The Lake County Astronomical Society

Lake County, Illinois

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Upgrades to the 4m Blanco and Mayall telescopes for DES and DESI

Volo Bog

Feb 21, 2025

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

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Beginners's Column

Beginning Astronomy

Getting a Start in Astronomy The "Best" Starter Instrument Buying Your First Telescope The Care and Feeding of a Telescope Your Eyepiece Collection Educational Opportunity Help... I'm New Here!Exposé of a Telescope Ad A Newbie's Telescope Quality Check The Novice's Guide to Star Party Equipment A Short History of the Telescope Do All Objects in Space Rotate?Telescope Thoughts

Telescopes

A 4-inch Refractor and Mount Achromats and Apochromats Aligning My SCT Baffling Reflections Balancing a Dobsonian Build or Buy a Telescope?Building a Telescope?Bigger Is Not Always Better Build Your Own Equatorial Mount?Caressing Your Mirror A Case Study on Cheap Telescopes Cleaning Telescope Optics: The Pros' View...Comparing Refractors The Coronado PST Center-Spotting a Secondary Cleaning Lenses and Mirrors Cleaning Eyepieces Collimating a Newtonian with an Offset Secondary Mirror Counterbalancing a Telescope (Fairly) Painless Polar Aligning Finessing the "VolksDob"Fixing a Pesky CG5 Mount Focuser Upgrades Good Looking Scopes Good Old Wood Go-To?How Large a Telescope?Laser Collimators Looking down the Focuser Mystery Looking Over the Edge Marketing Hype Meade Lightbridge Review The Monetary Side of a Telescope Mountings: Equatorial vs. Altazimuth The Most from your Scope My Ideal Telescope Newtonian Secondary Offset?Not All Telescopes are Created Equal Orion XT12 IntelliScope Review The Perfect Telescope Porter Turret Telescopes Push Your Scope to the Max!Pyrex or not Pyrex The Refractor: Now That's a Real Telescope!Really Portable Telescopes The Russians Are Coming!Schmidt-Cassegrain and Maksutov-Cassegrain The Seduction of Aperture Seeking an "Ideal" Telescope Some Orion-Brand Eyepieces ... and Others Small Scope Saga Stretching your Telescope TeleVue 102 Refractor Telescope Review Telescope Economics Upgrading a PST Why own so Many Telescopes?XT8 Equipment Review LX90 Equipment Review Your Basic "Copyscope"

Eyepieces

Barlow vs Eyepiece The Best Nebula Eyepieces Best Planetary Eyepieces Binocular Viewers Checking Out Lens Coatings Choosing Eyepieces: Part 1 Choosing Eyepieces: Part 2 Cold Eyepiece Fogging?Diagonally Speaking Ditching the Star Diagonal Do Zoom Eyepieces Really Work?An Electronic Eyepiece Eyepiece Actual Fields of View Eyepieces in the Cold The Good Old Plossl Eyepiece Improving Barlow Lens Performance Low-tech Focusing Mount The Magnification Game Filters and Focus Shift More stuff About Eyepieces Multiply Your Eyepieces with a Barlow Lens New Versions of Old Eyepieces Pushcart Operation The "Reverse" Crayford Focuser What's Inside an Eyepiece?Wide Field Eyepieces

Accessories

Astrochair Review Baader Violet Multi-Band Filter A Balanced GEM A Barndoor Tracker Bracket Time Buying Astronomy Stuff Colors through a Nebula Filter A Convenient Mirror Mount Howie Glatter Laser Collimator In Praise of Dew Zappers Product Review: Kendrick Observing Tent Nebula Filter Suggestions "Scotty, I need more power!"Setting Circles - Curious Things Setting Circles? Q & A Star Atlas Reviews StarBound Observing Chair The (Y2K Compliant) Sundial Take Me Out to the Tripod Game A Temporary Scope Shelter Tools for Collimation The Value of a Chamfer

Navigating the Sky

DSO Locating Devices Finding Some Old Friends FOV Star-Hopping So How Do You Find Things Without Computer Assistance?What's All This Stuff About Coordinates?Will Star-Hopping Become a Lost Art?

