I am grateful that so many folks are getting into astronomy and I suspect that much of that is the result of those gorgeous pictures from the Hubble and even from some of the sensational astrophotography pics some amateur astronomers are getting these days. However, I also know that many beginners walk away from astronomy after one or two visits to the telescope. Basically, what they see in the eyepiece does not match up with all those pics on the internet and they are disappointed. In my opinion, this is missing the whole point of amateur astronomy. The idea in amateur astronomy is to see the wonders of the night sky, yourself, firsthand. It is not about seeing a pic or photo provided by someone else. It's the difference, I suspect, of seeing an actor on TV or in a movie and meeting and visiting with him in person. It's also a matter of understanding what all those things are that you see in a telescope eyepiece - they are so much more than little points or smudges of light. A little imagination and humility goes a long way, here. As with so many things, amateur astronomy is about the journey, not the destination. Enjoy the ride.

Rode my bike to work, yesterday, and endured the usual, "Are you crazy?" remarks from some of our new employees. Those who know me don't have to ask - they know I am crazy and that I ride my bike year round. Anyway, it was such a beautiful night, I put on an extra 10 miles on the way home, dark of the night and all. Decided to do the trail around the lake and was rewarded with the sight of thousands of ducks and geese which I could see on the calm surface of the lake in the weak moonlight. Truly a magnificent setting. Of course, I couldn't help but wish for a binocular or spotting scope, even though I knew it would not allow me to do much in the way of identification of all the species present. Or would it? If I'm crazy enough to ride in Chicago in the winter, I'm crazy enough to try birding at night with a binocular or spotting scope. Stay tuned.

"Tis the season to be looking through a telescope", as far as my job here at OpticsPlanet is concerned. We easily sell more telescopes this time of year than any other and most of these telescopes are for the beginner. That's something that I love to see - the more folks that get to enjoy astronomy, the better. I started when I was very young when my mother showed me some of the basic constellations, then got into astronomy in a big way in high school, starting with my first astronomy binocular and later, in college, with my first telescope. Neither of these was a high grade optic, but my love astronomy overcame the poor optics on the binocular and lack of features on the telescope. Thanks to improvement in technology, today's beginner has a much better chance of starting with good equipment. Need some help choosing a telescope? Start with my article, How to Choose a Telescope. I wrote it with the beginner in mind.

Had some customers saying they could not see Comet 17P/Holmes last week in their small telescopes or binoculars. I told them this is to be expected if you are observing from a light polluted urban sky with a full moon thrown in to boot. That kind of double whammy makes it tough to find any comet. Best to be patient and try again in a week or two when the moon is only quarter full or we have a new moon. In the meantime, though, you can still use that moon to good advantage. Lots to see on the moon with a small telescope and even binoculars.

Not sure which Christmas it was, but I do remember that I was very young when my father bought me a microscope for Christmas. It was anything but a quality instrument, but it sparked an interest in science that has grown and flourished with each passing day of my life. After all these years, my love of nature and scinece is now at the center of my spiritual beliefs. From those early beginnings with my beginners microscope, my intersts have exploded to include a passion for all things optical. The lesson to all parents is to plant a seed this holiday season. The gift of a microscope, telescope, binocular or spotting scope can ignite an interest that will last a lifetime. That is the greatest gift you can give a child next to love. Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for so many things, big and small. Where do I begin? In terms of my interests, there is one for which I am especially grateful and that is the way I have been able to maintain my passion for astronomy despite the overwhelmingly poor observing conditions I have to endure here in the Chicago area. It hasn't been easy and, in fact, I nearly put off doing any "serious" astronomy until the day when I moved back to my beloved open spaces out west. In the end, though, my love of astronomy won out. As a result, I have turned a negative into a positive. Light pollution has pushed me and my equipment to the limits. It has made me a better astronomer and also opened my eyes to other forms of astronomy, such as lunar astronomy and double stars, which I formerly bypassed as "minor" pursuits. To be sure, when I head out west with my astronomy binoculars and telescope, I will never take a dark sky for granted, again. That in itself, is worthy of thanks.

