The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide — What’s New

Telescope Buying Guides Revised

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:13:03 -0700

For many readers, Chapter 3 of The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide is the heart of the book, with its advice on telescopes. In the What’s New section for Chapter 3, we update and expand the chapter by surveying some of the new telescopes and telescope trends that have caught our eye — more low-cost Dobsonians, low-cost Ritchey-Chrétiens astrographs, and the high-tech Meade ETX-LS LightSwitch™. We also list companies mentioned in the book that have gone out of business, and on the Chapter 3 Links page we’ve updated the listings accordingly.

In Chapter 3 of the website, also check our Best Beginner Telescopes page for our latest recommendations of low-cost entry-level scopes, ones under $1,000 (most under $500).

DSLR Cameras and Autoguiders

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:25:07 -0600

DSLR cameras are a moving target, and we have to keep updating our Chapter 13 advice on the best DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera to buy. We’ve now used a modified Canon 50D, a modified 5DMkII and a stock Canon 7D and can pass judgement on their performance and relative merits as astrocameras. In Chapter 13 we’ve updated recommendations and information on the latest autoguiders from Orion and SBIG. Over in Chapter 7, Naked Eye Astronomy, we’ve added movies of the July 21, 2009 total eclipse of the Sun, surely the most spectacular naked-eye experience.

Lots of Sky Motion Movies Added

Mon, 11 May 2009 18:04:59 -0600

We’ve added a lot more time-lapse movies illustrating sky motions to both Chapter 11: Finding Your Way Around the Sky and to Chapter 12: Observing Deep-Sky Objects. The latter collection shows the southern hemisphere sky and the magnificent southern Milky Way. The movies were all taken with DSLR cameras, using the techniques outlined on page 287 of Chapter 13. So they also serve as good examples of what you can do with a DSLR on a tripod, and a suitable intervalometer timer to trigger the shutter automatically. Check Chapter 7: The Naked-Eye Sky for more time-lapse movies of sky phenomena.

Update On Bino Observing Guides

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:18:53 -0600

In The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide we provide only select star charts in the form of the unique Milky Way Atlas. For detailed star charts we direct readers (in our book and here on the website) to any of the superb star atlases now available. Binocular users have some new books aimed specifically at them. In our What’s New section for Chapter 2, we provide our impressions of some of the newest binocular books on the market.

Update on Ethos Eyepieces

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:51:57 -0600

We provided an update on the 8mm Ethos last autumn but we’ve revised that again to include our impressions of the big 17mm Ethos as well. See What’s New for Chapter 4. Needless to say, the impression is favorable! These are fabulous eyepieces. They will set you back a pretty penny to say the least, but once you have used one you will not want to go back to anything less! Looking through anything else is like looking into a tunnel.

Cosmic Zooms and Comparisons

Sat, 6 Sep 2008 13:36:20 -0600

We’ve added a Cosmic Zoom page to Chapter 1 What’s New that shoots you through the universe at a warpspeed velocity guaranteed to burn up the dilithium crystals and freak out Scotty. We’ve reorganized the Chapter 13 What’s New, and added a new section, A-B Comparisons, that provides much higher-resolution versions of some of the comparison images that appear in Chapter 13, so you can better see the “before-and-after” or “with-and-without” effects we’re talking about. These include:
• CCD vs. DSLR
• RAW vs. JPG
• Short exposures at high ISO vs. long exposure at slow ISO
• Dark vs. No dark frame
• In-camera dark vs. Subtracting darks later
• Short stacked added exposures vs. Single long exposures
• Single exposures vs. Stacked averaged exposures In all, these are a useful set of comparisons that have guided the way we take our DSLR images. (Most of our astrophotos in the book were taken with DSLRs, so our advice is provided from first-hand experience, and is not received and repeated wisdom). We hope you enjoy these additions. — Alan Dyer