ASTRO-TECH 2018 5 AT60ED Here’s a mighty mite of a telescope that’s perfect for travel, whether half- Our eighth annual way around the world or out to the yard for a quick midweek look- around. Although it measures only 9.5 inches (24 centimeters) long with the dew shield retracted and weighs just 3.25 pounds (1.5 kg), the AT60ED is a lot of scope. Its 2.4-inch f/6 FPL-53 air-spaced doublet delivers excellent APM TELESCOPES resolution and sharpness with no spurious color. The dual- STAR speed 2" rack-and-pinion focuser moves smoothly with no back- 3 LMS 16×70 ED APO lash, making it perfect for on-the-go photography as well as visual Magnesium Series Binocular observing. The AT60ED includes a mounting ring to attach to any This binocular offers exceptional image quality and standard photographic tripod. contrast with no chromatic aberration, whether $369 • www.astronomics.com PRODUCTS you’re viewing distant galaxies, the Moon, or terres- trial scenery. That’s thanks to the optical heart and soul within it: fully multicoated twin objectives MAGAZINE with FK-61 extra-low-dispersion glass and BAK-4 Go behind the scenes with a Backstage Pass:backstage pass Chicago to the world of 6 astronomy happening in greater by Phil Harrington Porro prisms. Eyeglass wearers also will rejoice at a Chicagoland with this unique DVD. At Adler Planetarium, you’ll experience the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. You’ll comfortable 20 mm of eye relief, letting them take Thanks to Astronomy magazine’ssee highlights from Adler’sEditor collection of ancient David J. astronomical instruments and rare books like those 10MICRON signed by Johannes Kepler and William Herschel. in the full 4.1° field of view with glasses on. Topping Eicher and Senior Editor MichaelExplore the Field Museum E., with itsBakich, rare meteorites you can and minerals that illuminate how we view the early solar system. And tour one of the finest gem Field Museum collections anywhere. BACKSTAGE PASS nce again, GM1000 HPS German everything off, the manufacturer purged the mag- get your own private tour on DVD of four great Adler Planetarium • Field Museum • Fermilab • Yerkes Observatory Discover the incredible science happening at Fermilab, where miles of underground instruments 1 are being put to the test as neutrino detectors in nesium barrels of air and filled them with nitrogen institutions in and arounda raceChicago: to discover the properties Adlerof elementary Plan- equatorial mount particles and dark matter. And cherish the world’s largest refracting it’s time for telescope at Yerkes Observatory to prevent internal fogging. etarium, the Field Museum,rich history Fermilab, that includes numerous artifacts and of Yerkes , along with a George Hale, Edward E. Barnard, Subrahmanyan Fermilab Chandrasekhar, and many others. PASS BACKSTAGE The importance of a high-quality mount rises exponentially as Observatory. Astronomy BackstageGet inside the world of Chicago astronomyPass: like Chicago Astronomy’s $684 • www.apm-telescopes.de, you’ve never seen before! telescope aperture and weight grow. To address this, 10Micron www.farpointastro.com in the U.S. is a three-hour informal accountYOUR HOSTS of the editors’ David J. Eicher, Editor, Michael E. Bakich, O Astronomy from Caronno Pertusella, Italy, offers a series of German equa- visit to these wonderful facilities. You’llSenior Editor, see and Yerkes Observatory annual Star Products. Magazine Astronomy Magazine torial mounts for serious scopes. The smallest, the GM1000 hear people at each locationApproximate runningtalk time: 2 hours,about 54 minutes current © 2018 Kalmbach Media Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. $29.99 We’ve combed HPS, can handle a 55-pound (25 kilograms) scope. Inside, a programs, exhibits, and research, and you’llU.S. 15346 6 44651 60021 21 ATIK 1 pair of servo motors drives a worm gear smoothly, with zero With Astronomy magazine editors David J. Eicher and Michael E. Bakich manufacturers’ “walk through” some fascinating public — and P329 backlash. Users can control the mount either with the 4 16200 CCD camera not-so-public — areas. And stay tuned: This catalogs and surfed included hand controller, or by connecting it via Eth- DVD is just the first in the Backstage Pass series. ernet to a PC with the RS-232 serial port. The If you’re in the market for a top-end CCD camera $29.95 • www.myscienceshop.com the web to come up RS-232 port can also control a dome, making this to couple to your telescope, then the ATIK 16200 mount ideal for robotic observatories. may be just what you’re with a selection of $9,541 • www.10micron.eu/en looking for. Its 16.2-megapixel MAGAZINE 35 products (roughly KAF-16200 class II 