News

Vixen fills a niche nicely

03/27/2007 07:00AM

Vixen fills a niche nicely

This week's review contest winner reveals the Vixen ED 115s.

Solar Storm Warning

03/23/2007 07:00AM

Solar Storm Warning

March 10, 2006: It's official: Solar minimum has arrived. Sunspots have all but vanished. Solar flares are nonexistent. The sun is utterly quiet. - Like the quiet before a storm.

AMAZING Solar Video from Japan's Hinode Spacecraft

03/22/2007 07:00AM

AMAZING Solar Video from Japan's Hinode Spacecraft

March 21, 2007: It's enough to make you leap out of your seat: A magnetic vortex almost as big as Earth races across your computer screen, twisting, turning, finally erupting in a powerful solar flare. Japan's Hinode spacecraft recorded just such a blast on Jan. 12, 2007.

A bad component, in a potentially useful system...

03/20/2007 07:00AM

A bad component, in a potentially useful system...

This week's review contest winner takes a critical look at a new product for cleaning your DSLR

Is the Discmount DM-6 an Über-altaz?

03/15/2007 07:00AM

Is the Discmount DM-6 an Über-altaz?

This week's review contest winner looks left and right and up and down at an observing mount...

NJIT's Big Bear Observatory to Unlock Sun's Secrets

03/14/2007 01:00AM

NJIT's Big Bear Observatory to Unlock Sun's Secrets

By the end of summer, a new solar telescope is expected to be installed at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Astrophysicists are expecting the new equipment to give us the kind of close look at the sun that has not been possible before.

TV Broadcast Alert

03/12/2007 07:00AM

TV Broadcast Alert

Astro-Physics, Inc will be featured on "John Ratzenberger’s Made in America" Tuesday, March 13th on the Travel Channel

New Mexico to Restore Status of Pluto as a Planet

03/11/2007 02:14AM

New Mexico to Restore Status of Pluto as a Planet

For many years, Pluto was thought of as the farthest known planet from the Sun. It has a very unusual orbit. Since the year 2000, astronomers realized that Pluto was not like the other eight planets but very much like a new group of objects found in the outer solar system. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) re-classified Pluto to be a dwarf planet. Now New Mexico is restoring Pluto's status as a planet.

Has Tak taken the 102 to the next level?

03/08/2007 08:00AM

Has Tak taken the 102 to the next level?

This week's review contest winner takes a peek at the new Takahashi TSA-102S...

Light picks up the pace...

03/06/2007 08:00AM

Light picks up the pace...

Scientists have finally exceeded the speed of light, causing a light pulse to travel hundreds of times faster than normal.

Cassini Views Saturn from a Never-Before-Seen Perspective

03/03/2007 01:42AM

Cassini Views Saturn from a Never-Before-Seen Perspective

The Cassini spacecraft has captured never-before-seen views of Saturn from perspectives high above and below the planet's rings.

New Horizons Slingshots Past Jupiter on its Way to Pluto

02/28/2007 01:55AM

New Horizons Slingshots Past Jupiter on its Way to Pluto

In a couple of hours from the time of this posting, NASA's New Horizons will make its closest pass to Jupiter (at 05:45 Universal Time on Feb. 28, 2007), just thirteen months after it was dispatched on the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Already the fastest spacecraft ever launched, New Horizons will pick up even more speed as it slingshots past Jupiter on its trip to Pluto and eventually out of the Solar System.

Astronomers Mark 20 Years of Studying SuperNova 1987A

02/24/2007 03:13AM

Astronomers Mark 20 Years of Studying SuperNova 1987A

Twenty years ago, astronomers witnessed one of the brightest stellar explosions in more than 400 years. The titanic SuperNova, called SN 1987A, blazed with the power of 100 million Suns for several months following its discovery on Feb. 23, 1987.

Aren't all bino mounts made alike?

02/22/2007 08:00AM

Aren't all bino mounts made alike?

This week's winning review takes a peek at a sturdy new pivot for your binoculars...

NGC 2440 -- This is the End... Beautiful Friend

02/19/2007 08:52PM

NGC 2440 -- This is the End... Beautiful Friend

A brand new image taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 shows the planetary nebula NGC 2440 and the chaotic, but colorful structure of the demise of a star.