I’ve never been a fan of Home Depot. My typical experience involves trying to locate an employee for assistance, only to find an apathetic teenager who doesn’t know a coupling from a chicken coop. I do my best to avoid Big Orange in favor for my local mom-and-pop hardware store. Despite my disdain for Home Depot, I have to tip my hat to Big Orange. The chain recently agreed to provide a new roof for the Custer Institute in Southold, New York. The...

Scott Roberts with the apochromatic refractor telescope presented to National Young Astronomer Award winner John Hodge. Explore Scientific, LLC Most amateur astronomers are familiar with Scott Roberts. During his days with Meade Instruments , he was a common visitor to dozens of annual star parties and would often talk with observers on the phone to answer questions regarding telescopes and accessories. Roberts left Meade earlier this year, but promised...

Bob Schneider, the administrator of the Astronomical League Webmaster Award, announced the winners of the group’s annual contest. First place goes to Del Gordon of the Huachuca Astronomy Club . Besides providing information about the club and its events, he uses the site to promote the people in the club. “I believe that the people are what make the club,” Gordon told Astronomy . In the future, he wants to improve the site’s interactivity and encourage...

Several astronomy clubs send us their newsletters covering group activities and upcoming sky events. I recently received “Desert Skies” from the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association . While perusing it, I came across the story concerning rattlesnake alerts for observers. Holy cow! Now that is an observing site danger. Here in Wisconsin, I think the only wildlife danger at an observing site would be blood loss from mosquito attacks. I suppose it is...

On June 25, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) discovered its 1,500th comet. This tally tops all other comet discoverers throughout history combined. From ESA: When it comes to comet catching, the SOHO has one big advantage over everybody else: its location. Situated between the Sun and Earth, it has a privileged view of a region of space that can rarely be seen from Earth. From the surface, we can see regions close to the Sun clearly only...

The EISCAT European space station in the Arctic Circle will pepper an unfortunate solar system in Ursa Major with a Doritos ad. EISCAT How little do we think of potential extraterrestrial life? Not much, it seems. The University of Leicester helped Doritos — yes, THAT Doritos — send a message to a solar system 42 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. What was the communication? A peaceful salutation? A threat? Nope, it’s a Doritos ad....

Gus Grissom snuck dimes aboard the Liberty 7 capsule. Alan Shepard trumped that by taking a modified 6 iron and a golf ball on Apollo 14. Today, NASA permits astronauts to take a few items along on shuttle flights, as long as they aren’t potato chips . STS-124 Pilot Ken Ham appeared on “ Mike and Mike in the Morning ,” a sports talk show syndicated by ESPN radio. He talked about the upcoming Discovery flight and the trinkets he’ll take aboard — sports...

Back in March, I wrote about Astrocast , a non-profit web channel that produces videos on astronomy. The show is designed to reach anybody with an interest in the sky, who may have seen astronomy information on television or the web and wants to learn more. This is an exciting time for the hobby. Before, interested people had to rely on magazines, books, newsletters, or group meetings as their resources. Now, we also can tap into video and audio files...

Have you downloaded Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope (WWT)? If not, you can find it here , free of charge. Once you kick the tires, be sure to join our community. WWT communities provide tours, images, and other information relating to the night (and day) sky to members. So far, our community features tours covering galaxies, orbiting observatories, our impending (meaning long after you're gone) merger with Andromeda, and naked-eye open star...

Marlon Cowart (right) presents Bob Shutan with the the LakeSky Star Award. LCAS The Lake County Astronomical Society (LCAS) is based in northeastern Illinois, just across the border from Astronomy ’s home state of Wisconsin. The group’s outreach efforts have helped reveal the mysteries of the universe to the general public in both states. Through its LakeSky Star Award, the LCAS recognizes “individuals and/or organizations that make a distinctive...