7 Venus globe alphabetical) that are sensor can be used ALTAIR ASTRO with a wide range Venus is often called Earth’s sister planet. The sure to fuel your 2 Lightwave Hyperwide of telescopes. It is Magellan orbiter, which imaged 84 percent of 20mm Eyepiece just as adept at the planet’s surface, proved that our “sister” is astronomical passion. photographing more like a distant relative. Based on those This 20mm eyepiece from Altair Astro is shaped like a hand gre- wide-angle views of the images, Astronomy’s Venus globe pulls back nade and delivers images with a bang. With its 100° apparent field of night sky as it is at capturing the curtain of the second planet’s opaque Phil Harrington is an Astronomy view, the Lightwave doesn’t just show you the universe, it pulls you intricate detail in small, faint targets, thanks atmosphere to unveil a colorful (albeit false- contributing editor and author of into it. The nine-element optical system uses special low-dispersion in part to the sensor’s 6-micrometer pixel size. color) complex surface. More than 200 fea- Cosmic Challenge: The Ultimate glass, blackened lens edges, and fully multicoated internal surfaces The housing is sealed and argon-purged to keep tures — such as Beta Regio, Atanua Mons, Observing List for Amateurs for excellent image sharpness and contrast, along with 14.5 millimeters the innards dry, while a dual-stage cooling system Epistle Regio, Var Mons, and Maxwell Montes (Cambridge University Press, 2010). of eye relief. The Lightwave Hyperwide’s 2" barrel also features a rubber- lowers the sensor to 81 degrees Fahrenheit — are labeled, as are all 10 Venera landing sites. ized grip and folding eyecup. At nearly 2 pounds (875 grams), it’s no (45 degrees Celsius) below ambient temperature Measuring 12 inches (30.5 cm) in diameter, the lightweight, but if you have a heavy-duty focuser, you’ll find the perfor- to minimize electronic noise. injection-molded globe comes with a clear acrylic mance impressive. $3,570 • www.atik-cameras.com display base. $400 • www.altairastro.com $99.95 • www.myscienceshop.com 54 ASTRONOMY • NOVEMBER 2018 CELESTRON CELESTRON CORONADO 9 Elements 12 NexStar Evolution 13 SolarMax III 70mm Solar Telescope FireCel Mega 6 8 HD with StarSense Coronado’s SolarMax III Hydrogen-alpha refractor delivers unparalleled This is a must-have multitool for Celestron set a high standard when images of our star’s turbulent nature. Available in several models, the Solar every backyard stargazer. Using a it created its latest flagship Schmidt- Max III’s design places its H-alpha etalon filter in front of the objective. This rechargeable 6000 mAh lithium- Cassegrain telescope. The NexStar improves contrast and sharpness. Two variations of each model are avail- ion battery, the FireCel Mega 6 Evolution 8 uses Edge HD optics to able, either with a single filter and a 0.7-angstrom bandpass or a double- combines a hand warmer, a USB deliver sharp images free of coma and stacked filter offering a 0.5-angstrom bandpass. Each comes with a 2" power bank, and a four-mode red field curvature. The one-armed dual-speed rack-and-pinion focuser, a 90° diagonal with a built-in blocking and/or white LED flashlight. Cold computer-driven mount serves as a filter, an 18mm CEMAX eyepiece, a Sol Ranger Solar Finder, a Vixen-style fingers? The hand warmer can steady platform that is accurately dovetail mounting rail, and a black and gold aluminum carrying case. reach a toasty temperature of controlled by precision worm gears $2,299 and up • www.meade.com 114 F (45.6 C) for up to eight hours. The FireCel can on both axes. Wireless control ends power cameras, phones, and other USB-connectable the hassle of dangling cables, which devices, as well as light your way to and from your can be such a nuisance at night. telescope. The unit measures 2 inches by 1 inch by Finally, the StarSense employs a small IOPTRON BAADER 4.63 inches (51 by 24 by 118 mm) in size and weighs digital camera that takes a series of 14 SkyTracker Pro 8 17. 5mm just 6.2 ounces (177 g). wide-field sky images to align the Morpheus 76° $59.99 • www.celestron.com telescope. The result is an exception- Never one to rest on its past ally versatile instrument, both visu- successes, iOptron’s Eyepiece ally and photographically. latest nightscape $2,099 • www.celestron.com camera drive, the From Germany’s Baader KASAI TRADING SkyTracker Pro Planetarium comes this new WideFinder 28 camera-tracking entry in the wide-field eyepiece 10 platform, improves on market. The Morpheus offers a The WideFinder marries one side of Kasai’s previous versions that 76° apparent field for a pan- WideBino 28 to a red-dot reflex finder to boost what have been popular for years.