equipment – Astronomy Now

Buyers’ guide: The best equatorial mounts

6 November 2023 Astronomy Now

Before looking at a sample of equatorial (EQ) mounts on the market, we should answer three questions: what are they, why are they important and what makes some of them so astonishingly expensive?

Unistellar return with a sequel to the original eVscope

30 October 2023 Ade Ashford

Headquartered in the sun-drenched Mediterranean coastal city of Marseille in southern France, Unistellar manufactures technologically advanced telescopes that eschew conventional optical designs in favour of a hybrid opto-electronic approach.

Antlia ALP-T 5nm dual-band filter

27 October 2023 Astronomy Now

Nik Szymanek tests a new dual-passband filter from Antlia that allows imagers to simultaneously capture narrowband data in hydrogen-alpha and oxygen-III light.

Sky-Watcher Virtuoso GTi SkyMax 127

29 July 2022 Steve Ringwood

Steve Ringwood reviews a tabletop beauty with a healthy aperture that is also just as home on a tripod, and has Go-To to boot.

The ScopeTech Mount Zero, highly portable single-arm fork mount

29 June 2022 Steve Ringwood

Steve Ringwood trials ScopeTech’s new Mount Zero, which is a highly portable single-arm fork mount that is both compact and simple to use.
refractor

SharpStar 76EDPH refractor and F/4.5 (0.8×) full-frame reducer

21 June 2022 Ade Ashford

Ade Ashford reminisces while evaluating a versatile 76mm, f/5.5 photovisual refractor and reducer-flattener.

StellaLyra 153mm, f/12 M-CRF classical Cassegrain telescope

17 June 2022 Ade Ashford

Ade Ashford explores this modern implementation of a revered telescope design.

Explore Scientific two-room pop-up observatory tent

10 June 2022 Ade Ashford

Ade Ashford goes camping to test a compact and easy-to-set-up telescope shelter designed for trips to dark, rural skies.

Baader Planetarium flip mirror II Star Diagonal

3 June 2022 Steve Ringwood

This latest flip-mirror star diagonal from Baader Planetarium offers high-quality views for imagers who want to use a guiding eyepiece, as well as a revolutionary third port for off-axis autoguiding, writes Steve Ringwood.

Rainbow Astro RST-135 mount

27 May 2022 Astronomy Now

Richard Deighton reviews a compact, high-performance, multi-purpose mount that comes in all the colours of the rainbow.