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25 lenses astronomy news items found

The Al Nagler Saturnday interview with Eli Goldfine

Editor’s Note: Albert “Al” Nagler, founder of Tele Vue Optics and one of the most beloved figures in amateur astronomy, passed away on October 27, 2025, at the age of 90, fittingly with a telescope in hand. For more than half a century, Al’s innovations transformed backyard observing, from the immersive Nagler eyepiece to the finely crafted refr...

Automating Astrophotography with PULSAR

PULSAR is a general purpose software system for reduction and processing of astronomical CCD and CMOS imaging data. Each tool performs a single well defined operation on FITS images, and the tools compose into automated pipelines that carry your work from raw frames to calibrated, combined, and enhanced results. No fussing, no clicking through a labyrinth the next morni...

Lens support system from Buckeyestargazer lands

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...

MOTHRA telescope 1,140-lenses to map the cosmic web

A new astronomical instrument is being developed to capture the faint glow of the cosmic web with a scale and simplicity that set it apart. Built as an array of 1,140 individual objective lenses working together, the system trades a single large mirror for many smaller optics, enabling exceptional sensitivity to low surface brightness structures across a wide field of v...

Tiny astrophotography rig built by Cuiv

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 ...

Light pollution filter LEVIATHAN Spectral Pro

If you've been shooting under light-polluted skies soaked in LED glare, you already know exactly how ugly this has gotten. I’m lucky, I'm still sitting in a Bortle 3 pocket - but I can drive just a few miles west and watch the night get steamrolled by people "upgrading" to those gawd-awful, retina-searing LEDs they sell at Walmart, Menards, Lowe&...

Star tracker with a strain wave gear in Optron HST MiniTracker

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...

RASA telescope design technology

The Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph isn't your typical telescope, it’s a high-speed astrophotography machine that you can't actually "look through" - you have to use a camera to see the fruits of it's optics. Think of it as the “mothership” of aperture and speed. I’ve owned Fastar-enabled Celestron SCTs before, using that ...

Daystar Filters Sol 100mm dedicated solar telescope lands

Before I ever owned a real telescope, I was building makeshift ones out of whatever lenses, tubes, and mirrors I could scrounge up. Newton would’ve been proud, or maybe concerned. And solar projection was the only way I could safely look at the Sun back then; anything more sophisticated was completely out of reach. My official astronomy adventure real...

Houdini 9 and 30 mm coma-correcting eyepieces are coming

Houdini Telescopes is extending its series of coma-correcting eyepieces with the upcoming Houdini 9 mm and 30 mm models. These additions follow the earlier releases of the Houdini 12 and 20 mm eyepieces and are designed to enhance the versatility of the lineup for amateur and educational astronomers. Both models integrate built-in coma correction, wide fields of view, a...

2025 astrophotography prize results announced

The results of the 2025 Astrophotography Prize are in, and this year’s competition has once again highlighted the extraordinary talent and dedication of photographers who turn their lenses skyward. From sweeping landscapes of the Milky Way to finely detailed captures of distant galaxies and planets, the winning entries showcase not only technical mastery but also ...

Astronomy at the Beach 2025 event details

The Astronomy at the Beach event is an annual public astronomy gathering held at Island Lake State Park in Brighton, Michigan. Organized by the Great Lakes Association of Astronomy Clubs (GLAAC), it offers free access to the public with hands-on telescope observing, keynote lectures, interactive exhibits, and presentations by professional and volunteer astronomers. This...

EF lens controller and adapter for astronomy cameras released

There's a new product in the wild,  that makes using Canon EF and EF-S lenses with astronomy cameras a bit more straightforward. If you’ve ever hauled heavy focusers out under the sky and thought There’s got to be a better way, this is for folks like you. Pinefeat has released the Canon EF / EF-S Lens Controller & Adapter for Astronomy C...

Rectangular telescope design promises shortcut to earth 2.0

Every so often, an weird idea comes along that makes you sit back and wonder why we didn’t think of it sooner. This talk of building a rectangular telescope instead of another big round one might seem odd at first. Folks are used to round mirrors and dishes because that’s what we see in everyday life. But when you peel back the layers, the logic makes good s...

