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25 scopetrader astronomy news items found
The Al Nagler Saturnday interview with Eli Goldfine
Monday, March 30, 2026 by 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...
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...
Mirrorless astrophotography camera from OM System lands
Wednesday, February 11, 2026 by Russ Scritchfield
While dedicated astro cameras and smart telescopes steal the spotlight in astrophotogtraphy, some photographers are still waiting for something else: a regular DSLR camera that can shoot the Milky Way as well as it shoots a sunset - without needing a separate “astronomy-only” rig. Meet the new OM System OM-3 Astro camera which aimss to address this niche ...
Vaonis Hyperia telescope re-launches with a $99,000 starting price tag
Wednesday, February 4, 2026 by Richard Harris
Vaonis just announced Hyperia, positioned as an all-in-one "smart observatory" aimed more at institutions/outreach than typical consumer smart telescopes. As the smart telescope war heats up, with ZWO pretty clearly leading the charge on pure value proposition, Vaonis has stepped forward with an insanely priced “smart” telescope they're posi...
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...
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...
Light pollution filter LEVIATHAN Spectral Pro
Friday, January 16, 2026 by Richard Harris
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&...
Planet and moon image stacking gets easier with LuckyStackWorker 7
Wednesday, January 14, 2026 by Russ Scritchfield
LuckyStackWorker - a free, open-source desktop application for astrophotographers that automates the post-processing (sharpening, denoising) of stacked solar system images (planets, Moon, Sun) captured with techniques like lucky imaging, has updated to a new release of version 7.0.0. The application has taken a noticeable step forward, not by reinventing planetary workf...
AstroFiler 1.2 Calibration Automation Update
Tuesday, January 13, 2026 by Austin Harris
AstroFiler has quietly built a reputation as a practical utility for astronomers who find themselves managing more data than their original folder structures ever anticipated. As modern capture software and smart telescopes lower the barrier to collecting deep sky data, the challenge increasingly shifts toward organization, verification, and long term preservation. Vers...
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...
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...
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...
Astrobiscuit: The nerd who made the universe fun
Monday, December 29, 2025 by Richard Harris
In 2017, Rory Griffin—better known as Astrobiscuit—asked his wife for a telescope. She rolled her eyes. “It’ll just gather dust,” she said. But the first night he pointed that Sky-Watcher Mak 90 into the London sky, Jupiter floated into view. Its moons lined up like tiny pearls, and Rory was hooked. Suddenly, astrophotography wasn’t j...
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...
Yuri Petrunin: The man behind TEC Telescopes
Thursday, December 18, 2025 by Richard Harris
When you sit down with Yuri Petrunin, founder of Telescope Engineering Company, the first thing you notice is his strong Russian accent. The second is how little he seems to care whether or not you’re impressed by it. He speaks modestly, carefully, and without pretense. He’s not trying to sell you something. He’s just telling you what he knows. And wha...
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&#...
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...
DeepSkyStacker new release focuses on field reliability
Friday, December 12, 2025 by Richard Harris
Ahh - free astronomy software, yes please! While many of us comfortably settle into our subscriptions to Photoshop, PixInsight, TheSkyX, or whatever tool fills that slot in your workflow, it’s genuinely refreshing to see software like DeepSkyStacker remain free. In a hobby where costs have a habit of creeping ever upward, it helps keep the price of ...
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...
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...
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...
New astronomy online store from OMI Astro launches
Thursday, December 4, 2025 by Russ Scritchfield
OMI Astro has introduced an online storefront that brings together its mirrors, telescope components, and accessories into a unified, structured retail catalog. According to the public announcement shared with the astronomy community, the store is now the central place where customers can browse product details, review specifications, and make purchases directly through...
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...
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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