General

About Aperture Fever Antares Twist-Lock Adapter The Aperture Ailment Aperture Lust In the Astronomy Department Apodizing Masks?Atlas of Deep Sky Splendors Back to Basics: Astronomy Unplugged Book Review: The Caldwell Objects Breaking the Lens Coating Code Cheap Astronomy - The Case Against Kits Choosing an LCD Monitor Cruddy Things on Optics Decisions, Decisions Definition and Light Grasp: Can You Afford Both?An End to Cold Fingers?Getting a Better View: Quality of Today's Newtonian OpticsGreen Light or Red?How Optical Coatings Work Book Review: Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders A Short History of Lens Coatings In Search of Perfect Happiness Oldest Optical Device?Optics in Cold Weather More on Optics in Cold Weather Much Ado About Dew Quality is Important, but…What About Price/Performance?Scratches and Pinholes Oh My!TeleVue Quality Temperature Changes and Optics Time to Re-coat your Mirror?The Universe from your Backyard Unusual Astronomy Equipment A Visit to Coronado Instruments

Binoculars

Binoculars Abound!Garrett Optical - 100mm F5.3 45° Binocular Telescope Misaligned Binoculars Shopping for Binoculars

Observing Column

Observing

Achieving the Unexpected Albedo Effects The Alpha Persei Association An Anonymous Dark Nebula Another Take on Night Vision An Unfamiliar Lyra Anything but Galaxies Appreciating the Little Things Are Today's Skies That Much Worse than they used to Be?Atmospherics: Seeing and Transparency A Trip to the North Pole The Asterism Game Autumn: The Second Galaxy Season Avoiding the Obvious in Auriga Baade's Window Batting 1000 Better Night Vision Cassiopeia Clusters Centaurus A Chasing Numbers Cloudy Night Astronomy The Cocoon Nebula Colorful DSOs The Coolest Stars Cosmographic Observing Crossing the Meridian Crystalline Winter Nights Dark Matters Dealing with Light Pollution (pdf)Deep Seeing The Deep Sky Through a Small Instrument Describing a Galaxy Directions? Don't need 'em Epsilon Lyrae: The Double-Double Test Evaluating an Observing Site Experiences with High Power Viewing Experiments in Spectroscopy The Eye Of God Eyeballing Big Game Nebulas Fair Air for Observing A Favorite DSO A Few Mistakes I've Made Gathering up a Few Open Clusters The Globulars of Summer The Good Ol' Double Cluster Hey, Don't Stick With Just the "Usual" Stuff!On the Horns of Taurus Impressions of a Night Sky Unaffected by Light Pollution An Introduction to Nebulae Light Site Viewing - Part 1 Light Site Viewing - Part 2 Light Site Viewing - Part 3 Limits are Meant to be Broken Lists, Lists, Lists Looking Up, Down Under Observing Galaxy Clusters The "Other" Horizon M4 - An Early Summer Globular M24 - "Neighboring" Arm Visual Primer on M31 M33 - Big and Faint M41 Make the Best of Winter More Shapely Star Clusters Observing Addiction Observing the Planets Observing the Southern Sky Perseid Viewing The Pleiades Rising Rambling on about our Expanding Universe The Raspberry Nebula Record What You See Ringtail Galaxies: NGC 4038/9 Rock Collecting Shapely Star Clusters Shooting Out Your Back Door Showpieces of the Sky Side-by-Side Galaxies SLOOH So What Can That Telescope See?Sorting Out Stephan's Quintet Splitting Porrima A Stand-in for Albireo A Starry Calendar Telescopeless Observing The Triffid Nebula Thermals or Atmospherics?Tools of the Trade "True Dark" Skies Two Great Globulars Two More Observing Issues UV Aurigae What's that Dark Strip on the Eastern Horizon after Sunset?Why Are Emission Nebulae (Mostly) Colored Red?

