Take a "Sat-seeing" Tour
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the International Space Station! Learn how to spot Earth's artificial satellites.
Some Useful Astronomy Terms for Beginners
Take a few minutes to learn the most important astronomy terms.
What Are Celestial Coordinates?
"Right ascension" and "declination" tell you where your telescope is pointed in the sky. But what do they really mean?
Time In the Sky and the Amateur Astronomer
While civil time is based on official edit, the celestial clockwork follows its own rhythms.
Observing from the City
With the stars increasing being lost amid the light pollution of our urban areas, is there no hope for an astronomer in the city? Fortunately, there's still a lot of observing that can be done.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
My Place in the Dark
Twenty weekends and countless trips to the building-supplies store later, I'd done it — I had an observatory to call my own.
An Observatory with Sails
After working at Sky & Telescope for nearly a decade I got the chance to build the observatory I'd always wanted.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
My "Flapping Roof" Observatory
By day my observatory looks like an ordinary (if rather grandiose) garden shed. At night the roof sections go down and back up. They "flap" like a bird's wings.
A Scale of Seeing
Amateurs long have recorded the seeing quality in their observing logbooks on a rather subjective scale of 1 to 10, with 1 hopeless and 10 perfect.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
Accurate Polar Alignment with Your Telescope
Long-exposure astrophotography requires an accurately aligned equatorial mount.
Choosing Your Astronomy Equipment
A Pupil Primer: How Big Should a Telescope's Exit Pupil Be?
Image brightness, magnification, and why the old ideal of a 7-millimeter exit pupil is not so ideal at all.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
8 Backyard Observatory Mistakes to Avoid
Here are a few potential problems that you might not see on your blueprints.
Binoculars: Guides and Recommendations
Binocular Basics: Glossary of Binocular Terms
Exit pupils. Eye relief. Image stabilization. What matters most for astronomers? Our expert explains it all.
DIY: Astronomy Projects & Guidance
Collimation Tools
Three tools are commonly used to collimate Newtonian reflectors.