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2 MARCH 2018 • SKY & TELESCOPE

TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

New to astronomy? From learning

the night sky to tips on buying your

fi rst telescope, here’s everything you

need to jump into the fun.

skyandtelescope.com/letsgo

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JOHNNY HORNE

SKY & TELESCOPE (ISSN 0037-6604) is published monthly by AAS Sky Publishing, LLC, owned by the American Astronomical Society, 1667 K Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC

20006, USA. Phone: 800-253-0245 (customer service/subscriptions), 617-500-6793 (all other calls). Website: skyandtelescope.com. Store website: shopatsky.com. ©2020 AAS Sky

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ONLINE

The Milky Way hangs

over New Technology

Telescope in Chile.

ON THE COVER

PHOTO: BABAK TAFRESHI

FEATURES

14 Micrometeorite Hunter

One man’s search for tiny cosmic

visitors just underfoot turns up

photogenic specimens.

By Ted Kinsman

20 Track ing Hubble’s

Variable Nebula

The author documents two decades

of NGC 2261’s variability through

sketches. By Howard Banich

Cover Story:

26 Shooting “Deepscapes”

Here’s how to capture striking

nightscapes with deep-sky objects in

a single exposure. By Babak Tafreshi

34 Binary Worlds

The solar system’s surprising variety

of binary objects is helping us

understand the birth of planetary

systems. By Jeff Hecht

58 Dwarf Carbon Stars

Stars that shouldn’t even exist may

soon offer new clues to the galaxy’s

birth. By Ken Croswell

62 Kepler’s Dream,

Today’s Reality

The great astronomer Johannes

Kepler played a central role in the

evolution of spacefl ight.

By Jake Rosenthal

S&T TEST REPORT

68 Sky-Watcher Esprit 150mm

APO Refractor

By Johnny Horne

COLUMNS / DEPARTMENTS

4 Spectrum

By Peter Tyson

6 From Our Readers

8 75, 50 & 25 Years Ago

By Roger W. Sinnott

10 News Notes

32 Astronomer’s Workbench

By Jerry Oltion

73 New Product Showcase

74 Gallery

84 Focal Point

By Ken Pilon

OBSERVING

41 February’s Sky at a Glance

By Diana Hannikainen

42 Lunar Almanac & Sky Chart

43 Binocular Highlight

By Mathew Wedel

44 Planetary Almanac

45 Under the Stars

By Fred Schaaf

46 Sun, Moon & Planets

By Fred Schaaf

48 Celestial Calendar

By Bob King

52 Exploring the Moon

By Charles A. Wood

54 Deep-Sky Wonders

By Sue French

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ASTRONOMY

CONTENTS

2 FEBRUARY 2020 • SKY & TELESCOPE

February 2020 VOL. 139, NO. 2

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