Polar Alignment

By Don Selle

After a brief hiatus (life seems to intrude on my astronomy) this installment of Astrophotography Corner concerns one of the two important mechanical requirements for getting good image data, polar alignment. Next to autoguiding (which we cover in the next installment), getting your mount well polar aligned is essential.

So what exactly is polar alignment? Simply put, it is the process whereby one of the two axes of your mount is aligned as closely as possible to be parallel with the Earth’s axis of rotation. The term polar alignment comes from the fact that this axis, by definition, runs through the Earth’s north and south poles. The axis of rotation also points at the locations in the sky that (also by definition) are known as the North and South Celestial poles (NCP &  SCP).

The Garnet Star

by Bill Pellerin

Why this object is interesting.
This bright (but variable) orange or reddish star is easy to
spot and is high in the sky at this time of the year. It transits
at 9:13 p.m. on October 20. The star sits on the edge of
IC1396...

October is here, and that means the weather should start to be a little cooler (maybe), night time comes a little earlier, and more importantly, fall star party season is upon us!  As I write this message, the UBarU star party was held just a few weeks ago, the Okie-Tex Star Party is happening this upcoming week, and in a month, the Eldorado Star Party will be in full swing.  For many of us, it’s a great time to get away under dark skies with many other kindred spirits to observe, take astrophotographs, enjoy great speakers, and otherwise enjoy the time away from the hustle-and-bustle of the big city.

For many people, the lead-up to their first “real” star party can be a bit of a nervous time. “What if my gear malfunctions?”  “What if I forgot a critical piece of equipment and now, I’m hundreds of miles from home?”  Or, perhaps the most intimidating thought of all, “what if I’m the one person who happens to ruin everything by committing the dreaded light violation?”

Star parties can be a bit overwhelming the first time you visit one.  The first time I visited the Texas Star Party, there were hundreds of other astronomers there, all seemingly more knowledgeable about astronomy than I was, and all with much better telescopes than what I lugged out to Fort Davis (this is certainly an exaggeration, but that’s how I felt the first time).  The terrain is dusty, the air is dry, and if the animals around there don’t kill you, the plants certainly seem like they will.

Weird Ways to Observe the Moon

David Prosper

You can observe the Moon whenever it's up, day or night! While binoculars and telescopes certainly reveal incredible details of our neighbor’s surface, bringing out dark seas, bright craters, and numerous odd fissures and cracks, these tools are not the only way to observe details about our Moon. There are more ways to observe the Moon than you might expect, just using common household materials.