NOBLEX ultra-wide-angle anastigmatic eyepiece is here

When we talk about astronomy equipment, the conversation usually circles around telescopes, mounts, and cameras. Eyepieces are sometimes treated as accessories, when in truth they are the final translators between the light gathered by the telescope and the eye of the observer. The NOBLEX ultra-wide-angle anastigmatic eyepiece belongs to that class of optical tools that...

Stellarvue SVX152T Apo triplet refractor

The Stellarvue SVX152T is a 6-inch apochromatic triplet refractor telescope designed for both visual observing and astrophotography. Built around a precision 152 mm objective lens, the SVX152T is the result of years of refinement at Stellarvue. It's hand-figured and tested using interferometry to achieve a Strehl ratio of .97 to .98 in red light, making it one of th...

Sigma 17-40mm art lens put to the test

Sigma’s latest addition to its Art lens lineup, the 17–40mm F1.8 DC Art, brings an ambitious combination of high-speed aperture, weather-sealed construction, and extended focal range tailored for APS-C mirrorless systems. As the successor to the much-loved Sigma 18–35mm F1.8 for DSLRs, this mirrorless-native zoom seeks to reclaim its position as the br...

Gskyer 70MM telescope impressions

The Gskyer 70MM refractor telescope is designed with one goal in mind, accessibility for beginners, particularly children and families who want a simple way to observe the night sky. While it's often labeled as a “kid’s telescope,” that doesn’t mean it lacks value for adults seeking their first experience with astronomy. This compact and ligh...

Houdini 12 coma-correcting eyepiece

Following the successful debut of the Houdini 20, Houdini Telescopes has announced the next in its series of high-performance coma-correcting eyepieces: the Houdini 12 mm 86° Coma-Correcting Eyepiece. Designed to deliver exceptional sharpness, immersive fields of view, and unmatched coma correction in Newtonian reflectors, the Houdini 12 is already shaping up to be ...

Compact optical grinding and polishing machine

A remarkable new portable machine for grinding and polishing optics has been unveiled by Christo, an amateur telescope maker with a passion for innovation and craftsmanship. Designed specifically for DIY mirror making and small-scale optical fabrication, this compact device fills an important gap in the amateur astronomy community, where large, stationary polishing mach...

2025 Bootleg Star Party

Each year, under the sweeping canopy of the cosmos, astronomers, astrophotographers, and skywatchers gather to celebrate one of the Midwest’s most anticipated amateur astronomy gatherings, The Bootleg Star Party. Known for its pirate-themed bravado and serious devotion to stargazing, the 2025 edition promises to be another unforgettable chapter in this storied tra...

Altair 462M2 mono guide astronomy camera

If you’ve spent more than a few nights trying to pull sharp exposures out of a shaky guiding setup, you’ll know it doesn’t take much atmospheric wobble or poor star signal to throw off your whole session. The Altair 462M2 Mono Guide Camera takes a practical approach to solving those kinds of problems. It’s small, easy to integrate into just about...

UK StarParty Dalby Forest StarFest 2025

There’s something magical about standing under a truly dark sky, far from city lights, where the Milky Way stretches across the heavens like a glowing river and the stars seem close enough to touch. For over two decades, StarFest in Dalby Forest has been the place where that magic becomes reality for UK astronomers. Whether you're a seasoned observer hauling a...

R-Sky Eyeglass Heater Pouch

If you have ever stepped outside on a crisp night, telescope at your side and stars sparkling overhead, you know the feeling. There is a hush to the world, a quiet promise that tonight you might just catch a glimpse of something that makes your heart beat a little faster. But for those of us who wear glasses, that dreamlike moment can come crashing down the second your ...

How many telescopes do you actually need

I was about eleven years old when I met the night sky "officially". It was the late-1980s, and one calm summer evening in the Ozarks I lugged a little 60 mm refractor, bright red, wobbly tripod and all, into the backyard. I had a star chart from the box my telescope came in, along with a ton of raw curiosity, I pointed that modest telescope at the Moon. B...