Telescopes
There are a few genres of photography in which accessories are crucial to photographic success. Astrophotography is one of those genres! Let’s take a look at some great astrophotography accessories to help you (or your favorite stargazing photographer) elevate your Astro-photo game deeper into the night sky.
Here is a list of top astrophotography accessories:
Binoculars
Have the sparkling new images from the James Webb Space Telescope made you, or someone you know, want to explore the cosmos from your backyard? If the answer is “Yes!”, then you have come to the right place because B&H Photo is your one-stop shop for some great, out-of-this-world gifts and gear. Here is a quick guide to just some of the binoculars, telescopes, and other astronomical gear we have for your off-world adventures.
Binoculars
By far, the easiest tool to improve your stargazing is a good pair of
Our sun, the star at the center of our Solar System, is a fantastic subject for both viewing and photographing and humans have been viewing it since the beginning of time. A special form of solar viewing is the solar eclipse. There are few experiences in nature as awe inspiring as an eclipse—solar or lunar—when the Earth, sun, and moon align. If you want to observe and study the sun, B&H has what you need to do it safely and do it
Want to choose the best telescope for you? You'll need to consider several important factors, including viewing application, telescope type, magnification power, and other features.
Instead of scouring sites for scope specs, check out our roundup of the best telescopes for every type of user, from amateur observer to professional astrophotographer and everyone in between.
Best Telescope Overall: Celestron NexStar 6SE
Best
The Unistellar eVscope 2 isn’t a conventional telescope. The second-gen reflector belongs to the nascent-but-burgeoning category of “smart” telescopes, which forgo many of the design elements of traditional scopes and replace them with more sophisticated components, such as a built-in camera system and AI-backed computer software.
It is time to view the stars with a friend or loved one who has their eye on a brand new telescope to bring the heavens closer to home. But, when you log into the B&H Photo website, the sheer number of telescopes—not to mention their different configurations, dizzying specifications, and wildly different prices—leaves you with more questions than answers. In this guide, we will attempt to boil things down to a few
Now that we've discussed the advantages of using binoculars for stargazing, as well as an in-depth discussion about night sky targets, in Part 1, and then discussed characteristics of binoculars in Part 2, it is time to finish this three-part series by discussing what pair of binoculars you may want to outfit yourself with for soaking up the beauty of the heavens—and, it might be that a pair of binoculars you already own fits the bill!
Price and
In Part 1 of this three-part series, we discussed the advantages of using binoculars for astronomical viewing of the night sky and we talked about the different types of targets you can enjoy on clear, dark nights. At the conclusion of each section, I mentioned “binocular magnification considerations.” Here, we will get into that subject, as well as other characteristics of binoculars that make them better, or worse, for studying the stars. Then, in
The night sky is filled with wonders—so many that we humans build multi-billion-dollar telescopes to study them. The good news is that a lot of these wonders are available to all of us as we stargaze in our own backyards, and the easiest, fastest, and most convenient way to start exploring these is with a pair of binoculars. Even better, you don’t need to get your hands on an expensive pair of dedicated astronomical binoculars
The recent Transit of Mercury was a pretty big deal for a lot of reasons. I won’t go into too much detail about the actual event (we covered that pretty well already, on the B&H in Space page) but I’m talking about our coverage of the event. B&H partnered with Meade Instruments and the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York to do a morning of community
When photographing a planetary transit of the sun, be it Mercury or Venus, all of the same safety precautions of solar photography are required, without exception. This is because you are not photographing a planet in the night sky, you are photographing the sun as a planet passes between Earth and the sun.
Images of the transit of Mercury and Venus from NASA/JPL
Photographing the sun poses a very real danger to not only your camera gear, but to your eyes and eyesight. Let’s discuss safety precautions for photographing the sun with or without
When the inner planets, Mercury and Venus, pass between Earth and the Sun, it is known as a “planetary transit.” While not as visually spectacular as a solar eclipse, the transit of our inner solar system’s neighbors is a remarkable sight to viewers on Earth. Unfortunately, these events are not visible to the naked eye, so let’s discuss what gear is recommended for photographing and viewing the transits.
Astronomical images NASA/JPL
Before you invest in solar viewing optics, please know that these transit events are rare.
On November 11, 2019, the planet Mercury, when viewed from our home on Planet Earth, will pass between Earth and the sun—a planetary transit across the face of the sun.
Above: A composite photograph of the 2016 transit of Mercury © NASA/JPL.
Safety First
The sun is visible to the naked eye (obviously), but Mercury is so small and distant, you cannot view the event without a telescope, binoculars, or a telephoto camera lens. IMPORTANT: These devices need to be specially built for solar viewing or properly filtered. For information on how to
On the morning of Monday, November 11, 2019, the planet Mercury will transit the Sun for the first time since 2016. The transit of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence since, as seen from Earth, only transits of Mercury and Venus are possible—those being the only two planets within the inner solar system and closer to the sun than our own. There are only about 13 transits of Mercury each century, and while it’s only been three years since the last transit, the next one isn’t for another 20!
Why is there such an
A few times over the past year, I have met people who, when they had a youngster express interest in astronomy, rushed out to B&H Photo to purchase the family a telescope. In a few of these anecdotes, the telescope saw limited initial use and then it was simply incorporated into the home’s décor—gathering dust in a corner. It became obvious to me that what the family could have benefited from more would have been a