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viewing
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Welcome
again
to
our
monthly
newsletter
with
features
on
exciting
celestial
events,
product
reviews,
tips
&
tricks,
and
a
monthly
sky
calendar.
This
year,
November
furnishes
amateur
astronomers
with
two
outstanding
celestial
events.
On
November
8,
a
rare
Mercury
transit
puts
a
spot
on
the
sun
for
several
hours
and,
on
the
night
of
November
18,
the
Leonid
Meteor
Shower
peaks,
producing
perhaps
as
many
as
150
meteors
per
hour
this
year.
Whether
you
own
a
telescope
or
not,
we'll
tell
you
where
to
look
and
what
to
expect.
Robbinsdale
Area
Schools
Purchase
District
License
of
Starry
Night®
Middle
School!
Robbinsdale
Area
Schools
District
serves
approximately
13,000
K-12
students
and
operates
11
elementary
schools
for
students
in
grades
K-5,
three
middle
schools
for
grades
6-8,
two
high
schools
for
9-12
and
one
alternative
high
school.
A
customized
teacher
training
has
been
scheduled
for
November
3.
If
you
are
interested
in
a
Starry
Night®
Orientation
or
Teacher
Training
for
your
school
or
district,
please
contact
Mike
Goodman
at
mgoodman@imaginova.com
or
(952)
653-0493.
In-person
or
webinar
trainings
available.
Linda
Fung Marketing
Director,
Imaginova
[Top
of
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Become
a
Starry
Night®
Affiliate!
If
you
publish
a
space
or
astronomy
Web
site
or
blog,
earn
extra
cash
by
promoting
Starry
Night®
on
your
Web
site.
We
want
sites
that
educate,
entertain
and
share
with
others
their
passion
for
space
and
astronomy
and
will
enthusiastically
promote
Starry
Night®
products.
Join
the
Starry
Night®
affiliate
program
and
earn
referral
commissions
by
sending
customers
to
our
site.
When
a
visitor
to
your
site
clicks
on
the
affiliate
link
to
our
site
and
completes
a
purchase,
you
get
a
15%
commission
on
every
item
they
buy
from
the
Starry
Night®
Store.
It's
easy
to
join
and
it's
free!
To
be
part
of
the
Starry
Night®
affiliate
program,
you
will
need
to
sign
up
with
our
partner,
Commission
Junction.
This
application
process
will
allow
you
to
create
a
Commission
Junction
account
and
be
an
affiliate
for
Starry
Night®
as
well
as
any
of
the
merchants
in
the
Commission
Junction
network.
We
have
partnered
with
Commission
Junction
to
provide
our
affiliates
with
tracking,
reporting,
prompt
monthly
payments,
and
the
flexibility
of
being
an
affiliate
for
any
of
Commission
Junction's
other
merchants.
For
more
information
or
to
sign
up,
please
visit:
Once
approved,
you'll
receive
a
unique
ID
and
specialized
HTML
links
to
track
your
traffic
and
revenue.
Linda
Fung Marketing
Director,
Imaginova
[Top
of
Page]
On
November
8th
2006,
amateur
astronomers
with
small
telescopes
and
solar
filters
will
be
able
to
observe
Mercury's
tiny
silhouette
moving
slowly
across
the
face
of
the
Sun
as
it
makes
a
rather
feeble
attempt
to
eclipse
the
Sun.
Astronomers
call
this
event
a
"transit".
A
transit
occurs
when
one
of
the
inner
planets,
Mercury
or
Venus,
passes
between
the
Earth
and
the
Sun.
Most
of
the
time
the
inner
planets
pass
either
above
or
below
the
Sun.
There
are
only
certain
points
in
these
planets’
orbits,
called
nodes,
when
they
are
in
the
plane
of
the
Earth’s
orbit.
For
Venus,
these
nodes
occur
in
June
and
December.
For
Mercury,
they
occur
in
May
and
November.
Transits
can
occur
only
in
those
months.
Because
Mercury
orbits
the
Sun
much
more
rapidly
than
Venus,
it's
in
the
right
place
for
a
transit
far
more
often.
Transits
of
Mercury
occur
13
times
a
century
or
roughly
once
every
7.4
years,
whereas
transits
of
Venus
occur
less
than
twice
a
century,
or
roughly
once
every
62.5
years.
In
fact,
transits
of
Venus
usually
occur
in
pairs
8
years
apart,
separated
by
a
gap
of
125
years.
We're
right
in
between
a
pair
of
Venus
transits,
one
having
occurred
on
June
08,
2004
and
the
next
one
on
June
06,
2012.