Beginner telescope season is upon us and, once again, we are doing our best to help our customers buy that beginner's telescope. One of the chronic headaches involving beginners telescopes is the issue of magnification. It is the single most overrated and over-hyped aspect of astronomy and I have no patience with manufacturers who prey upon this beginner's misconception to sell their products. For the record, the single biggest factors involving actual telescope performance are aperture (diameter of the lens or mirror) and optical quality. These two are FAR more important than magnification. Astronomy is not about magnification - for the most part, the things astronomers want to see are plenty big enough - it's about seeing faint objects and about resolving fine detail. These goals require aperture and optical quality - without them, magnification is useless. In fact, a lowly 7x magnification binocular is capable of seeing many nebulae, star clusters and even galaxies. To all you folks shopping for a first telescope, ignore any reference to magnification in a telescopes description or labeling on the box. Here's an article I wrote with the beginner in mind, How to choose the right telescope. I also believe that the best first telescope is sometimes a binocular, so you might also add my article, Astronomical Binoculars

Sunday was a story of close encounters with wildlife to both start and end my day. The first encounter of the wildlife kind happened as I was riding my bike in the early dawn light on Sunday. As I rounded a bend in the trail, a Cooper's Hawk blew past me so close that I instinctively ducked my head. Couldn't have been more than 10 feet away. I stopped immediately and was delighted to see the hawk land in a suburban backyard where it did pose for me long enough for a good look in my Nikon 5x15HG monocular. (Where would I be without this trusty monocular? I carry it when even a compact binocular is more than I want to carry). That was a great way to start the day.

The next close encounter of the wildlife kind was even better. I was biking home on the trail, in the dark and the rain (I know, not real smart) at the end of the day and was on a section of trail atop a levee. On one side was a lake and the other a canal and there's just enough room for the bike trail. As I biked along, enjoying the solitude of the light rain and darkness, I heard an animal running toward me at great speed on the wet pavement. At first I thought it was a dog - someone's pet had gotten loose. When it appeared in the beam of my bike light, though, I was amazed to see that it was a coyote. It never slowed down a bit and flew by me at full speed, apparently deciding to its chances with me, rather than taking to the water on either side of the trail. It was so close that we barely managed to avoid a collision. Now, that was a great way to end my day.

One of then most common questions I get from customers shopping for a beginner's telescope, is whether or not to get a telescope with a computer. Now keep in mind that I learned the night sky back when there were no computers and I also learned to navigate under dark, rural skies without any light pollution. The result? I know the night sky like most folks know their living rooms. I may forget the names of some cousins and relatives, but I know all the bright stars in the heaven by their names. So, me, with a computer on my telescope? Never!

How times change, though. Light pollution is a fact of life for most of us. As much as I hate to say it, learning to navigate to deep-sky objects the old fashioned way is simply not practical for a beginner that must deal with a lot of light pollution. In short, the faint stars often needed to "hop" to a deep-sky object are simply not visible. How much light pollution is too much? I usually recommend a GOTO computerized telescope when there is enough light pollution to render the Milky Way invisible. If you can't see that faint band of light that stretches across the sky we call the Milky Way, you may want to think about a computerized telescope.

On the other hand, if you are lucky enough to observe from a dark sky site, I highly encourage you to learn to navigate without a computer. For me, navigating with nothing more than a dark sky full of stars and a good star map is one of the things I like the most about astronomy.

In the early dawn light this morning, on my way out to the car, I took my usual last glance up at the sky before getting into the car. I was pleased to see that the three current morning planets - Venus, Saturn and Mars were still visible in the early morning glow, even though it was already too bright to see any stars. Of course, I would recognize them as planets, even without a binocular or telescope, simply by the difference in the way they glow in the sky compared to stars. Yes, for those of you just getting started in astronomy, planets do shine with more of a steady glow than the twinkle you typically see with stars. Next time you are up early enough to see both stars and these planets, see if you can spot the difference, then confirm what you see with a binocular or telescope. It's these little challenges that add to the fun in astronomy.

When Nikon dropped the old Sky&Earth spotting scope about one year ago, everyone was wondering what would replace it. The answer was the Nikon Prostaff spotting scope and, I have to say, the Prostaff did not disappoint. The Prostaff brought a couple of much needed improvements to the older Sky&Earth that I really liked - it was fully waterproof (and when Nkon says waterproof, they are serious about it) and it offered upgraded eyepieces with a new bayonet mount and a better selection of optional eyepieces (optional eyepieces are a feature not typically found in a spotting scope at this price). This makes the Prostaff a great choice in a mid-priced spotting scope for digiscoping. Optically, the Prostaff is still not in the Nikon Fieldscope class, but it is a solid performer on the test chart. I like smaller spotting scopes for field work, these days (I am getting older), so I am especially partial to the 65mm Prostaff. It's a dandy for carrying in the field. Definitely one of Joanie's best buys under $500 and an excellent value in a spotting scope.