The Sun

Can Sunspots Predict Solar Flares?You Can Observe the Sun!The Eleven Year Sunspot Cycle Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun The Maunder Minimum More on Solar Observing Things Flung From The Sun Questions on Solar Observing The Sun-Aurora Connection

The Moon

The Cat in the Moon Directions on the Moon Full Moon Sights A Lunar Atlas on Your PC The Moon Illusion A Different View Alpine Valley Aristarchus & Vallis Schroteri Chains of Craterlets Clavius Copernicus Crater Hopping Crater Gassendi A Curious Lunar Spot The Eastern Shore of Serenity First Quarter The Five-Day-Old Moon: Burg, Hercules and Atlas The Five-Day-Old Moon: Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina Full Moon = No Shadows Getting to Know the Moon Lunar Atlases Lunar Challenge: Catena Davy Lunar Challenge: The Davy Crater Chain Mare Imbrium Oh No ... A Full Moon!Pitatus Plato Plato Revisited The Rheita Valley Area Rays Rills and Walls Sagging Craters?Tour Guides Wanted Tycho Tycho and LTP's

The Planets

Current Theory on the Formation of the Solar System - Part 1 Current Theory on the Formation of the Solar System - Part 2 Current Theory on the Formation of the Solar System - Part 3 Current Theory on the Formation of the Solar System - Part 4 The Future of the Earth Get Ready For Mars!The Green Flash of Venus!Jupiter and its Moons Moons…Moons Everywhere!Nomenclature of Jovian Features Planetary Systems Without Stars?Is Pluto An Escaped Satellite of Neptune?Pluto not a major planet? Oh say it isn't so!The Red (Hot?) Planet The Satellites of Jupiter Saturn's Rings - GONE!Seasons Shadow Transits on Saturn The Shallow Sky: The Domain of the Amateur The Thing Called "Chiron"Tips on Observing Jupiter Touring Saturn's Rings Why Don't Planets Twinkle?

Observing Trips

12th Annual Nebraska Star Party The 16th Annual Twin Lake Star Party Cabo-Style Observing!Eastern Iowa Star Party Kitt Peak Astronomy Trip Lick Observatory NEAF-NEAIC 2006 NEBRASKA STAR PARTY 2006 New Mexico Observing Trip March 28 through April 9, 2008 Night in the Tropics Northwoods Starfest Observations at Gran Quivira Observatory Visit - Leif Everson Observatory Observing in the Southwest Observing Sites in the Southwest Rocky Mountain Star Stare 2008 Texas Star Party Review Tough Roads Trip Report: Powder Mill What I Did on My Summer Vacation Yosemite

Everything Else

Software

Armchair Observing on the Web Astronomy Freeware Cheap Astronomy: Better than "cheap"Free Lunar Atlas Software Holding the Sky in your Hand Home Planet - A Software Review Laptop Power Efficiency More "Sky in your Hand"Pempro V2 - PEC Software and More Sky Tools 3 Your Own Deep Sky Database

Astrophotography

Astrophotography 101: Photographing the Moon Are You Ready for CCD Astrophotography?Building a Flat Field Light Box Camera/Telescope Combinations Capturing Details Digitally Color Issues in Digicam Astrophotography Digital Camera Imaging Digital Camera Imaging - Part 2 Flats and CCD Imaging Hartman Mask Introduction to Robotic Astronomy - Part I Introduction to Robotic Astronomy - Part II Lunar Imaging Basics - Part I Lunar Imaging Basics - Part II Lunar Imaging: Beyond Basics Part I Lunar Imaging: Beyond Basics Part II Mastering the Dark (Frames)Less is More: Narrowband Imaging Oh say, can you CCD?Pictures on a Budget Pixel Wars: Size Does Matter Shooting The Sky

