The Best That We Could Do…

Not much time to write this week since we’re off celebrating the 100 Hours of Astronomy (100HA).  This morning, we’re tuned into the live webcast from the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to kick off “Around the World in 80 Telescopes”.


But as it turns out, 100HA coincides with the first anniversary of One-Minute Astronomer.  One year ago this week, our first brave subscriber signed up; now there are more than 12,000 of you that enjoy our short emails that help you stay connected to your interest in the heavens.

We have a great time putting together each issue.  Here are 6 of our “greatest hits” from our first year.  They were fun to write, and they proved useful to many of you, too.

* Learning to See.  To enjoy astronomy, you have to do more than simply look through a telescope.  You have to learn to see.  This article showed you how.

* E.E. Barnard.  One of our favorite historical astronomers.  Barnard started dirt-poor and completely uneducated after the Civil War, and rode a wave of luck and intensely hard work to become one of the preeminent American astronomers of the early 20th century.

* Veil Nebula.  This supernova remnant is an exquisitely beautiful sight in a small telescope in dark sky.

* Dark Doodad.  An odd dark nebula in the southern hemisphere.   This article was was picked up by NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.

* Easy Math for Astronomers.  A bunch of useful (and simple) formulas to help you figure out how to best use your telescope.

* The Wild Duck Cluster.  A splendid star cluster in Scutum, well-positioned for northern and southern observers.

Most of all, we thank you for subscribing.  We’ve got lots more in store for you during our second year.  So stay tuned!

Best regards,

Dr. Brian Ventrudo
Publisher, One-Minute Astronomer