looking for a budget friendly harmonic drive mount that does not feel like a compromise. On paper and in early field use, it c...

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Portable astrophotography observatories that elevate night sky imaging

Friday, December 12, 2025 by Richard Harris

Most astrophotographers know the feeling of setting up in an open yard or at a dark site and immediately negotiating with the environment. A light breeze nudges the telescope just enough to show up in guiding. Dew slowly settles on cables and focusers. A neighbor's porch light flicks on at the exact moment a long exposure begins. None of this is surprising, yet it a...

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Conquering cable chaos the astrophotography powerbox revolution

Tuesday, December 9, 2025 by Russ Scritchfield

The pursuit of astrophotography is a journey into the sublime, capturing the ethereal beauty of the cosmos. Yet, beneath the serene images of nebulae and galaxies lies a complex array of electronic equipment, each demanding precise power and data connections. For many enthusiasts, this technical foundation often devolves into a frustrating tangle of cables, multiple pow...

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ZWO EFW new design for 2026 just arrived

Tuesday, December 9, 2025 by Richard Harris

ZWO has released a refresh of its staple electronic filter wheel. At first glance it looks much like the version many astrophotographers already use, which appears to be the intention. Most people are not looking for new habits when a clear night finally arrives. What does stand out is a sturdier body, a more enclosed filter cell, and a shift to USB C. These updates set...

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Star tracker with a strain wave gear in Optron HST MiniTracker

Monday, December 8, 2025 by Richard Harris

iOptron has introduced a new strain wave gear approach to sky tracking with the HST MiniTracker. Just as jet engines revolutionized aviation by packing far more power into a compact form, strain wave gears have transformed modern astronomy - first in high-end GOTO mounts, and now, finally, in ultra-portable sky trackers as well. The HST MiniTracker is designed with this...

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ClearSky ST-17 R harmonic mount

Friday, December 5, 2025 by Richard Harris

2025 was definitely a year for harmonic drive mounts. With so many choices appearing in quick succession it is easy for a new piece of gear to slip past unnoticed, especially when the big names like ZWO, Sky-Watcher, and iOptron take up most of the space in the conversation. The ClearSky ST-17 R is not trying to compete with those companies directly. Its real compe...

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High end refractor telescope sale: APQ fluorite discounts

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 by Austin Harris

APQ has adjusted pricing on its line of fluorite polychromat refractors, covering six models with apertures from 100 mm to 200 mm. The series spans compact wide-field instruments to larger refractors built for detailed visual and imaging applications. Each model uses an oil-spaced, multi-lens objective incorporating fluorite and specialized optical glass to support broa...

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The startup bringing space telescopes to everyone

Sunday, November 30, 2025 by Richard Harris

What if you could schedule your own cosmic observation from space - no clouds, no light pollution, no billion-dollar budget? In a world where most CubeSats stare hungrily back at Earth, a small team is flipping the narrative. Bueche Labs, driven by startup veterans with a restless love for the stars, is on a mission to point affordable telescopes outward, opening the...

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Found in the Forums

Gear Drive focusing kits for REDCATS and other focus ring scopes Started By rigelsys on 7/22/2024 2:54:15 PM

ScopeTrader Users Found

gearhead952 Member since 9/17/2025 OFFLINE