Biographies

Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Sir Hermann Bondi John Brashear Eleanor Margaret Peachey Burbidge Heber Curtis Audouin Dollfus Giovanni Donati Frank Drake Henry Draper John Louis Emil Dreyer Frank Dyson Johann Franz Encke Georgi Antonovich Gamow Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin Karl Friedrich Gauss David Gill George Ellery Hale Robert Hanbury-Brown Johannes Franz Hartmann Stephen Hawking Chushiro Hayashi George Howard Herbig Johannes Hevelius Anthony Hewish Milton Humason Karl Jansky Thomas Jefferson Alfred Harrison Joy James E. Keeler Charles Kowal Gerard Kuiper Paul Ledoux and Albert König Georges Edouard Lemaitre Bernard Lyot Adriaan Van Maanen Nevil Maskelyne Christian Mayer Johan Mayer Charles Messier Gerald Neugebauer Ernst Öpik Theodore von Oppolzer Roger Penrose Edward C. Pickering Grote Reber Ole Christensen Romer Bruno Rossi Henry Norris Russell Lewis Morris Rutherford Christoph Scheiner Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli Martin Schwarzschild Angelo Secchi Carl Seyfert Vesto Slipher F. G. Smith James South Joel Stebbins James A. Van Allen F. G. W. von Struve Otto Wilhelm (Otto Vasilievich) von Struve Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel Gérard Henri De Vaucouleurs Hermann Carl Vogel Boris Aleksandrovich Vorontsov-Vel'iaminov Charles Augustus Young Yukov Zel'dovitch

Facebook

So you are thinking of buying a Telescope...Get To Know Connie Moon Globe Meet "Dobbie"

Humor

An Illustrated View of Star-Hopping versus Electronics Bud and Lou Talk Telescopes Chickens?Laws of Infernal Dynamics Clearly, not "Fair" Weather!Defining Terms Used in Marketing New High-Tech Telescopes HAL Resurrected The International Number Registry Know Your Audience The Message The New LCAS Skymap The New Unabridged LCAS Observer's Dictionary The Odd Behavior of Astronomy Junkies Perplexing Questions The "True" Nature of Light The Y Zero K Problem You Might NOT Be An Astronomer If You Think That...Your Starship Captain Might be a Redneck if...

Miscellaneous

Amateur Astronomy's Future And You Think You Have it Rough!Archaeoastronomy in Illinois - Woodhenge Are All Orbits Elliptical?Astronomy, Astrology, and the Star of Bethlehem Astronomy Is Where You Find It The Atmosphere Rules!The Backyard Legion Billions and Billions Church Buildings as Sundials Communicating With Martians Comparing Light Pollution Digital Sky Deep Sky Object Designations Did Newton Invent the Newtonian?DOING THE MATH Are You Afflicted with DRL's?Early History of the Telescope Part I: In the Beginning…Early History of the Telescope Part II: Enter the Reflector Early History of the Telescope Part III: Refractor vs Reflector Easter Cookies and Calendars Guidelines For Star Naming The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram A History of "Once in a Blue Moon"Hubble Compared with New Ground-Based Optical Telescopes Internet e-groups Lagrangian Points Leap Second to be Added This Year Mass Extinctions and the Yarkovsky Effect The Mayan Calendar Messier's Hit List Micrometeorites Mirror Reversal?Misconceptions MMT…Before and After Modest Equipment Dedication New Horizons Our Galaxy's Black Heart Of Gods and Men On the Mature Observer Our Universe & Beyond: Truth Stranger than Fiction?The Pioneer Spacecraft Professional "Observers"Roman War Horses and the Space Shuttle Satellites of Minor Planets Science and Non-science on the Internet "Serious" Astronomy SETI: Checking the Waterhole Space!Strange Stars TAKING TIME TO THINK ABOUT TIME A Tale of Two Musicians A Tale of Two Telescopes The Tears of St. Lawrence: The Perseids Telescope History - The Cave Optical Company Touring New Mexico's Astronomy-Related Sites Unidentified Random Thoughts Update on Astigmatism of the Eye Water World What is Light?What Color is your Shadow?Whither the Weather?Women and Astronomy The Winter Star Party: So Much More Than Stars Yerkes Log: Barnard and the Bruce Camera Yerkes Log: Burnham and Double Stars Yerkes Log: Measuring Stellar Distances You're Never Too Old Your Eyes: Key to Observing

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Updated: Mar 1st 2019 5:12pm
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