Mercury
transits
also
occur
in
clumps.
The
last
one
was
3.5
years
ago
on
May
07,
2003,
and
the
next
one
will
not
be
until
9.5
years
from
now,
on
May
09,
2016.
This
year's
transit
will
be
a
late
afternoon
event
for
most
of
North
and
South
America
and
a
morning
event
for
East
Asia
and
Australia.
The
Mercury
transit
is
not
visible
from
Europe,
Africa,
and
most
of
Asia.
To
read
the
rest
of
this
article,
click
here.
[Top
of
Page]
If
you
live
in
Western
Europe
or
eastern
North
America,
put
a
big
circle
on
your
calendar
around
Saturday,
Nov.
18.
If
that
night
is
clear,
bundle
up
warmly
and
head
outside
because
you
may
be
able
to
catch
a
glimpse
of
an
intense,
albeit
brief
display
of
Leonid
meteors.
Norwegian
astrophotographer
Arne
Danielsen
captured this
spectacular
Leonid
fireball
on
November
18,
1999.
The
Leonids
are
composed
of
the
dusty
debris
that
has
been
shed
by
the
comet
Temple-Tuttle,
a
small
celestial
body
that
orbits
the
Sun
at
33-year
intervals.
In
those
years
during
and
then
for
several
years
after
the
comet
has
swept
through
the
inner
solar
system,
it
has
had
a
propensity
for
producing
spectacular
meteor
displays;
meteors
falling
by
the
hundreds,
if
not
thousands
per
hour.
These
"shooting
stars"
all
apparently
emanate
from
the
constellation
of
Leo,
the
Lion.
Hence
the
name
"Leonids."
To
read
the
rest
of
this
article,
click
here.
[Top
of
Page]
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Mercury
Transit
Movie
What
to
expect
during
the
transit
of
Mercury.
Requires
QuickTime
7.
|
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Free
Mercury
Transit
Viewer’s
Guide
A
complete
observing
guide
full
of
tips
for
successfully
viewing
the
transit
of
Mercury.
Requires
Adobe
Acrobat
Reader.
Pedro
Braganca Content
Director, Starry
Night®
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Finding
Transits
in
Starry
Night®
Version
6
Transits
of
Mercury
and
Venus
are
rare.
The
Events
Finder
in
Starry
Night®
version
6
makes
it
easy
to
find
transits
and
other
once
in
a
lifetime
celestial
events.
To
get
started,
open
the
Events
pane.
Select
the
types
of
events
you
want
to
search
for
in
the
Event
Filters
layer
and
then
enter
a
search
date
range.
Press
the
Find
Events
button
and
Starry
Night®
dynamically
finds
and
lists
all
events
based
on
your
search
criteria.
Pedro
Braganca Content
Director, Starry
Night®
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Sunday,
October
29 Daylight
Savings
Time
ends
Wednesday,
November
1 Uranus
is
0.5
degrees
north
of
the
Moon
Sunday,
November
5 Full
Moon
Wednesday,
November
8 Transit
of
Mercury.
Please
download
our
special
six-page
Mercury
Transit
PDF
[468KB].
Sunday,
November
12 Last
Quarter
Moon
Sunday,
November
12 Saturn
is
1.6
degrees
south
of
the
Moon
Friday,
November
17 Spica
is
0.6
degrees
north
of
the
Moon
Saturday,
November
18 Leonid
Meteor
Shower
peaks.
Monday,
November
20 New
Moon
Saturday,
November
25 Mercury
at
greatest
western
elongation
Sunday,
November
26 Daylight
Saving
Time
ends
Tuesday,
November
28 First
Quarter
Tuesday,
November
28 Uranus
is
0.3
degrees
north
of
the
Moon
All
times
shown
are
U.S.
Eastern
Time.
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Join
the
Starry
Night®
Affiliate
Program
If
you
publish
a
space
or
astronomy
Web
site
or
blog,
earn
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by
promoting
Starry
Night®
on
your
Web
site.
Click
here
to
learn
more!
It's
easy
to
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and
it's
free!
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Send
us
your
feedback
Do
you
have
a
question,
comment,
suggestion
or
article
idea
to
pass
along
to
Starry
Night®
Times?
Click
here
to
get
in
touch
with
us.
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Starry
Night®
is
the
world's
leading
line
of
astronomy
software
and
DVDs.
Visit
starrynight.com
to
see
all
the
great
products
we
offer
for
everyone
from
novice
to
experienced
astronomers.
You
have
received
this
e-mail
as
a
trial
user
of
Starry
Night®
Digital
Download
or
as
a
registrant
at
starrynight.com.
