New Product Showcase
New Product Showcase is a reader service featuring innovative equipment and software of interest to amateur astronomers.
The descriptions are based largely on information supplied by the manufacturers or distributors. Sky & Telescope assumes
no responsibility for the accuracy of vendors’ statements. For further information contact the manufacturer or distributor.
Announcements should be sent to [email protected]. Not all announcements can be listed.▾ IMPROVED MARS The Red Planet really hasn’t
been improved, but our 12-inch-wide globe has. Sky &
Telescope’s Mars Globe ($99.99) is assembled from more
than 6,000 images captured by NASA’s Viking orbiters
and has been tweaked to better approximate the planet’s
natural color appearance. Produced in cooperation with
NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, the globe includes
offi cial names for 140 features, as well as the positions of
all past and current surface science missions, including
NASA’s newest lander and rover, Phoenix and Curiosity.
Each purchase comes with a clear plastic stand and a
16-page booklet about the planet, which describes recent
scientifi c discoveries involving Mars’s evolution from a
warm-and-wet world that may have supported life to the
planet-wide desert that we see today.
Sky Publishing Corporation
90 Sherman St., Cambridge, MA 02140-3264
1-888-253-0230; http://www.shopatsky.com▴ MOTOFOCUS Jim’s Mobile Incorporated
releases its MOTOFOCUS for William Optics
DDG focusers ($179). The unit attaches to
William Optics telescopes with the Digital
Display Gauge and comes with all the required hardware to
attach directly to your focuser. This enables you to precisely and
repeatedly adjust focus in tiny, 0.01-mm increments for visual
or imaging applications. Each purchase contains the mounting
bracket, screws, a coiled 1/8 jack cable, and a MOTOFOCUS
hand paddle. Specify at the time of ordering whether you own a
William Optics telescope or use their replacement focusers for
Synta telescopes.
JMI Telescopes
8550 W 14th Ave., Lakewood, CO 80215
303-233-5353; http://www.jimsmobile.comOPTICAL CARE To get the best performance from your optics, you need to properly
maintain them. The new book by Robert Schalck, The Proper Care of Optics ($43), details the
best techniques used by professional opticians to clean, handle, and store precision optics.
Written for a diverse audience, Schalck explores many ways to clean optics from a variety of
time-tested sources and learned by trial and error. Topics include assembling your clean-
ing tools and preparing your work area; popular solvents and cleansing agents for restoring
any optical element to its peak performance, including mirrors, lenses, and anti-refl ection
coatings; and proper cleaning methods for removing contaminants from CCD and CMOS
sensors. SPIE Press, ISBN 978-0-8194-9457-3, paperback, 236 pages.
SPIE Publishing
P.O. Box 10, Bellingham, WA 98227-0010
360-676-3290; http://www.spie.org64 March 2014 sky & telescopeNPS layout.indd 64 12/17/13 2:54 PM