What is Amateur Astronomy Magazine About?

We are a printed forum of the activities relating to Amateur Astronomers around the world. Our magazine is written by amateur astronomers, for amateur astronomers.

Over the course of the past 18 years, we have covered telescopes, large and small, amateur telescope making (ATM), mirror grinding, collimating tips, observing techniques, astronomical equipment reviews, home observatories, professional observatories, observing lists, profiles of amateur astronomers, star parties, dark sites, imaging tips and techniques, observing logs, astronomical travel logs, astronomy businesses and their owners, DIY astronomical projects, cosmology, science and astronomy outreach. In short,we are about all the things and people that make this hobby special. Issue #74 was mailed March 27- allow 2-3 weeks for delivery

In The Current Issue # 74 (Spring 2012)

Deep Sky Observing: Ghost Galaxies : John Davis takes us on a tour of Spring "Ghost Galaxies" in this installment of Deep Sky Treasures. William Gates continues his hunt for ellusive targets in "The Most Beautiful Nebulae You have Probably Never Seen. Howard Banich also drills deep with his observations and sketching report on Stephan's Quintet.

Tune up your image processing skills. Warren Keller walks through layering images with a high dynamic range. He uses some traditional layering techniques as well as some new HDR processing technicques. Check out the Gallery - Bill Wililiams catches Barry Riu building his new wooden dome. We also highlight some of the fruits of Barry's labor with some images of Abell 85, Messier 14 & SNR 82.2

"Tom Clark Visits Sunriver Observatory. Read about this remarkable facility, then plan to visit on your next trip through Oregon. Mike Smith brings us "Shorts from Down Under". He also shines the spotlight on Al Nagler, an amateur astronomer who changed the way we all look at the sky. Robert Reeves also highlights another amateur, who later turned professional astronomer in Star People with Wei Hao Wang's story.

Rod Molise reviews 5 of the most popular observation planning software packages. Read his review to determine which one would be the best fit for you. Wim Filmalter details his approach to building compact scopes.

We have much more in this issue, including our latest Star Events calendar, articles on Alpha Centauri, Solar observing, Comet Lovejoy, The Whirlpool galaxy, Eta Carina, Gamma Velorum, Fun with the Moon and "shorts"