Starry
Night®
is
a
division
of
Imaginova
Corp,
formerly
Space
Holdings.
To
unsubscribe,
click
here.
To
subscribe,
sign
up
here.
Imaginova
Corp. 470
Park
Ave
South 9th
Floor New
York,
NY
10016
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Four
years
ago,
Orion®
introduced
the
StarBlast,
a
4.5-inch
f/4
Newtonian
on
a
mini-Dobsonian
mount.
Although
4.5-inch
Newtonians
are
popular
beginner’s
scopes,
this
one
was
different:
instead
of
the
typical
long
focal
ratio
(f/8)
spherical
mirror,
it
had
a
short
focal
ratio
(f/4)
parabolic
mirror.
This
gave
it
better
image
quality
in
a
package
half
the
size.
The
single
arm
Dobsonian
mount
was
simple
to
operate
and
very
solid,
as
compared
to
the
equatorial
mounts
sold
with
most
4.5-inch
Newtonians.
The
reviews
of
this
little
telescope
were
very
positive.
The
telescope
had
been
marketed
as
a
kids’
telescope,
but
after
the
reviews
came
out,
many
adults
bought
these
scopes
because
of
their
optical
quality
and
portability.
In
fact,
I
was
one
of
the
early
purchasers
of
the
classic
StarBlast.
I
remember
taking
it
to
a
public
star
party
sponsored
by
my
astronomy
club,
and
ending
up
with
a
long
line
of
viewers
who
were
taken
by
the
small
size
(and
price)
of
this
scope
and
by
the
fine
image
of
Jupiter
and
its
moons
that
it
was
delivering.
The
main
drawback
of
this
scope,
shared
by
all
so-called
“table
top”
telescopes,
is
that
it
is
hard
to
find
a
table
top
suitable
for
supporting
it.
Most
tables
have
four
legs,
which
makes
them
unstable
on
all
but
the
most
level
surface,
and
few
are
solid
enough
to
support
a
telescope
magnifying
a
hundred
times
or
more.
Also,
the
table
needs
to
be
pretty
small,
so
that
you
can
approach
the
telescope
from
different
directions,
depending
on
where
it
is
pointing
in
the
sky.
This
problem
was
discussed
by
StarBlast
owners
on
online
forums,
and
various
solutions
proposed
and
tried
out.
The
ideal
support
would
probably
be
a
three
legged
stool,
but
such
things
are
hard
to
come
by.
To
read
the
rest
of
this
article,
click
here.
[Top
of
Page]
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Lunar
Explorer
is
the
world's
most
accurate
and
complete
simulation
of
the
old
and
familiar
Moon.
|
Until
recently,
high
power
eyepieces
usually
meant
cramming
your
eye
against
a
tiny
eye
lens
and
viewing
a
dim
narrow
field.
Then
optical
designers
got
the
idea
of
combining
eyepieces
and
Barlow
lenses
into
a
single
package
which
gave
high
magnification,
long
eye
relief,
and
bright,
easy-to-see
images.
Such
eyepieces
have
been
quite
expensive
until
Orion®
recently
announced
their
new
Expanse
series
of
eyepieces,
available
in
four
focal
lengths:
20mm,
15mm,
9mm,
and
6mm.
The
20mm
and
15mm
are
normal
wide-field
designs,
while
the
9mm
and
6mm
versions
combine
a
fairly
low
power
eyepiece
with
a
built-in
Barlow
lens.
That’s
why,
if
you
look
at
the
picture
above,
the
9mm
and
6mm
versions
are
nearly
twice
as
large
as
their
low-power
brethren,
the
opposite
of
what
we
see
with
most
eyepieces.
So,
while
the
20mm
and
15mm
are
nice
to
have,
the
real
interest
is
in
the
9mm
and
6mm
versions,
which
offer
a
totally
different
viewing
experience
from
typical
short-focus
Plössl
eyepieces.
I
tested
the
15mm
and
6mm
Expanse
eyepieces
which
came
with
the
StarBlast
EQ
as
standard
equipment.
Both
offer
wide
66°
fields
of
view,
as
compared
with
the
52°
fields
of
most
Plössls.
This
gives
you
a
61%
increase
in
the
area
you
can
see
at
a
given
magnification,
which
in
itself
is
impressive.
Secondly
the
lens
you
put
your
eye
to
is
much
larger
than
we’re
used
to
in
eyepieces
of
this
size.
The
eye
lens
on
the
15mm
measures
20mm
in
diameter,
and
that
of
the
6mm
measures
a
whopping
22mm.
