Jedolby

Recently, I watched yet another YouTube amateur astronomer introduce his series of astrophotography "how-to" videos. There is a plethora of such videos on YouTube. They're all well done. I can't complain about the quality of their information or the quality of their productions, but one thing I always gripe about (if only to myself) is their dismissal of visual (regarded as old-fashioned) astronomy.  Astrophotography has gained quite a following since the invention of the digital camera, the auto-guider, and the Go-To telescope. I might also include, since the invention of the "smart telescopes," like the Unistellar, SeeStar, Dwarf, and Celestron's Origin. All of these inventions can be compared to AI tech. They have removed much of the work and, sadly, the human talent and understanding from traditional astrophotography.  The computer is the lowest common denominator to astrophotography in the "smart era." Computer algorithms have invaded all ...

  H27-4, "The Ghost of Jupiter" In the final decades of the 1700's, the German-British astronomer William Herschel and his sister Caroline conducted a survey of the heavens. Together they discovered and produced a list of 2500 star clusters and nebulae that they published in three separate catalogs. Night after night, using a telescope of 18.7 inches in aperture and 20 feet in length, William, making his discoveries at the telescope eyepiece in the garden, called out the positions and descriptions of his celestial objects to his sister through an open window of their house, and she wrote down all the details by candlelight. It was a colossal effort that took them 19 years to complete, and meanwhile, William continued to build telescopes and conduct other scientific experiments in the daylight hours.  You can read all about the Herschels on Wikipedia, so I needn't repeat any more of their story here. However, in modern times, their 2500-object survey still manages to a...