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Preparing for Annual Star Parties – Creature Comfort
Spring is here again, summer begins in one month, and that means that star party season is not far off. We all love those multi-evening...

James Paulson
May 273 min read
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Timelines of the Universe: The Rise of Homo Sapiens
We’ve been digesting things in terms of millions of years and even billions of years. After a while, the actual value of these big...

James Paulson
May 212 min read
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Working with PixInsight
Since licensing PixInsight back in the Fall of 2024, I have really been working hard to learn how to use this application. This article...

James Paulson
May 121 min read
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Volcanic Activity in the Universe
We probably take for granted that we live on a planet with a warm interior that occasionally breaks through the hardened crust of...

James Paulson
May 82 min read
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Chicxulub
What do dinosaurs and astronomy have in common? Turns out a lot more than we once thought. Â Dinosaurs roamed the Earth for about 165...

James Paulson
Apr 163 min read
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My New Astronomy Space
I've been busy creating a space to store my telescope gear, books, etc. I call it my astronomy den. I wanted a space where I could escape...

James Paulson
Apr 71 min read
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Voyager Spacecraft Update
NASA’s Voyager space probes, launched in 1977, continue to perform year after year. Voyager 1 is now 15 billion miles from Earth and...

James Paulson
Mar 62 min read
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My Newest Telescope
Back in the 1980's, one of my friends bought a telescope right around the time of Halley's Comet. It was a Celestron Comet Catcher,...

James Paulson
Feb 121 min read
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NASA Space Probe Missions (1960-1980)
Today we look at NASA and its many space probe missions as a remarkable success, and for the most part, it really has been. Without...

James Paulson
Feb 43 min read
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Learning Pixinsight
I purchased Pixinsight back in September to learn and use fully with my astroimaging projects. Since picking this up, I have spent a fair...

James Paulson
Jan 281 min read
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Roche Limit and Planetary Rings
When I mention the planet Saturn, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Many of you will say rings and that would be correct. Â ...

James Paulson
Jan 202 min read
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The Importance of Calibration Frames
I recently came across a data set that a user had made available for anyone to download and process to see what could be achieved by...

James Paulson
Jan 133 min read
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I Bought a Seestar S50
I’ve taken a lot of ribbing from some of the guys in my astronomy club for buying a Seestar S50. I have absolutely no regrets about...

James Paulson
Dec 18, 20241 min read
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Is Hyperstar Worth the Money?
I can go through countless threads of messages online with people praising refractors of all flavors for their pinpoint images, color...

James Paulson
Dec 12, 20243 min read
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Climate on Planet Earth
How does climate relate to astronomy? You might be wondering what I am doing talking about things like this on my astronomy blog. Well...

James Paulson
Nov 14, 20231 min read
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Voyager 2 Gets An Update
Just imagine what it would be like to do updates on a computer with 68 KB of memory, with a processor speed of 250 KHz and a data...

James Paulson
Oct 26, 20231 min read
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Astrophotography Tips - Part 7 – The Cost of Imaging
No matter how you slice it, be prepared to spend some good money to build an imaging rig. There are a few basic areas that are the major...

James Paulson
Oct 19, 20231 min read
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October 14, 2023 Annular Solar Eclipse
This coming Saturday morning, October 14, 2023, for a brief time, the moon will pass in front of the sun. From a region along the path of...

James Paulson
Oct 11, 20232 min read
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Astrophotography Tips - Part 6 - Quality Optics
A very important part of getting quality results in your astrophotography involves using good quality optics. Today's cameras can capture...

James Paulson
Oct 10, 20231 min read
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Astrophotography Tips – Part 5 – Spend Wisely
Astrophotography quickly becomes an expensive game. The reason for this is the number of premium pieces that must be collected to build a...

James Paulson
Oct 5, 20232 min read
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