The
effect
is
like
looking
through
a
picture
window
rather
than
straining
to
peep
through
a
tiny
pinhole.
This
contributes
to
the
large
eye
relief
of
these
eyepieces,
13mm
to
17mm,
depending
on
the
focal
length.
Eyeglass
wearers
will
be
able
to
see
all
or
most
of
the
field
of
view,
and
for
non-eyeglass
wearers,
it
will
be
just
as
comfortable
to
look
through
the
6mm
as
through
the
20mm.
To
read
the
rest
of
this
article,
click
here.
[Top
of
Page]
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The
world's
only
desk
calendar
devoted
to
space
exploration
and
astronomy.
|
If
you
are
someone
who
waits
for
the
.0.1
release
of
new
software,
then
there's
never
been
a
better
time
to
upgrade
to
Starry
Night®
new
version
6
-
now
with
free
downloadable
update
to
version
6.0.1!
Only
users
of
Starry
Night®
version
6.0
qualify
for
the
free
downloadable
6.0.1
update.
If
you
already
own
version
6,
below
are
instructions
on
how
to
download
your
6.0.1
update.
You
must
be
connected
to
the
Internet
to
receive
the
update.
Windows
users
should
click
on
Start>All
Programs>Starry
Night®
(Enthusiast
6,
Pro
6,
Pro
6
AstroPhoto
or
Pro
Plus
6)
>Check
for
Starry
Night®
(Enthusiast
6,
Pro
6,
Pro
6
AstroPhoto
or
Pro
Plus
6)
Updates.
Macintosh
users
should
click
on
Macintosh
HD>Applications>Starry
Night®
(Enthusiast
6,
Pro
6,
Pro
6
AstroPhoto
or
Pro
Plus
6)
>(Enthusiast
6,
Pro
6,
Pro
6
AstroPhoto
or
Pro
Plus
6)
Updater.
You
can
also
download
the
6.0.1
update
as
a
standalone
updater
file.
This
will
allow
you
to
save
the
update
to
a
CD
and
then
install
it
later.
The
updater
will
only
update
Starry
Night®
version
6.0.0
to
6.0.1.
The
size
of
the
updates
ranges
from
13
to
38
MB.
Please
download
and
install
only
the
update
specified
for
your
product.
Installing
the
wrong
update
will
corrupt
your
copy
of
Starry
Night®.
Click
below
for
the
standalone
updaters:
Please
be
patient
as
there
may
be
a
number
of
people
downloading
at
the
same
time.
Some
highlights
of
the
free
6.0.1
Update
include:
Significant
improvements
in
Windows
startup
times.
- On
many
systems,
startup
times
have
been
reduced
by
50
percent.
- You
now
have
the
choice
to
turn
off
the
event
searching
that
populates
the
Events
Finder.
This
may
further
speed
up
startup.
Usability
enhancements
and
fixes
- Easily
add
any
object
to
Observing
Lists
by
clicking
on
it
and
selecting
"Add
to
Observing
Lists"
from
the
contextual
menu.
- "Visible
Tonight"
filter
in
the
Events
Finder
and
Observing
Lists
is
now
more
accurate.
- Additional
options
in
Observing
Lists
are
now
user-selectable.
- Labels
for
planets
now
correctly
display
according
to
magnitude
filter.
Corrections
to
graphic
anomalies
- The
"Dark
Theme"
is
back.
- "Starry
Night®
Classic"
theme
is
now
more
visible
in
Red
Screen
(night-vision)
mode.
- Jupiter
image
now
correctly
positioned.
- Adding
panoramic
horizons
to
specific
locations
now
saves
with
"Save
Current
Options
as
Default."
For
Pro
Plus
users,
you
change
the
color
of
the
nebula
outlines,
and
they
will
draw
as
black
in
printouts.
The
AllSky
image
now
correctly
flips
at
small
FOVs
(hardware
permitting).
Click
here
to
see
a
complete
list
of
over
40
fixes:
Upgrade
to
version
6
to
receive
the
Free
6.0.1
update!
Thank
you
for
supporting
Starry
Night®.
Linda
Fung Marketing
Director,
Imaginova
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of
Page]
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Based
on
the
version
of
Starry
Night®
you
have,
you
can
upgrade
to
Enthusiast,
Pro
or
Pro
Plus
version
6
or
AstroPhoto
Suite.
For
the
first
time,
if
you
are
using
a
planetarium
or
star
charting
program
other
than
Starry
Night®,
you
may
qualify
for
special
upgrade
pricing
to
version
6.
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