Comet 17P?Holmes is starting to get a lot of publicity and draw the attention of a lot of would-be astronomers, especially since the holiday season is telescope buying season. So how good a telescope does one need to see the comet? The answer is that any telescope can see the comet. In fact, any binocular can see the comet. For those of you on a budget, you can get a nice view of the comet at 30x with the Bushnell 3" reflector telescope - the best buy in a telescope under $100. For a binocular, try the Celestron Outland LX 10x50.

I get a lot of beginners, totally new to astronomy, who want to jump right in and buy not only their first telescope, but also everything they need to start astrophotography. I hate to discourage that kind of enthusiasm, but trying to learn astrophotography before you have a solid foundation in astronomy and hands on experience with using a telescope is like trying to run before you know how to walk. I always recommend that a beginner learn the basics of astronomy and telescopes, first, before trying astrophotography. As a photographer in general and one who has done astrophotography for years, I can also tell you that astrophotography is an advanced form of photography and far more complex than taking pics of the family at a picnic. To become a good astrophotographer, you should also know the basics of photography. Lastly, not all cameras and not all telescopes are suitable for astrophotography. Before doing anything, you should read an article on the basics, such as my article, Astrophotography in a Nutshell.

The holiday shopping season has begun, here at OpticsPlanet, and we have many great deals on beginners telescopes, binoculars, night vision and spotting scopes and many other items. Some might be a bit large to stuff in a stocking, but all will make great gifts for young and old. As always, my advice is to shop early while availability is good, but I'm one to talk - I'm usually too busy this time of year to get any shopping done. Anyway, Happy Holidays to all.

Beginning astronomers sometimes request a telescope or binocular that will produce the "Wow!" effect when they see a planet or deep-sky object. Of course, they are talking about a visual "Wow!" effect. They want to see something (often unreasonably so) that approximates what they see in books or magazines.

For experienced astronomers, though, the "Wow!" effect often goes beyond the visual kind. Sure, everyone loves to drool over the Orion nebula or seeing the divisions in Saturn's rings - no astronomer ever tires of that - but at some point in the evolution of an amateur astronomer, it becomes a matter of challenging one's equipment and/or technique to see objects with little in the way of a visual "Wow!" effect. It becomes the hunt and the journey to see what, from a visual point of view, may be an unimpressive sight in the eyepiece. Just finding and spotting the object is what counts, now. Of course, the rules are what we make them. Right now, for instance, I am trying to see objects in my astronomy binocular from a heavily light polluted site. Make no mistake - I've seen all these clusters and nebulae hundreds of time, but always from a dark sky. The game is different, now, with all the light pollution. Am I up to the challenge? Hey, I'm having a blast.

Had a good weekend for raptors and, no, I was not out birding in any preserve or sanctuary. I saw a half dozen Red-tailed hawks, three Cooper's hawks and a real prize in a Merlin - all just while riding my bike in the suburbs. While most people associate these magnificent birds with wild areas, these hunters do quite well in suburban areas and even urban areas. All it takes is a food supply and roadsides and backyard bird feeders provide food aplenty. There is nothing quite like the sight of a large Cooper gliding/flapping its way from one backyard to the next or a Red-tailed soaring over a neighborhood park. That's why I always carry a monocular or binocular even on the most routine and mundane trips to the grocery store and so on. With birds, you just never know.

As much as I hate light pollution and as much as I long for dark skies, I must confess that light pollution has made me a better astronomer. Okay, sounds a little crazy. Let me explain. I had a wonderful, dark sky site for most of my life before I moved to the Chicago area. In the good old days when I was observing and learning all the basic locations of deep-sky objects, I had the luxury of being a little sloppy with my celestial navigation. All I had to do is move my binocular or telescope in the general direction of an object, more or less by feel, and out popped my target. Life as an astronomer was good. Not anymore. Thanks to light pollution, I now have to really study a good star map and plot locations of deep-sky objects, carefully, then work hard to pick them up in my astronomy binocular or telescope. Now, just wait till I get back to my dark skies!